posted Jul 8th, 2025 - No country has won outdoor world championships in 8-way more often since 1985 than the United States. The U.S. national teams have taken home the William H. Ottley Sword for the 8-way world champions, also known as the Excalibur, at 16 of the 21 events since the current competition format was introduced in 1985.

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.

4-way and 8-way medals at FAI World Championships between 1985 and 2024

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Golden Knights 4-way teams competed twice for U.S. delegations at world championships in the past. The Golden Knights 8-way lineup with team captain Andy Gerber represented the United States in 4-way, as well, at the world championship in Brazil 1987. The double duties generated gold medals in 8-way and silver medals in 4-way. German TV producer Hans-Joachim Gally documented the event, and the show included an interview with Golden Knights member J.C. Coffman.

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

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FAI World Championship 1987, produced by Hans-Joachim Gally

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The current lineup focuses only on 4-way this year, after two years of double duties with GKXP8. They have been working closely together with coach Niklas Hemlin, Airspeed 4-way world champion of 2012, 2022 and 2024. They have defeated the new Airspeed lineup three times this year, first at the national indoor championship in February, and they confirmed their top position at two outdoor meets after that, first at the Shamrock Showdown in April, followed by the Paraclete XP Summer Classic last month.

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