posted May 10th, 2025 - The latest NSL Profile features >Michelle Karamon, who is the 8th female formation skydiving competitor in the current list of 39 VIPs. There is a serious need to catch up for the NSL News, as the opening paragraph of the new profile story explains:

"Male formation skydiving competitors are still dominating the list of NSL Profiles, even though more than enough female competitors have accomplished the same in their careers and have been matching the performance quality of their male fellow competitors. There are too many examples to leave any doubt of gender equality in potential, talent, skills, experiences and accomplishments. Especially 4-way and 8-way formation skydiving competition offers an environment where even a freefall video would not show the difference between a female and a male performer."

The discrepancy in the proportions between featured female and male competitors is still not really evidence that the NSL News was biased. In fact, the very first NSL Profile was posted in April 2000, and it featured Eliana Rodriguez several years before she was recruited by Arizona Airspeed and became the only formation skydiving competitor in history who has won FAI gold medals in three different events, 4-way Women (2001), 8-way Open (2004) and 4-way Open (2008). Eliana Rodriguez' NSL Profile is one of the longest, and it required several updates, the last one when she was inducted into Skydiving Museum's Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

FAI World Meet 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 6		B,17,7	H,N,13,A	10,J,C,6	18,12,2	E,3,9	19,O,4	D,M,5,16	14,20,21	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	30	32	24	16	29	21	28	15	195	24.4
2	Maubeuge	FR	28	30	23	17	27	23	28	18	194	24.3
3	HayaBusa Defence	BE	27	33	23	17	27	22	25	17	191	23.9
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	28	30	22	16	28	20	27	17	188	23.5
5	Arcteryx	NO	27	29	21	17	25	21	26	14	180	22.5
6	Evolution	CA	25	27	22	17	24	18	26	16	175	21.9

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Airspeed Odyssey - France Maubeuge at the FAI World Championship 2008

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Michelle Karamon was well aware of Eliana Rodriguez' accomplishments and her unique position in formation skydiving competition, including the Hall of Fame membership. She remembered her, although they represent different generations in the sport. The NSL Profile stories include a favorite quote, and Michelle Karamon's goes back to Eliana Rodriguez: "Start before you're ready".

Michelle Karamon is not that far behind Eliana Rodriguez' accomplishments. She has her own two world championship titles in 8-way and added one in 4-way Women last year with XPG4. Now she is only missing the gold medal in 4-way Open that Eliana Rodriguez won in Maubeuge 2008, together with her husband Craig Girard.

She loves 4-way, "which consumes all my thoughts and dreams", as she mentions in her profile story. It probably means that she is still pursuing the ultimate goal in formation skydiving competition, the FAI gold medal in 4-way Open, and her name on the William H. Ottley Sword for the world champions, also known as the 4-way Excalibur. Her two former R2G team mates, Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann, won twice in 2022 and 2024, and they are not done yet. They did not ask Michelle Karamon to join the new Airspeed lineup, even though she would be ready for the highest level in 4-way Open.

Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		10,O,F,7		21,20,3		Q,G,2,5		B,19,P,1		H,9,11		16,14,6		K,E,A,22		J,15,8		4,C,12		17,N,D,M		Total	Avg
G	Aethers Medjay	FR	33	-1	22	-1	32	-1	32		36		27		35		23	-1	27		45	-1	312	31.2
1	Golden Knights	US	31		21	-1	27	-2	31	-1	34		23	-1	30		24		23	-3	40	-1	284	28.4
2	Tunnel Vision	US	30	-1	20	-1	27	-2	27	-1	32		24		31		24		24		38		277	27.7
G	Arizona Airspeed	US	29		21	-1	24	-3	26		32		23		29		24		22	-1	41		271	27.1
G	Qatar Lions	QA	27	-2	20	-1	23	-3	27	-1	27	-2	20	-1	26	-3	20	-2	22		37	-1	249	24.9
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	26	-3	17	-3	23	-3	26	-1	26	-4	18	-3	29		20	-2	22		37	-1	244	24.4
G	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	25		17	-2	24		24	-1	28		21		29		20	-2	20	-2	35	-1	243	24.3
4	Killers of Hopes and Dreams	US	23	-2	17	-2	24		23	-1	27		19		27	-1	20	-1	22		31	-1	233	23.3
5	XPerimental	US	25		15	-1	23		22		24		18		21	-2	19		19		28	-1	214	21.4
6	Buc-ee's and Boot-ee's	US	22	-2	15		19	-1	22		22	-1	18		22	-1	16	-2	19		22	-3	197	19.7
7	GPTNT	US	18	-1	15	-1	20		19	-1	21	-1	15		19		17		14		20	-1	178	17.8
8	Kirk and the Double D's	US	15	-4	12	-1	20		22		18	-1	15		19		15	-2	14	-2	27		177	17.7

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Tunnel Vision at the Wind Games and the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025

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She provided more than enough evidence for her potential when her partner Niklas Hemlin invited her to join the Tunnel Vision indoor team (Brenn Richards, Keith Connor). Niklas Hemlin was Joey Marshall's and Chris Kuhlmann's Airspeed world champion team mate in 2022 and 2024.

Tunnel Vision defeated the current U.S. indoor champions, the Golden Knights, at the Wind Games 2025. Then they outscored the new Airspeed lineup, with her former R2G team mates and reigning 4-way world champions, by six points (277 - 271) at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2025.

Her Tunnel Vision team mate Brenn Richards was the 4th member of the original R2G lineup, and she has been training and competing with Michelle Karamon and XPG4 since her comeback in 2021. Tunnel Vision is exclusively an indoor team and have not announced any plans for outdoor training and competition. However, Michelle Karamon continues with outdoor 4-way, including the development of the new XPG4 lineup, together with Brenn Richards, and she has additional 4-way plans for the 4-way Open Class competition at the USPA Nationals, as well. She may still try to follow Eliana Rodriguez' wisdom and pursue the missing 4-way Open Class gold: "Start before you're ready".