posted Feb 21st, 2026 - A special treat awaited the audience at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2026 when the 8-way competition began. The event featured an international showdown, with Netunos from Brazil and Canada’s 8-way team competing on site, while Russia’s Tanay 8-way team participated remotely from Kemerovo, performing the same sequences simultaneously. XP8 had faced Tanay 8 in person at the Air World Championships in Abu Dhabi just a month earlier, and both teams agreed to continue their 8-way rivalry in this unique format.

The international matchup was not the only highlight of the 8-way event. The competition also marked a reunion of different generations of the Golden Knights. Former 8-way world champion team captains Sean Sweeney and Andrew Starr joined forces with their former teammate Mike LaRoche, along with current 4-way team captain Jesse Stahler and his full lineup.

4-way team videographer Skyler Romberg filled the final open slot, as Kurt Isenbarger was unavailable. In a very fast Round 1, both XP8 and the Golden Knights outscored the Tanay 8-way team competing in Russia. Kurt Isenbarger, Michael LaRoche, Sean Sweeney, and current XP8 member Matthew Davidson had previously met some of their Russian 8-way opponents at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 in DeLand, where they celebrated their long-standing athletic rivalry and friendship.

Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		8,7,E	O,4,14	Q,H,18,1	D,L,N,B,13	21,20,5	17,A,19	10,15,11	P,K,22,F	16,J,3	6,M,9	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	18	24	23	21	17	18	23	26	29	20	219	21.9
2	Barkli	RU	15	21	20	21	17	16	19	19	29	14	191	19.1
3	Dubai Asaar	AE	6	8	10	5	6	7	6	6	9	10	73	7.3

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Golden Knights and Russia 8-way at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012

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The 8-way competition at Paraclete XP opened with the fastest sequence of the 10-round draw, and the new XP8 lineup was ready to take it on. At the Weembinamic 2025, the previous lineup had narrowly missed a record score after receiving ten point deductions in Round 10 (3, L, G, E) for a sequence that had been publicly available for months prior to the competition. The French 8-way team Nova went on to win that round with a 51-point performance.

The current XP8 lineup responded by completing the next randomly drawn 8-way Super Sequence in Round 1 (16, N, 4) with 50 points. Nova and XP8 will face each other again when they apply the next 10-round competition draw at the indoor world cup in April. The captain of the French D'Arc8 8-way team, Martial Ferre, was present at Paraclete XP to witness XP8’s Round 1 performance. In fact, he also competed with one of the other 8-way teams following the annual Hell Week. Together with XP8’s Kirk Verner, he player-coached Infinite Octane to a 24-point score on the same sequence.

Martial Ferre’s French 8-way team at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019 at Weembi Lille still holds the standing indoor 8-way world record with a 44-point performance in Round 6 (M, Q, J, 16). His 2019 lineup included Pamela Lissajoux and Alban Rumolo, who are now part of the current Nephtys and Aethers lineups. Both are expected to return to 8-way as part of Mathieu Bernier’s double-duty plan at Weembi Lille this April.

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NSL TV Unfiltered: 8-way competition on Saturday - Round 1 XP8

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