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The Golden Knights 8-way teams of the U.S. Army have contributed heavily to the account of the U.S. delegations in these 40 years of formation skydiving competition. In fact, the U.S. Army won ten of the 16 sets of FAI gold medals for the United States with their Golden Knights lineups. Additional names of Golden Knights members were also engraved on the 8-way Excalibur plaque when U.S. Army and Paraclete XP joined forces for the GKXP8 lineup and won 8-way gold medals at Crystal Coast last year.
The U.S. dominance has not been as overwhelming in 4-way as it has been in 8-way. U.S. teams won 4-way gold medals ten times at the same 21 world championships since 1985. Yet it seems to be difficult to comprehend that there is still not one single name of a Golden Knights member on the 21 plaques of the 4-way Excalibur. Arizona Airspeed (1995, 1997, 2001, 2008, 2012, 2022, 2024), DeLand Air Bears (1985), DeLand Majik (2004) and DeLand Fire (2006) collected the FAI 4-way gold medals for the U.S. delegations at world championships.
Eric Heinsheimer, John Hoover, Kurt Isenbarger and Chris Talbert competed for the U.S. delegation in Gap 2003, with Tal Hunter on camera. The Golden Knights had won a 10-round battle over Arizona Airspeed and DeLand Majik at the USPA Nationals 2002 and then ended up 15 points behind the French 4-way team on their home turf in Gap a year later.
The USPA Nationals 2002 was the last time that a Golden Knights 4-way team represented their country with a U.S. delegation at a world championship, and the 4-way Excalibur has not made it yet to the Golden Knights headquarters. The current Golden Knights 4-way team plans to change the situation and become the first U.S. Army 4-way lineup with their names on the sword's 2026 plaque. Team captain Jesse Stahler, with Nick Birkner, Mike Connors and Mitch Stockenberg in the lineup, Skyler Romberg on camera, are on their way to win this year's national outdoor championship as the first step of the journey to becoming 4-way world champions.
FAI World Championship 1987 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Avg | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | 4-way Open Top 10 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | Total | Avg | |
1 | TAG Team | FR | 13 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 134 | 13.4 |
2 | Golden Knights | US | 13 | 10 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 128 | 12.8 |
3 | Amadeus | AT | 12 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 118 | 11.8 |
4 | Italy | IT | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 116 | 11.6 |
5 | Russia | RU | 9 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 115 | 11.5 |
6 | Australia | AU | 10 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 114 | 11.4 |
7 | China | CN | 10 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 107 | 10.7 |
8 | New Zealand | NZ | 7 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 105 | 10.5 |
9 | Belgium | BE | 9 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 102 | 10.2 |
10 | Switzerland | CH | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 100 | 10.0 |
The Golden Knights are not in a secure position by now at all, as Arizona Airspeed will use the four months until the USPA Nationals to turn the table at the most important event for both teams in October, on their home turf in Eloy. Only the winner of this U.S. showdown will compete for FAI gold medals and their names on the 4-way Excalibur in 2026.
The Golden Knights had a 2-year head start with the current lineup, and they are ahead of Airspeed at the moment. They have to maintain the lead until October, which will be challenging enough with a very eager Airspeed lineup. After that, the even bigger job is still waiting. The French Aethers are far ahead at this point in time, and the Golden Knights travel to Europe soon for the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025 at Skydive Teuge in the Netherlands. They will try to get closer to the new indoor world champions, and they will have to defeat France in 2026 to get their names on the 4-way Excalibur for the first time in the Golden Knights 4-way history.
FAI World Championship 2003 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total | Avg | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | 4-way Open Top 10 | 1,11,12 | M,J,E,10 | K,16,6 | 13,14,5 | D,22,4 | 9,C,Q,N | F,19,21 | 2,20,L | 18,B,3 | 8,P,7 | Total | Avg | |
1 | Maubeuge | FR | 16 | 26 | 23 | 19 | 21 | 37 | 24 | 21 | 19 | 23 | 229 | 22.9 |
2 | Golden Knights | US | 17 | 24 | 22 | 19 | 18 | 35 | 22 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 214 | 21.4 |
3 | DeLand Norgies | NO | 13 | 24 | 21 | 19 | 18 | 36 | 19 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 206 | 20.6 |
4 | Sebastian XL | UK | 14 | 22 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 34 | 21 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 205 | 20.5 |
5 | Sinapsi PD | IT | 13 | 24 | 22 | 17 | 17 | 32 | 22 | 18 | 18 | - | 183 | 20.3 |
6 | Endeavour | CH | 13 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 17 | 29 | 21 | 17 | 16 | - | 168 | 18.7 |
7 | NMPV | BE | 15 | 19 | 19 | 16 | 15 | 29 | 19 | 16 | 16 | - | 164 | 18.2 |
8 | EADS | DE | 14 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 26 | 17 | 16 | 16 | - | 155 | 17.2 |
9 | Wild Wind | RU | 15 | 22 | 18 | 15 | 18 | 22 | 17 | 8 | - | - | 135 | 16.9 |
10 | Phenix | SE | 13 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 23 | 18 | 16 | - | - | 134 | 16.8 |