posted Jul 14th, 2026 - The NSL News has covered the dominant performance of the French national 8-way team, AethersNephtys, extensively in the aftermath of the FAI Indoor World Cup 2026. Ever since the conclusion of the competition at Weembi Lille in April, the formation skydiving community has discussed the team's potential to repeat a successful combination of 4-way and 8-way duties, with realistic chances of claiming double gold at the upcoming FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026.

However, French national coach Mathieu Bernier has made it clear that he has no intention of repeating that approach at the outdoor world meet at Skydive Arizona in October. He and his national teams in horizontal formation skydiving—Aethers in 4-way Open and Nephtys in 4-way Women—agree that they do not want to jeopardize their excellent opportunities to win world titles in their respective events. The commanding 20-point victory of AethersNephtys over second-place Paraclete XP8 at the Indoor World Cup may suggest that France has more than enough room to pursue another double-gold campaign in Eloy. From the outside, it may even appear that the French teams are poised to dominate both the 4-way Open and 8-way events. Mathieu Bernier and his athletes, however, have a much more cautious view of the outdoor competition.

Aethers have worked hard to establish and maintain their position at the top of the 4-way Open rankings. They are well aware that both the U.S. Army's Golden Knights and Belgium's NMP PCH HayaBusa are determined to challenge for the world title in October. HayaBusa coach Gary Smith recently pointed out that a merely average performance by Aethers, combined with peak performances from either the Golden Knights or NMP PCH HayaBusa—or even both—could create a very different picture at the FAI Outdoor World Championship. That assessment helps explain why Mathieu Bernier has shown no indication of assigning double duties to members of his 4-way teams. While the indoor results may have fueled speculation about another French sweep, the priority remains unchanged: maximizing the chances of winning the 4-way Open and 4-way Women world titles before considering any additional ambitions in 8-way competition.

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 and France at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020

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Mathieu Bernier was able to bring his French 8-way team up to speed very quickly for the FAI Indoor World Cup, where the indoor environment allows teams to build performance much more efficiently than in outdoor competition. Unlike indoor training, outdoor 8-way preparation requires extensive work on aircraft exits and freefall performance, making the transition from 4-way to 8-way far more time-consuming. Those additional demands appear to be the primary reason why Mathieu Bernier has shown no inclination to repeat the double-duty experiment in Eloy, despite the convincing indoor victory of AethersNephtys earlier this year.

He also knows that Paraclete XP8, the reigning U.S. outdoor world champion after winning the 2021, 2022 and 2024 world meets, is focused exclusively on defending its 8-way title. The American team is likely investing at least as much training time into the 8-way event as Bernier's 4-way Open team, Aethers, is devoting to preparing for its own title defense against the U.S. Army's Golden Knights and Belgium's NMP PCH HayaBusa, whose preparations are equally dedicated to 4-way competition. Mathieu Bernier is uniquely qualified to evaluate the challenges of combining 4-way and 8-way competition. As an active competitor, he came close to winning double gold at the Maubeuge 2008 World Championship, made history by capturing both titles at the Menzelinsk 2010 World Championship, and returned to double duties once again at the Dubai 2012 World Championship.

As French national coach, he revived the concept at the postponed Tanay 2021 World Championship by combining members of Aethers and Nephtys into the national 8-way team. The experiment produced one of France's strongest outdoor 8-way performances. After seven completed rounds, the French team trailed Airspeed XP8 by only a single point, 165-166, before deteriorating weather forced the cancellation of the remaining rounds. The championship, delayed by one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, ended with one of the closest 8-way title contests in recent history and demonstrated that Bernier's double-duty concept could challenge the world's best even in the more demanding outdoor environment.

FAI Tanay Mondial 2020			1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		O,19,Q,5		17,B,E,P		H,15,12		M,N,7,F		K,L,C,4		J,18,16		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		41	-1	23		43		30	-4	24	-1	193	32.2
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	25	-2	35	-5	22		39		26	-4	22		169	28.2
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-1	38	-2	19		34		26		19	-2	160	26.7
4	Aerodyne Cypres Lille	FR	23		33		19		32		24		21		152	25.3
5	Papea Masculino	ES	18	-2	27	-2	14		24	-4	19		16	-1	118	19.7
6	Kazakhstan	KZ	19	-1	23	-1	13		24	-1	17		15		111	18.5
7	Out of the Blue	NL	12	-2	25		15		23	-2	18		15	-1	108	18.0
8	Adventure Flyers	PY	12		15		11		14	-1	14		7		73	12.2
9	Indonesia	ID	3	-2	6	-1	1	-3	10	-4	1	-2	5	-1	26	4.3

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France 4-way Open at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020

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While the shortened championship left competitors wondering what might have happened over the remaining rounds, the French team's silver-medal performance—with the country's two national 4-way teams combined into the 8-way lineup—confirmed France's place among the world's elite 8-way nations and demonstrated the competitive potential of the double-duty concept. The one-point margin remains one of the closest finishes in modern FAI 8-way World Championship history. No complete 4-way team has ever added an 8-way outdoor world title at the same FAI World Championship. Mathieu Bernier came closest as an individual competitor, winning both the 4-way Open and 8-way world titles in 2010. More recently, Jeana Billings achieved the same feat in 2024, earning world titles in both 4-way Women and 8-way. However, no entire 4-way lineup has ever completed the historic double.

France's last attempt with complete 4-way lineups in the national 8-way team came at the postponed World Championship in Tanay in 2021. The experiment produced silver medals in both the 4-way Women and 8-way events, while the 4-way Open team narrowly missed the podium and left without a medal. The circumstances are different in 2026. Aethers arrive as reigning Indoor World Cup champions in 4-way Open, Nephtys claimed the silver medals in 4-way Women, and together they won the 8-way gold medals as AethersNephtys. On paper, those results make the historic achievement of double gold for a complete 4-way lineup appear more attainable than it did in Tanay five years ago.

The outdoor reality, however, is far less forgiving. Unlike the indoor season, the French 8-way team would have to overcome a fully dedicated and extensively trained Paraclete XP8 team that has focused exclusively on defending its outdoor world title. At the same time, Aethers cannot afford to divert valuable preparation from their own world cup title defense against the Golden Knights and NMP PCH HayaBusa. Those competitive realities explain why the likelihood of another French double-duty campaign in Eloy remains very small, despite the remarkable success of AethersNephtys indoors earlier this year.