posted May 5th, 2026 - The official separation of all participating teams at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2026 into an embedded European Championship leaderboard—complete with a full set of FAI medals for the top three teams—had its greatest impact on the 8-way competition. Only four of the 13 teams (31%) were eligible for European Championship medals. By comparison, the 4-way Open Class included 12 of 26 teams (46%) on the European leaderboard, while the 4-way Women category featured seven of 13 teams (54%).

The FAI World Cup format allows more than just national teams to compete, as each country can enter up to four teams per event. However, the separate European leaderboard excludes non-European teams and limits rankings to one team per nation, in line with FAI World Championship rules.

As a result of these combined restrictions, the number of ranked teams on the FAI European Championship leaderboard is significantly reduced, leaving several other European teams without a place in the standings.

FAI Indoor World Cup 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		J,20,C,4		10,O,L,M		B,21,N,H		14,F,3		18,16,9		E,6,8		19,1,Q		G,5,12		P,D,17,22		15,11,2		Total	Avg
1	Aethers Nephtys	FR	37		32		37		37		33		29	-1	32		29		32	-1	32		330	33.0
2	Paraclete XP8	US	36	-2	33		29	-3	34	-2	27	-3	27	-1	30		30	-2	33	-2	31		310	31.0
3	D'Arc8	FR	36		28	-1	31		32	-2	30		28	-2	29		30		33		32		309	30.9
4	Nova	FR	28	-1	25	-1	27		28		25		23	-1	26		25		30		27		264	26.4
5	China	CN	23	-2	26		22		24		23	-1	22		23	-2	20		22		21		226	22.6
6	FLY X8	IT	25		23		22		22		22	-1	21		23	-1	17		20	-1	19		214	21.4
7	Netunos	BR	20	-3	19	-3	18	-2	20	-1	21	-1	21		18		20		22	-1	18		197	19.7
8	Airbus	DE	20	-1	21		19		21		20		17		19		19		21		18		195	19.5
9	Octobuzz by Banter	UK	21		17		19		19	-1	18	-1	16	-1	17		17		17		18		179	17.9
10	Infinite Octane XP	US	20	-1	19		16	-1	18	-2	17	-1	14	-3	18	-1	18		19		15	-1	174	17.4
11	Chicanovas	DE	20	-1	17		16	-2	20		16	-1	17		17	-1	17	-3	15		14	-2	169	16.9
12	Deton8	UK	13	-1	15		14	-1	15		14		14		13	-1	15		13	-1	13		139	13.9
13	Elev8	UK	10	-5	15	-2	15	-1	14	-1	13	-2	16		17		13	-1	12	-2	13	-1	138	13.8

The 8-way leaderboard at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2026 actually featured only three teams from outside Europe: Paraclete XP8, China’s 8-way team, and Brazil’s Netunos. The remaining ten teams were all European, yet only four of them appeared on the official FAI European Championship leaderboard.

Applying FAI World Championship rules to the European Championship creates situations where multiple teams from the same country can rank higher overall than the top team from another nation—yet only one of them is eligible for the European standings. This was clearly evident at Weembi Lille, where three French 8-way teams finished ahead of all other European competitors on the World Cup leaderboard.

Aethers Nephtys (1st) and D’Arc8 (3rd) secured World Cup medals, while Nova, in 4th place, finished 50 points ahead of Italy’s Fly X8 lineup after ten rounds. Despite this, Italy claimed the European silver medal, while Nova received no recognition on the European podium. Under the World Cup format, the French teams would have completed a clean sweep of the European Championship podium.

FAI European Indoor Championship 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		J,20,C,4		10,O,L,M		B,21,N,H		14,F,3		18,16,9		E,6,8		19,1,Q		G,5,12		P,D,17,22		15,11,2		Total	Avg
1	Aethers Nephtys	FR	37		32		37		37		33		29	-1	32		29		32	-1	32		330	33.0
2	FLY X8	IT	25		23		22		22		22	-1	21		23	-1	17		20	-1	19		214	21.4
3	Airbus	DE	20	-1	21		19		21		20		17		19		19		21		18		195	19.5
4	Octobuzz by Banter	UK	21		17		19		19	-1	18	-1	16	-1	17		17		17		18		179	17.9

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Amnesya Fly X8 (IT) - Airbus 8 (DE) - Octobuzz by Banter (UK) at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2026

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It marked only the second time since 1985 that an Italian 8-way team has won FAI medals. Ex3mo claimed bronze at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2008 in Maubeuge. Only one member of the current Amnesya Fly X8 lineup may remember that event. Livio Piccolo was not part of the 2008 team, having already secured his own 4-way bronze medal two years earlier at Gera 2006 with Sinapsi. He remains the only Italian competitor to have earned FAI medals in both 4-way and 8-way.

The German 8-way team Airbus benefited in a similar way from the significantly reduced European leaderboard. They finished 8th overall in the World Cup standings, with six higher-ranked teams ineligible for European medal positions. While Airbus could not match the Italian team—competing in their first 8-way event together—they remained ahead of all three British teams and kept Germany’s second pickup team, Chicanovas, at a distance.

German skydiving veteran Thomas Spielvogel made what may be his final appearance with the Airbus 8-way team. He is now transitioning to Operation Adler, which will represent Germany at the FAI Outdoor World Championship. In Eloy, he will have a strong opportunity to help defend Germany’s bronze medal finishes from 2022 (Eloy) and 2024 (Crystal Coast). Unlike the indoor competition, there will be no separate European leaderboard, although the field will again be affected by the absence of teams from Russia and Qatar.