posted Jan 18th, 2021 - The ISC (International Skydiving Commission) delegates to the World Air Sports Federation (Federation Aeronautique Internationale - FAI) have their first busy online weekend behind them. Almost 100 people discussed the 2021 agenda using an online platform, and the deliberations continue throughout the week until the plenary will vote on any decisions on the coming weekend.

No major rule changes are expected in Formation Skydiving competition, and the major topic is the schedule of the FAI/ISC events, mainly world meets and world cups in the coming years. The basic outline of the schedule for 2021/2022/2023 was presented at the meeting, and it is has to be approved now in the plenary meeting.

It has been a complicated topic that needed great attention ever since the corona virus crisis impacted on the sport and caused the cancellations of the major international indoor and outdoor events. The last FAI/ISC event was the FAI Outdoor World Cup in October 2019 that had followed the FAI Indoor World Meet in April the same year.

FAI/ISC indoor and outdoor events have been in perfect harmony since 2014 when indoor events were added to the FAI/ISC event agenda. Then came the corona virus crisis and changed everything.

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Rotation of all FAI/ISC events since 1997

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Outdoor world meets and world cups have also been in perfect harmony before the introduction of FAI/ISC indoor events, with one exception. World meets and world cups have been taking turns year by year since the modern era of Formation Skydiving competition began in 1985.

Only one team can represent a country at a world meet, while up to four teams are eligible to compete in each category at world cups. The annual turns between world meets and world cups were changed only once when the FAI World Meet 2004 followed the FAI World Meet 2003 just a year later.

The NSL News could not find the reasons for the change of the event rotation after a few inquiries with former and current FAI/ISC officials. Fact is that there were two world meets in two consecutive years once in the history of Formation Skydiving competition.

This will now happen again, and the reason is very obvious this time. The FAI Mondial 2020 in Tanay had to be canceled due to the corona virus crisis, and it was rescheduled for the coming August 2021. There is a delay of one year.

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FAI World Meet 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		1,11,12	M,J,E,10	K,16,6	13,14,5	D,22,4	9,C,Q,N	F,19,21	2,20,L	18,B,3	8,P,7	Total	Avg
1	Maubeuge	FR	16	26	23	19	21	37	24	21	19	23	229	22.9
2	Golden Knights	US	17	24	22	19	18	35	22	18	19	20	214	21.4
3	DeLand Norgies	NO	13	24	21	19	18	36	19	16	19	21	206	20.6
4	Sebastian XL	UK	14	22	21	19	17	34	21	18	19	20	205	20.5
5	Sinapsi PD	IT	13	24	22	17	17	32	22	18	18	-	183	20.3
6	Endeavour	CH	13	21	19	15	17	29	21	17	16	-	168	18.7
7	NMPV	BE	15	19	19	16	15	29	19	16	16	-	164	18.2
8	EADS	DE	14	19	17	15	15	26	17	16	16	-	155	17.2
9	Wild Wind	RU	15	22	18	15	18	22	17	8	-	-	135	16.9
10	Phenix	SE	13	18	15	15	16	23	18	16	-	-	134	16.8
11	Spain	ES	12	17	14	15	17	23	16	14	-	-	128	16.0
12	Denmark	DK	6	19	14	12	14	23	17	15	-	-	120	15.0
13	Japan	JP	12	16	14	12	13	24	14	14	-	-	119	14.9
14	Netherlands	NL	11	16	14	13	13	21	15	11	-	-	114	14.3
15	Australia	AU	11	14	12	13	13	23	15	12	-	-	113	14.1
16	Bailey 5	ZA	11	10	14	11	13	19	15	13	-	-	106	13.3
16	Monkey Circus	AT	11	13	13	13	8	20	16	12	-	-	106	13.3
18	Canada	CA	11	15	13	11	12	18	12	12	-	-	104	13.0
19	Slovenia	SI	10	12	11	9	9	16	13	11	-	-	91	11.4
20	New Zealand	NZ	8	11	9	7	10	16	10	11	-	-	82	10.3
21	Skyservice	CZ	5	8	9	7	5	11	10	8	-	-	63	7.9
22	Israel	IL	1	3	2	4	4	7	3	4	-	-	28	3.5

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At the same time, the schedule for the coming years was already set in place, and FAI/ISC seem to be motivated to follow through with the rescheduled FAI Mondial 2020 in August 2021, and with the next planned world meet in Eloy 2022, as well.

It seems to be a logical decision, even though there are direct impacts on teams and competitors. There will be two years when only the national teams will be invited to attend the most relevant annual events in the sport. The next outdoor world cup is scheduled for 2023, and the maximum of three additional teams of each country will have to wait for another year before they will have the next opportunity to attend a meet on the highest level in the world.

The 2022 season will be the beginning of the next traditional and well working cycle of FAI/ISC events, first with the outdoor world meet in Eloy and the indoor world cup in Charleroi, Belgium, followed by the outdoor world cup in Voss, Norway, and the indoor world meet at the Hurricane Factory in Slovakia a year later in 2023.

As in 2003 and 2004, the 2021 season has only one FAI/ISC top event scheduled. However, the already sanctioned 6th DIPC in February offers another opportunity for international 4-way outdoor competition - if the teams can travel to the Arabian Peninsula next month...

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FAI World Meet 2004			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		B,P,C,18	9,15,16	K,11,19	E,F,7,5	A,J,21,12	6,4,10	17,Q,L,1	H,14,3	13,22,O	N,M,D,2	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Majik	US	29	23	17	30	18	19	27	21	19	24	227	22.7
2	Maubeuge	FR	28	22	18	30	17	19	23	20	18	24	219	21.9
3	Sky Panthers	RU	24	21	19	25	22	15	28	19	16	22	211	21.1
4	Sinapsi PD	IT	22	21	20	28	21	18	23	19	16	22	210	21.0
5	EADS	DE	20	18	17	24	17	16	19	17	16	19	183	18.3
6	HayaBusa	BE	21	17	17	21	11	16	20	17	17	21	178	17.8
7	Endeavour	CH	16	17	14	19	16	13	19	14	14	-	142	15.8
7	Arcteryx	NO	19	14	15	21	15	13	17	15	13	-	142	15.8
9	Danez	DK	17	16	13	21	11	15	19	15	14	-	141	15.7
10	Spain	ES	19	16	15	21	15	11	16	12	14	-	139	15.4
11	Voodoo	UK	15	14	14	19	15	13	14	12	-	-	116	14.5
12	VNE	UK	15	15	13	18	15	11	14	13	-	-	114	14.3
13	Australia	AU	11	15	13	18	15	13	14	13	-	-	112	14.0
14	Stratosfear	CA	15	14	12	17	13	12	16	12	-	-	111	13.9
15	R-Fource	NL	16	14	13	17	11	10	14	12	-	-	107	13.4
15	Matrix	AT	13	14	13	18	13	13	11	12	-	-	107	13.4
17	New Zealand	NZ	15	14	12	14	13	11	15	12	-	-	106	13.3
18	Croatia	HR	16	11	12	16	13	11	9	10	-	-	98	12.3
19	Slovenia	SI	14	11	10	12	10	9	9	10	-	-	85	10.6
20	Kazakhstan	KZ	5	5	0	6	4	6	5	4	-	-	35	4.4
21	Iceland	IS	2	1	1	3	1	2	4	1	-	-	15	1.9

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