posted Jan 13th, 2026 - Following coverage of the special history and relationship between Niklas Hemlin and NMP PCH HayaBusa, the next NSL News storyline shifted to a closely related topic. The change in the Arizona Airspeed lineup quickly became the main focus of the NSL News, beginning on January 3rd, and soon connected Niklas Hemlin and Michelle Karamon in several ways.

Niklas Hemlin openly shared his current situation with NSL News and its audience on January 10th. He provided insights into his career, his relationship with the Belgian national team, and his plans for the near future. Meanwhile, the breaking news about the Arizona Airspeed lineup returned attention to the current status of the reigning 4-way indoor and outdoor world champions—a topic in which Niklas Hemlin has played a major role.

Although Niklas Hemlin no longer trains or competes with Airspeed, the current developments remain directly connected to him. Two of his former world champion teammates, Joey Marshall and Chris Kuhlmann, selected Alisson de Vargas and Doug Hendrix as their new teammates after Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine did not continue following the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024. Niklas Hemlin was—and still is—at least consulting with his former teammates, now reduced to Joey Marshall alone. His involvement in the Airspeed situation continued indirectly when Michelle Karamon joined the team, a move that required her to leave Niklas Hemlin’s Tunnel Vision indoor project team.

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NSL Live Talk with Michelle Karamon

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The NSL Live Talk conversation with Niklas Hemlin took place just a few days after the Airspeed announcement of the new lineup. Naturally, Niklas Hemlin was aware that Michelle Karamon was a very strong candidate for the open slot, as they had lived, trained, and competed together for many years. They even shared the top positions on the 8-way podium at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020, with their names engraved together on the William H. Ottley Sword awarded to the 8-way world champions, also known as the 8-way Excalibur.

It took some time before Michelle Karamon was ready to share insights into her own situation. She made herself available on Tuesday after returning to Arizona, which will now be her primary home base for the next three years. Previously, she spent most of the year in North Carolina while training and competing with XP8 and XPG4.

Michelle Karamon is originally from the U.S. East Coast. She and her new Airspeed teammate, Doug Hendrix, met even before she joined Ranch 2nd Generation (R2G) in 2016, as both were affiliated with the University of Connecticut college teams. Doug Hendrix competed with CT True Blue as early as 2014, and R2G regularly competed at the indoor competitions at SkyVenture New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Indoor Skyfest 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	Q,P,N	7,9	L,E,A	D,G,K	B,M,9	H,C,A	Q,K,7	B,9,O	L,M,F	P,J,7	Total	Avg
1	2nd Generation	23	19	24	20	27	17	22	24	42	22	240	24.0
2	CT True Blue	20	15	17	14	19	17	15	18	32	16	183	18.3
3	No Name 4 You	9	17	16	13	20	15	17	20	30	19	176	17.6
4	IDGAA	19	15	15	7	22	18	10	19	29	12	166	16.6
5	Volantus	19	13	16	13	16	19	16	15	24	14	165	16.5
6	Slippery Grippers	16	13	14	15	19	18	15	16	22	15	163	16.3
7	Shut the Shell Up	13	14	15	12	16	16	15	15	20	16	152	15.2
8	Goldman Nights	15	13	16	6	16	16	13	16	21	14	146	14.6
9	Ride it ‘cause you stole it	9	9	10	12	12	10	14	12	23	13	124	12.4
10	Four Fold	8	9	9	8	11	11	12	12	19	12	111	11.1
11	YOLOSamUniCorners	10	8	8	4	14	8	9	11	24	12	108	10.8
12	Luau	11	9	8	10	9	11	11	12	14	10	105	10.5
13	Gypsy Moths	12	8	7	10	12	9	4	13	15	9	99	9.9
14	Excelsior	9	6	8	6	12	8	6	11	13	6	85	8.5
15	Where’s Costanza	4	6	5	6	11	5	5	11	12	7	72	7.2
16	Sloppy Seconds	8	3	5	2	9	8	7	11	11	5	69	6.9
17	The Hungry Omnomnomvnivores	1	4	4	8	10	7	7	7	12	8	68	6.8
18	Doug’s Getting Maried	4	1	2	6	9	6	4	4	9	4	49	4.9

In fact, three members of the current Airspeed lineup competed at SkyVenture New Hampshire’s annual indoor competition of 2016. Michelle Karamon and Joey Marshall competed with Ranch 2nd Generation (alongside Brenn Richards and Terry Seaworth), while Doug Hendrix competed with CT True Blue (Jenna Chiaradio, Josh Reinert, and Alex Teskey). The two teams finished in first and second place, respectively, among 18 A-Class teams that year.

Now back in Arizona, Michelle Karamon also reconnects with Eliana Rodriguez, as the NSL News reported on January 4th. Michelle Karamon is pursuing the unique triple-gold achievement available only to female 4-way competitors: FAI world championship gold medals in 4-way Open, 4-way Women and 8-way. She would accomplish this feat in a different order than Eliana Rodriguez.

The NSL News also recently covered the new Airspeed slot assignments in an update published on January 5th. Based on the competitive history of Joey Marshall and the three new team members, the expected slot assignments appeared relatively easy to predict. However, Michelle Karamon noted that the slot configuration is not yet finalized, and the outcome of all considerations will be published soon. There is limited time to train in the final lineup, as the new Airspeed team plans to compete at the upcoming Wind Games. NSL News recently reported on the slot scramble of the French Aethers, and Airspeed’s remaining uncertainty—perhaps the final three percent—may still produce some surprises as well.