posted Feb 17th, 2026 - French national coach Mathieu Bernier delivered surprising news to the teams traveling to the Indoor World Cup at Weembi Lille in April. The event includes an 8-way competition in the 16-foot flying chamber — only the third time in formation skydiving history that the FAI/ISC has included the 8-way event at an indoor World Championship or World Cup (2019, 2025, 2026).

The U.S. national 8-way team XP8 won all three previous events, each time with a different lineup and against different opponents. Only Jeana Billings and Kirk Verner were members of all three winning lineups.

The Indoor World Championship last year at Paraclete XP and the upcoming Indoor World Cup in April at Weembi Lille are separated by just one year. However, the XP8 lineup now includes only three of the reigning indoor world champions: Jeana Billings, Kirk Verner, and Matt Davidson — all of whom are also the reigning outdoor 8-way world champions. The changes to the XP8 lineups have been documented comprehensively by NSL News. Nevertheless, the U.S. team remains the leading contender for the next FAI 8-way gold medal, this time at the Indoor World Cup in April at Weembi Lille.

FAI Indoor World Championship 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		D,4,17		C,22,10		5,P,Q,18		1,M,J,O		16,6,19		H,8,21		12,13,A		L,G,K,9		15,F,7		E,2,N,B		Total	Avg
1	GKXP8	US	39	-1	30		31		40	-1	29	-2	24		28		32	-2	37		35	-2	325	32.5
2	D'Arc8	FR	38		26		26	-1	34	-1	24	-1	22		22	-2	27		29	-3	27		275	27.5
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	37		22	-4	26	-2	30	-5	25	-2	20	-2	22	-3	26	-2	24	-3	25	-3	257	25.7
4	China	CN	24		18	-1	19	-1	23	-2	22		17		18		19	-5	22		18	-3	200	20.0
5	Netunos	BR	20	-3	18		20	-1	23		19		13	-1	17		20	-3	13		15	-3	178	17.8
6	Team Canada	CA	18	-1	14		13	-3	17		15	-2	14		10	-3	17	-1	14		11	-2	143	14.3

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GKXP8 - D'Arc8 at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2025

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The news from France that Mathieu Bernier shared concerns his national delegation for the Indoor World Cup on home turf in April. He announced that three French 8-way teams will challenge the new XP8 lineup at Weembi Lille.

Two of the three teams already competed alongside — and against — a new XP8 lineup at the Weembinamic 2025, as NSL News reported on November 26th. The two French teams, Nova and D'Arc8, finished extremely close to XP8, with only seven points separating first and third place on the traditional leaderboard (295 – 294 – 288).

French 8-way team Nova is led by one of the most experienced competitors in the discipline, Emmanuel Sarrazin, while D'Arc8 features French formation skydiving legend Martial Ferre in its lineup. Both teams are ready to renew their rivalry — with each other and with the reigning U.S. indoor and outdoor world champions — at the Indoor World Cup in France. However, national coach Mathieu Bernier has introduced an additional strategic move to challenge the new XP8 lineup. Under FAI/ISC rules, up to four teams per delegation may compete at a World Cup. Mathieu Bernier has therefore recruited a third French 8-way team to represent the host nation in April.

Weembinamic 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		19,10,J		Q,5,M,8		11,P,C,16		D,1,N,22		9,H,15		13,2,21		O,12,17		20,A,6		18,F,4		3,L,G,E		Total	Avg
1	Nova	FR	21		24	-1	34		32		25	-1	21		29		26		32		51		295	29.5
2	Paraclete XP8	US	24		25	-1	34	-1	34		28	-1	20	-1	27	-2	25	-1	35	-1	42	-10	294	29.4
3	D'Arc8	FR	23		22	-1	33	-1	31		25	-1	20	-1	27	-1	29		30	-1	48		288	28.8
4	XONR8	FR	19		21		25		25		22		16		24		23		27		37		239	23.9
5	8 by Monaco	FR	20		20		18		23		20		19		21		21		30		39		231	23.1
6	Milko's Team	INT	15		18		19		20		17		15		17		18		20		30		189	18.9
7	XP1	US	13		14		17		16		14		13		16		16		20		28		167	16.7
8	Team Alban	FR	12		12		19		17		19		11		16		17		20		23		166	16.6
9	Octobuzz by Banter	UK	13		12		16		15		14		13		12		15		18		25		153	15.3
10	Crazy Weasel	DE	13		13		19		15		14		12		17		15		14		15		147	14.7
11	Banter Panthers	UK	11		12		15		13		12		10		13		14		16		21		137	13.7
12	Borsch Gang	INT	11		13		11		15		12		10		13		15		15		20		135	13.5
13	Pas Si Pire	FR	13		12		13		15		11		11		12		14		12		20		133	13.3
14	Octopucz	CZ	11		13		12		14		13		8		14		13		15		19		132	13.2
15	Skybumpers	FR	11		11		11		12		13		11		13		13		14		18		127	12.7
16	XP Threegles	US	10		11		12		12		10		10		13		14		14		17		123	12.3
17	Octagone	FR	8		13		11		11		7		7		6		13		11		16		103	10.3
18	XP2	US	8		6		7		9		9		7		10		9		7		8		80	8.0

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Nova - D'Arc8 at the Weembinamic 2025

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The two French national 4-way teams — Aethers in 4-way Open and Nephtys in 4-way Women — will compete at Weembi Lille in their respective primary events. In addition, they will join forces to form the extra 8-way team announced by Mathieu Bernier.

The French national coach is highly experienced in assembling combined 4-way and 8-way lineups. He performed double duties himself between 2007 and 2010, a period that culminated in gold medals for him only in both 4-way Open and 8-way at the outdoor World Championship in Menzelinsk 2010.

He revisited this strategy when organizing the French delegation for the FAI Tanay Mondial in August 2021. On that occasion, the national teams in 4-way Open and 4-way Women combined for the 8-way competition and mounted a serious challenge to XP8. After seven rounds, the two teams were separated by just a single point when the event was cut short due to adverse weather conditions in Russia. Both 4-way teams handled double duties in Tanay, and Mathieu Bernier is now applying the same strategy once again at this year’s Indoor World Cup. Aethers and Nephtys are strong contenders for FAI 4-way medals for France, and their merger creates an additional French medal contender in 8-way, alongside Nova and D'Arc8.

FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		O,19,Q,5		17,B,E,P		H,15,12		M,N,7,F		K,L,C,4		J,18,16		1,9,A		Total	Avg
1	Airspeed XP8	US	20		23		22	-1	23		31	-1	23		24		166	23.7
2	France National 8-way	FR	20		23		25		24		26	-1	25	-1	22	-1	165	23.6
3	Tanay 8	RU	18		21	-1	20		23		26		23		22		153	21.9
4	Qatar Falcons	QA	17		17		19		18		22		19	-1	19		131	18.7
5	Kazakhstan	KZ	5		9		6	-2	10		7	-1	12	-1	12		61	8.7
6	Belarus	BY	4	-1	6		4	-2	5	-2	7		8	-1	2	-1	36	5.1

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Airspeed XP8 - France 8-way at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2021

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