posted Jul 27th, 2026 - The NSL News reached deep into the archives on July 24th to review the combined leaderboard of the 4-way Open and 4-way Women events at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2001. It was the first outdoor world championship to feature separate 4-way Open and 4-way Women competitions, while both events still used the same ten sequences for their competition jumps.

The story pointed out that both events produced exciting and closely contested competition in 2001, even though the 4-way Women teams did not rank as highly on the combined leaderboard as they have in more recent years. Arizona Airspeed's new Vertical lineup (Craig Girard, Mark Kirkby, John Eagle and Neal Houston, with Mark Steinbaugh on camera) won the 4-way Open title by two points over France. The DeLand Norgies successfully defended their bronze medals against Sebastian XL after earning the third medal position for the first time in Australia 1999.

The U.S. team Synchronicity won the gold medals in the 4-way Women event after a four-team battle for the three medal positions. The TNT/Norgie Girls finished second, three points behind Synchronicity, while Sweden's 4 Pleasure claimed the bronze medals. Both British teams—Sebastian XL in 4-way Open and V-Max in 4-way Women—finished just outside the medal positions.

FAI World Championship 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Women Combined		8,19,24	A,L,22,H	E,10,D,11	21,6,4	B,18,C,14	G,5,20	2,1,16	M,K,12,9	15,23,P	O,17,Q,N	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	19	25	21	19	20	20	20	23	17	30	214	21.4
2	Maubeuge	FR	19	20	20	18	21	21	19	23	20	31	212	21.2
3	DeLand Norgies	NO	19	22	20	18	19	19	19	21	18	31	206	20.6
4	Sebastian XL	UK	17	22	20	17	18	19	19	21	18	28	199	19.9
5	Endeavour	CH	14	17	15	14	14	16	15	17	13	26	161	16.1
6	Sinapsi PD	IT	12	13	17	15	15	15	14	19	15	24	159	15.9
7	Germany	DE	13	13	15	15	16	15	14	18	13	-	132	14.7
8	Russia	RU	13	17	14	13	14	14	16	15	13	-	129	14.3
8	Belgium	BE	14	14	14	13	14	14	15	17	14	-	129	14.3
10	Japan	JP	14	14	15	14	16	13	11	17	12	-	126	14.0
11	Spain	ES	14	11	14	14	15	12	15	18	-	-	113	14.1
12	Synchronicity	US	13	13	13	12	14	14	15	16	13	24	147	14.7
13	Norgie Girls	NO	13	15	15	13	13	12	13	15	13	22	144	14.4
14	4 Pleasure	SE	13	15	14	13	14	14	14	15	12	19	143	14.3
15	Netherlands	NL	13	16	14	13	14	12	13	14	-	-	109	13.6
16	V-Max	UK	9	15	14	12	14	14	13	16	13	21	141	14.1
17	Australia	AU	13	11	15	14	10	14	15	11	-	-	103	12.9
18	Voodoo	ZA	11	14	13	12	13	13	11	15	-	-	102	12.8
19	Canada	CA	10	11	11	12	11	12	13	13	-	-	93	11.6
20	Russia	RU	11	11	12	12	9	12	12	13	11	12	115	11.5
21	South Africa	ZA	12	12	11	9	11	8	11	13	10	16	113	11.3
22	Croatia	HR	9	11	11	11	12	10	9	13	-	-	86	10.8
23	Brazil	BR	10	11	9	9	10	10	11	12	-	-	82	10.3
24	Ireland	IE	10	11	10	9	8	9	11	10	-	-	78	9.8
25	Italy	IT	10	10	11	9	5	11	11	9	11	-	87	9.7
25	Denmark	DK	8	10	11	8	9	9	10	11	-	-	76	9.5
27	Austria	AT	5	9	7	10	11	10	8	12	-	-	72	9.0
28	Parat	DE	8	10	8	7	9	9	9	9	6	-	75	8.3
29	Portugal	PT	7	3	8	10	9	9	9	11	-	-	66	8.3
30	Czech Republic	CZ	7	9	4	8	11	5	10	11	-	-	65	8.1
31	Lithuania	LT	8	7	6	8	8	9	7	8	-	-	61	7.6
32	Argentina	AR	5	8	6	9	7	7	5	8	-	-	55	6.9
33	Israel	IL	6	8	4	9	5	5	8	9	-	-	54	6.8
34	Spain	ES	4	7	6	4	8	6	4	9	5	-	53	5.9
35	Slovakia	SK	5	8	7	8	7	7	5	0	-	-	47	5.9
36	Finland	FI	4	8	7	9	5	7	5	2	-	-	47	5.9
37	Indonesia	ID	6	6	6	5	5	6	5	6	-	-	45	5.6
38	Turkey	TR	5	5	4	7	7	5	5	6	-	-	44	5.5
39	Slovenia	SI	8	10	9	9	3	0	0	4	-	-	43	5.4
40	Austria	AT	6	4	5	4	3	6	5	7	6	-	46	5.1
41	Poland	PL	5	6	5	3	2	7	1	9	-	-	38	4.8
42	Colombia	CO	3	3	5	1	3	4	6	5	-	-	30	3.8
43	Korea	KR	2	4	2	6	3	0	0	6	-	-	23	2.9
44	Zimbabwe	ZW	2	3	1	4	1	3	3	4	-	-	21	2.6

The FAI Outdoor World Championship 2001 became the most successful event in Formation Skydiving history for the Norwegian delegation, with bronze medals in 4-way Open and silver medals in 4-way Women. Both teams repeated their success two years later at Gap 2003 with the same lineups. The DeLand Norgies competed with Lise Aune, Pål Kolbenstvedt, Carl-Erik Tuv and Torstein Valen, while the Norgie Girls featured Ine Mørch, Line Søvik, Trude Sviggum and Ditta Valsdottir.

The DeLand Norgies held on to a one-point lead at the finish, once again ahead of Sebastian XL in 4th place. This time, the Norgie Girls finished three points behind the British 4-way Women team V-Max. Norway did not produce a 4-way world champion during that era. However, the DeLand Norgies, in particular, challenged the world's best 4-way teams for the top positions at three consecutive outdoor world championships (1999, 2001 and 2003).

Norwegian 4-way teams returned to the medal podium at an outdoor world championship only once after the successful 1999-2003 period of the DeLand Norgies in 4-way Open and the Norgie Girls in 4-way Women. Polaris (Ellen Burchardt, Sissel Maria Finnseth, Trude Sviggum and Kristine Willadsen, with Gudrun Rokne on camera) won the bronze medals in 4-way Women at the FAI Dubai Mondial 2012. After that, Norwegian teams disappeared from the top of the outdoor world championship leaderboards.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Women Combined		14,G,13		J,C,17,12		D,A,21,P		18,B,H,F		E,L,O,8		22,2,K		6,7,16		9,20,15		3,M,N,4		5,1,10		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	24		27	-1	33		36		31		23		26		26		25		22	-1	273	27.3
2	Aethers	FR	22		23	-4	33		32	-1	29		23		22		21		25		22		252	25.2
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	21		20	-3	26	-2	32		29	-1	20		21		20		19	-2	20		228	22.8
4	XPG4	US	19	-1	22	-1	28		30	-1	28		20		20		18	-1	24		18		227	22.7
5	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	19		21	-2	25		25		25	-1	20		19		17		21	-1	20		212	21.2
5	China	CN	18	-1	17	-4	29		27		28	-1	18		21		16	-1	21		17	-1	212	21.2
7	Nephtys	FR	17		20		27		26	-1	25		18		17	-1	15	-1	17	-2	16		198	19.8
8	Echochamber	SE	17		21	-1	24	-2	26		22	-1	16	-2	20		14	-2	19	-1	17		196	19.6
9	Airbus Illertissen Oceanside	DE	17		19		21	-1	26		23		16		19		15	-1	18	-2	16	-1	190	19.0
10	Agera	NO	14	-1	17	-2	18	-2	26		24		17		17		15		19		17		184	18.4
11	Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen	DE	16		17		21		23		20		16		15	-1	15		19		17		179	17.9
12	Out Of The Blue	NL	13	-1	17		22	-1	22	-1	22	-1	12	-1	19		14		18	-1	16	-1	175	17.5
12	Apex	UK	15		18		21	-2	25		21	-2	13	-2	18		14	-1	15	-2	15		175	17.5
14	Papea	ES	14	-1	15	-2	23		20	-1	23		14	-2	17		16		13	-1	15		170	17.0
15	Havoc	AU	13		13	-2	19	-1	16	-1	18		13		14	-1	12	-2	16		14		148	14.8
16	Netunos	BR	11		15	-1	17	-1	18	-1	19		13		15		10	-1	14	-1	12	-2	144	14.4
17	Thyra	NO	12		14		18		14	-2	11	-5	13		12	-1	12		14		12		132	13.2

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Agera - Thyra at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024

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Three-time bronze medal winner and DeLand Norgies tail Carl-Erik Tuv then launched a new 4-way project in Norway, which the NSL News first reported on 9 August 2019. The new 4-way Open Class team, Agera, posted its first scores (11.6 average) at the Norwegian Outdoor National Championship 2019.

The Covid-19 pandemic interrupted the team's early development, and Agera recorded its first scores at a major FAI event in Eloy 2022, finishing with a 16.6 average and 9th place. The team continued its steady progress over the next two years, improving to an 18.4 average and 7th place at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024.

In the meantime, Carl-Erik Tuv also built a new 4-way Women team, which began with a 10.0 outdoor average in August 2022. Thyra represented Norway at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2023 on home soil in Voss and followed up with another appearance at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024 at Crystal Coast. Both Norwegian teams are now registered for the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026. Agera is considered one of the strongest contenders for the unofficial amateur world championship title, while the new Thyra lineup has a realistic chance to contend for medals in the 4-way Women event this October.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Aethers	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Golden Knights	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Skywalkers Most	CZ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Airbus 4-way Illertissen	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Echochamber	SE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Agera Oceanside	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	SOAR	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Out Of The Blue	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Amnesya	IT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Papea	ES	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Savolo	ZA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Flyspot Sky4Four	PL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14	Netunos	BR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14	Havoc	AU	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16	Indonesia	ID	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Rank	4-way Women Power Rankings		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	China Hubei 1	CN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	Nephtys	FR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	NFTO	UK	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Ranch TNT SDAZ	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Thyra	NO	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	Funky Falcon	NL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-