posted Feb 22nd, 2023 - The coverage of the 4-way and 8-way teams from Qatar has increased in the past years, as the country on the Arabian Peninsula has consistently participated in international Formation Skydiving competition events and moved up from participation to becoming a powerhouse in the two most traditional events (4-way Open, 8-way Open).

There has been no leaderboard at FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving since 2018 without a team from Qatar in a medal position. Last year's world meet in Eloy featured the two national teams both on the FAI podium for the first time, Tigers in 4-way (3rd) and Falcons in 8-way (2nd).

The development of Formation Skydiving competition in Qatar continues, as the NSL News reported on January 24th, after NSL Live Talk with Qatar coaches Gary Smith and Luc Verstrepen. They explained how the Qatar management has been creating two 4-way farm teams, Cheetahs and Lions, who will turn into members of the national teams when needed.

There is no doubt that Qatar's goals include the top spots on FAI World Championship leaderboards in the longer term. New Tigers coach Andy Grauwels is now working with the 4-way Open Class team to accomplish the ultimate goal in Formation Skydiving competition.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		F,16,9	L,18,J,17	11,D,H,19	O,C,2,N	14,4,8	G,15,A,B	P,7,1	M,K,E,15	3,Q,21	12,20,22	Total	Avg
1	XPGK	US	32	30	28	33	23	37	35	33	33	29	313	31.3
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	25	21	20	27	18	28	28	29	26	24	246	24.6
3	Prison 9	US	24	18	18	20	17	22	25	23	18	21	206	20.6
Rank	4-way Open		15,14,5	19,9,1	10,J,17	M,B,G,E,F	3,18,4	Q,6,C,D	11,7,8	16,H,2	K,N,L,13	A,20,P,O	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	28	31	60	25	42	25	29	37	37	340	34.0
2	Golden Knights	US	20	27	30	58	20	34	23	26	30	28	296	29.6
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	21	26	26	58	22	34	21	24	29	31	292	29.2

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Qatar Falcons - Qatar Tigers at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2023 - Video footage courtesy of Paraclete XP

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There is just one other Formation Skydiving powerhouse that seems to be heavily in the way of the Qatar goal at the moment. Teams from the Russian powerhouse are not invited to FAI events any longer, and France has currently only a world-class team in 4-way Open.

The biggest obstacle for Qatar is the U.S. delegation, who has been dominating the same two most traditional events since last year, in 4-way (Arizona Airspeed) and in 8-way since 2012 (Golden Knights/Paraclete).

The U.S. teams in 4-way Women are consistently in or near medal positions, as well, while Qatar's delegation does not include a team in 4-way Women.

The Qatar Falcons, with French coach Jeremie Rollett, may have hoped that the new U.S. lineup of XPGK8 would need some time until they would be back to the same 8-way top level, as the NSL News reported yesterday. The Qatar Falcons would then have the opportunity to get closer to the reigning world champions. These potential hopes faded at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2023 when XPGK8 finished on an even higher average level than the previous lineup at the same event a year ago.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		15,14,5	19,9,1	10,J,17	M,B,G,E,F	3,18,4	Q,6,C,D	11,7,8	16,H,2	K,N,L,13	A,20,P,O	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	28	31	60	25	42	25	29	37	37	340	34.0
2	Golden Knights	US	20	27	30	58	20	34	23	26	30	28	296	29.6
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	21	26	26	58	22	34	21	24	29	31	292	29.2
4	SDC Rhythm XP	US	20	23	25	52	19	32	23	25	30	27	276	27.6
5	Paraclete XP4	US	21	25	24	43	21	30	21	24	28	26	263	26.3
6	XPG4	US	18	23	24	48	18	29	20	23	25	26	254	25.4
7	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	19	20	19	45	18	32	19	18	26	24	240	24.0
7	Lightspeed XP	US	19	23	23	38	17	31	19	20	23	27	240	24.0
9	Greenlight	US	18	19	20	45	19	25	18	18	27	26	235	23.5
10	Qatar White	QA	16	23	19	39	17	27	20	20	28	25	234	23.4
11	Qatar Maroon	QA	15	20	21	37	18	23	20	20	23	20	217	21.7
12	Figjam	US	12	14	15	37	11	23	15	17	20	19	183	18.3
13	SNE Fly Girls	US	10	15	16	36	12	17	15	14	20	14	169	16.9

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Qatar White - Qatar Maroon at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2023 - Video footage courtesy of Paraclete XP

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The current situation does not look much better for the Qatar Tigers, who attended the competition for the first time with new coach Andy Grauwels live at the event site. The HayaBusa 4-way world champion of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2021 had also watched the Tigers in Eloy at the FAI Outdoor World Championship in October last year, where he was coaching NFTO and Papea.

Neither the results at the USPA Nationals 2022, where the Tigers competed without their new coach, nor the outdoor world championship and the indoor competition at Paraclete XP seem to offer any weaknesses of the current world leader in 4-way Open, Arizona Airspeed. Both Qatar national teams ended up further behind the U.S. teams than at previous events.

In fact, both U.S. teams maintained their performance and scoring level despite additional challenges on their end. As all 8-way teams, XPGK8 had to perform five new blocks and one new random formation with the new lineup at Paraclete XP. The U.S. team scored even higher than last year, while the Qatar Falcons finished below their 2022 results (258 - 246). Arizona Airspeed were dealing with Niklas Hemlin's recovery after a knew surgery and had Andrew Happick in the lineup for three rounds. Airspeed still finished an average-point higher than last year at Paraclete, as well.

The Qatar delegation will not get much help from the U.S. teams, as it seems, and the teams have to look for other ways how to catch up. The new plans for Cheetahs and Lions are probably a step on the way. The two Qatar farm teams were not at Paraclete XP. Maroon and White were the members of the Falcons 8-way team enjoying the competition in 4-way, as well.