posted Nov 7th, 2022 - The highlighted part of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022 and the highscores for the rounds are showing clearly how competitive is was for the top spot behind the FAI medal contenders.

The NSL Power Rankings in the most recent previews before Round 1 of the competition were expecting exactly the same four teams in the race for the 5th place who ended up battling for the highest Top 10 position behind the best full-time teams in the world, Chimera (Great Britain), Echochamber (Sweden), Papea (Spain), Airbus (Germany).

The German national team in 4-way Open eventually lost touch with the other three contenders for the 5th place while still easily claiming a Top 10 position. Outside Center Thomas Mack was the only team member who had competed in 4-way Open at a FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving before, together with Airbus videographer Andreas Troegele, and their team mates collected their first world meet experiences in Eloy. Sarah Mertes had been the 4-way Women alternate for Skynamite in Australia 2018, and Alexander Prendinger was in the Airbus 8-way lineup at the same event.

Echochamber and Papea had lineups with seasoned 4-way and world meet competitors, and they were eventually separated by one single point after Round 10, just a few points behind Chimera who finished in the strongly contested 5th place.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	NSL Power Rankings 4-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Qatar Tigers	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	France 4-way Open	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Chimera	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Papea Masculino	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Airbus Oceanside Illertissen	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Ripper	AU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	HF Flying Circus	CZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

The British national team in 4-way Open was in fact the only Top 10 team with no world meet experiences at all, which makes their Top 10 finish in 5th place even more valuable. Chimera knew the event location very well though, as they had visited Skydive Arizona for training camps, and they also competed at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019 in Eloy, with three of the current members (Sarah Ashworth, Laura Hampton, James Woods) and a different team videographer (Chris Cook).

Chimera of 2019 ended up two points behind the previous Echochamber lineup at the world cup in Eloy (187 - 189) and the current lineups were separated by three points (188 - 185) with the advantage for Chimera this time. Neither of the two Top 5 opponents competed at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 in August last year.

Spain's CISM lineup Papea had finished in the 5th place in Tanay that Chimera now won by two points (188 - 186) over the Spanish team.

Chimera had to overcome a heavy 5-point loss in Round 5 and ended up with the highest total of penalties (11) of the Top 5 contenders. They were tied with Echochamber in 6th place after Round 5, two points behind Papea, and won the 5th place with the strongest Round 10.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 10		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	-1	28		27		27		31		23		21		20		32		31		261	26.1
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	20	-1	25	-2	21		23		28		20	-2	19		17		29		26		228	22.8
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	-2	23	-1	22	-1	21	-1	26		18		17	-1	17		28		28		219	21.9
4	France 4-way Open	FR	19		23	-1	22		23		27		20	-1	18		15	-1	20	-5	27	-1	214	21.4
5	Chimera	UK	16		21	-2	19		19	-1	18	-5	18	-1	16		14	-1	23	-1	24		188	18.8
6	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	20	-1	18	-1	21		21	-2	18		15		15		21	-1	20	-3	186	18.6
7	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	14	-1	21		19		19		20	-1	17		16		15		24	-1	20	-1	185	18.5
8	Airbus Oceanside Illertissen	DE	16		18	-2	19		16	-1	20	-1	13	-3	15		14		19	-2	22	-1	172	17.2
9	Agera FS 2022	NO	16		16	-2	17	-1	17		18	-1	15		15		13	-1	18	-3	21		166	16.6
9	4Astrophe	CA	15	-1	20		19		15	-2	21		15		15	-2	14		16	-3	16	-2	166	16.6

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Chimera - Papea - Echochamber at the FAI World Meet 2022 - Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC and OmniSkore!HD

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The Top 5 battle became even more interesting on the combined 4-way AAA leaderboard where three of the four 4-way Women teams finished in the Top 10. NFTO distanced themselves clearly from all other contenders for the 5th place, and by 11 points from the French national team in 4-way Women, Nephtys. The French team still had enough work fending off XPG4 for the silver medals in 4-way Women and the three other 4-way Open Class teams.

After Round 10, there was only a 5-point difference between Nephtys in 6th place and XPG4 in 10th place, with the three 4-way Open Class teams caught right between the 4-way Women teams.

A closer look at the lineups makes this Top 10 battle behind the four 4-way Open Class medal contenders as colorful as can be. Almost any possible combination between the genders is represented in this closest battle behind NFTO.

Two more 4-way Women teams were facing only one all-male team, Spains CISM lineup Papea. Chimera has had the team's 2-2 combination for several years, and Sweden's Echochamber brought in a 3-1 combination when Ann-Marie Jarzebowski joined the team. The lineups of the six teams in the Top 10 behind the four medal contenders in 4-way Open created a balance of 15 female and 9 male competitors, while all ten videographers were males.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Women Top 10		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	-1	28		27		27		31		23		21		20		32		31		261	26.1
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	20	-1	25	-2	21		23		28		20	-2	19		17		29		26		228	22.8
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	-2	23	-1	22	-1	21	-1	26		18		17	-1	17		28		28		219	21.9
4	France 4-way Open	FR	19		23	-1	22		23		27		20	-1	18		15	-1	20	-5	27	-1	214	21.4
5	NFTO	UK	18		23		21		21		25		15	-2	17		14	-1	23		23		200	20.0
6	Nephtys	FR	16	-2	20	-1	19		21		23		14		17		14	-1	24		21		189	18.9
7	Chimera	UK	16		21	-2	19		19	-1	18	-5	18	-1	16		14	-1	23	-1	24		188	18.8
8	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	20	-1	18	-1	21		21	-2	18		15		15		21	-1	20	-3	186	18.6
9	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	14	-1	21		19		19		20	-1	17		16		15		24	-1	20	-1	185	18.5
10	XPG4	US	17	-1	21	-1	18	-1	20	-1	20	-3	16		15		15		21	-2	21		184	18.4

Grey = All-Male, Magenta = All-Female, Yellow = Mixed-Gender

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