posted Sep 21st, 2021 - The NSL News covered the comeback of the Belgian team ISR FireFlash on September 10th, and NSL-TV now follows up with the competition videos, with the help of Ayro videographer Gerrit Tielens. His team has had a friendly rivalry with Falco since 2017 and finished ahead for the first time.

4-way competition in Belgium currently features three different levels in AAA Class competition. NMP PCH HayaBusa has been the best 4-way team in the world since 2014 when they won their first FAI gold medals in Prostejov. They have defended them successfully ever since with different lineups.

ISR FireFlash, with HayaBusa's former inside center Sven Ibens in the lineup, is a world-class team and would probably be close to medal level at a world meet without the HayaBusa 4-way giant maintaining the top spot in Belgium and in the world.

The FireFlash comeback almost began on the 20+ scoring level. Only the total of four point deductions in two of the last three rounds kept them from the 20+ benchmark that they had left behind in 2017 and 2018. The ten rounds at Belgium's national championship were the first outdoor competition jumps for FireFlash since September 2018.

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ISR FireFlash at the Belgian Outdoor Nationals 2021

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The third 4-way level in Belgium's AAA Class competition includes three more teams in the wake of the HayaBusa momentum and the support by the FireFlash members, Ayro, Falco and Phoenix.

Ayro and Falco both launched their team projects in 2017, Phoenix followed a year later. The three teams began in different categories, and Ayro and Falco staid away from each other for two years. Ayro started in the A Class competition of 2017 when Falco chose to train the AA Class dive pool.

They were competitive from the beginning and attended indoor and outdoor meets in their first year, Falco five of them, Ayro four. Competing in different categories was actually beneficial for Belgium's delegations at ESL Championship events at that time. Both teams collected ESL points in 2017, and Ayro helped the Belgian delegation to win the ESL Spirit at the 2018 event.

Ayro competed in the AA Class of 2018, while Falco had stepped up into the AAA Class at the same time, after the end of the 2018 season. Both teams consistently increased their performance level in the respective categories until they finally both posted their scores on the AAA Class leaderboards in 2019.

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Belgian Outdoor Nationals 2021		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	16,D,18		E,13,L,2		19,C,6		H,F,J,O,21		8,11,20		5,P,1		N,10,15		M,22,A,9		14,G,4		B,Q,17,12		Total	Avg
1	ISR FireFlash	20		21		20		29		14		22		17		19	-2	16		19	-2	197	19.7
2	Ayro	14		14		14		23		13		16		12		17		12		13	-1	148	14.8
3	Falco	13		17		13	-1	23		11		15		10	-2	15	-1	13		13	-1	143	14.3
4	Phoenix	8	-1	11		8	-1	16	-1	9		10		9		14		8		7	-2	100	10.0

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Ayro - Falco at the Belgian Outdoor Nationals 2021

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The World Challenge 2019 featured the first indoor duel of the two Belgian teams, and Falco were still far ahead of their new AAA Class opponents (204 - 168). Falco maintained the top spot in this internal Belgian 4-way duel throughout all four indoor and outdoor meets that both teams attended in 2019.

However, Ayro slowly moved closer, and they even won the official Belgian 4-way indoor title of 2019. Falco had finished ahead on the AAA Class leaderboard but were not eligible for Belgian medals with Paul Hofstee in the lineup. He was player-coaching Falco in 2019 and left the team when Oceanside AtomiX invited him for their new lineup. Falco re-built in 2020 and had no opportunity to test the new lineup in competition, while Ayro at least used the NSL Cloud Mondial 2020 for some meet practice in the time of the corona virus crisis. Ayro still had and has the same original lineup who started in the A Class of 2017.

Then came the second AAA Class showdown between the two teams, two years after the first one at the ESL Championship 2019, and Ayro turned the table this month. Both teams finished with their highest outdoor averages and were actually separated by only one single point before penalties. Ayro won with the cleaner performance.

Phoenix is the newest addition to AAA Class competition in Belgium and started on the 10-average level.