posted Apr 26th, 2025 - Matt Davidson is currently one of the three most successful 8-way competitors in the history of formation skydiving competition since 1985. Only Scott Rhodes and Craig Girard match his six gold medals that he has won in the active lineups of Golden Knights and Paraclete XP8/GKXP8 at FAI outdoor world championships. Scott Rhodes won all his 8-way gold medals with the Golden Knights, while Craig Girard and Matt Davidson both added more 8-way gold to their collections after they had left the U.S. Army team.

Craig Girard won his last 8-way world championship title at the Tanay Mondial 2020, while Matt Davidson was still in the GKXP8 lineup who broke or tied all previous 8-way indoor and outdoor record averages, including the historic 32.5 at the indoor world championship in this month.

Matt Davidson would have even broken Scott Rhodes' record number of six consecutive 8-way gold medals (1987 - 1997) had he not missed the Tanay Mondial 2020, due to an overdue hip surgery. However, he was back in action soon to win two more gold medals in 2022 and 2024. Matt Davidson now finally takes a voluntary and well deserved break from most intensive training and competition, and he shared information, experiences and stories for his new NSL Profile. Matt Davidson is a journalist himself by passion. He has been a podcaster with his A Champion's Journey show. He provides his own memories in his own humble style, which created the content for the NSL Profile.

FAI 4-way and 8-way outdoor world champions between 1985 and 2024

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Matt Davidson collected all of his six FAI world championship gold medals in 8-way competition between 2012 and 2024, which still sets him currently tied in 3rd place of both traditional Formation Skydiving competition events, 4-way and 8-way. However, he was always ready to compete in 4-way on the world's highest level, as well.

He was almost always on the Golden Knights 4-way lineups, as well, when he competed with the U.S. Army's 8-way team, last time in 2019, together with his wife, 4-way Women world champion of 2016, Jennifer Davidson. The same year later, he was called to a different 4-way task when Arizona Airspeed had to replace Ari Perelman just a few months before the USPA Nationals 2019.

The 4-way experience with Arizona Airspeed was probably a lasting one, as well, as the reigning U.S. 4-way champions since 2007 from Arizona had to go into the dramatic finish with an extra round against SDC Rhythm XP. Airspeed just had not had enough time for training with the emergency lineup and Matt Davidson until the national championship. Airspeed won the FAI gold medals in the re-match at the FAI Outdoor World Cup a month later with the same lineup easily, before Matt Davidson took his break for the hip surgery. He came back after missing the Tanay Mondial 2020 in August 2021 and joined XP8 for four more years and two more FAI 8-way gold medals at the outdoor world championships in 2022 and 2024.

FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		13,11,16		P,22,4		O,7,21		9,20,G		18,15,L		K,10,3		6,14,C		1,M,A,17		F,D,Q,8		2,5,E		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	20	-1	22		28		29		21		21	-1	21	-2	29		31	-2	24	-2	246	24.6
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19	-1	22		25		21	-2	20	-1	20		23		25		29	-1	24	-2	228	22.8
3	Airspeed Odyssey	US	14	-2	17	-2	22	-2	21	-2	18	-1	16	-3	21		23		26	-3	17	-2	195	19.5
4	Defiance	US	17		17		21	-1	22		16	-2	15	-2	21		20	-2	26		16	-2	191	19.1
5	Aerodyne Cypres Lille-Bondues	FR	15	-1	16		19		21		16	-1	17		18		22		25		21		190	19.0
6	Echochamber	SE	17		14	-3	22		20	-3	17		16	-1	19		20		23	-1	21		189	18.9
7	Chimera	UK	14	-1	16	-1	21		19	-1	17		16	-1	18	-1	22		26	-1	18	-1	187	18.7
8	Pro Team	FI	15	-1	18		20		17	-1	17		15		18		21		26		18	-1	185	18.5
9	Kinetix	AU	14	-1	17		19		19		15	-1	17		18		19		23	-1	16		177	17.7
10	China	CN	12	-1	17		19		17	-1	14	-1	13	-1	16		20		24		15	-1	167	16.7
11	Eros	UK	12	-2	16		20		18		15	-1	13	-2	12	-4	17	-1	22		16	-1	161	16.1
12	eX3MO	IT	13		13	-2	17	-2	13	-4	12	-1	14		13		16	-1	22	-2	14		147	14.7
13	Pajama Pumas	UK	10	-2	12		17		14	-1	13		12		15		16		15	-2	13		137	13.7

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Arizona Airspeed with Matt Davidson at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019

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Matt Davidson has an unlimited amount of experiences and stories in his repertoire, and he does not mind sharing all with the public, while he is a very humble and quiet competitor at the same time. His funniest skydiving story is an experience with his wife Jennifer Davidson:

"During our first training jump on site, I lead the team into the landing area under canopy. I noticed the inflatable arrow in the landing area was pointing downwind. Some drop zones can be very particular and can become aggravated if you don’t land in the direction the arrow is pointing. Going against my intuition of landing into the wind, I opted to follow the direction of the arrow and proceed to land my team downwind.

"Normally, it wouldn’t have been too big of an issue but I failed to take into account the very thick, moon dust-like sand we were landing on. I tried to surf on top of the sand but instead, my feet instantly dug in with my face being the immediate second point of contact. My legs scorpioned over the top of my head as I scooped in copious amounts of sand through the open visor of my Cookie helmet. The many onlookers were highly entertained. It took months of tunnel training and jumping before i stopped finding sand in my jumpsuit and gear. The next day in Abu Dhabi, my wife Jen and I and some teammates were eating burgers adorned with gold flakes. I was thoroughly enjoying the tasty burger and commenting on the fancy gold flakes. Jen nonchalantly said, "Some days you eat gold, some days you eat dirt."