posted Jul 28th, 2026 - The second outdoor world championship with separate 4-way Open and 4-way Women leaderboards took place in Gap, France, in 2003. The same three national teams that had competed for the inaugural FAI 4-way Women medals in Spain 2001 returned in Gap: the TNT Norgie Girls with the same lineup, along with Synchronicity and V-Max, both featuring personnel changes.

Sweden's 4 Pleasure, the bronze medalists in 2001, did not return two years later. Instead, the Norgie Girls renewed their duel with V-Max, and the final margin was once again three points. Meanwhile, Lise Aune successfully defended her bronze medal in 4-way Open with the DeLand Norgies, this time by a single point over Sebastian XL.

The top averages in the 4-way Women event were approximately two points higher than in 2001, improving from the 14+ range to the 16+ range. At the same time, Lise Aune and the DeLand Norgies secured third place in 4-way Open with a 20.6 average. The higher performance level in 4-way Women also moved the leading teams in that category farther up the combined AAA Class leaderboard. The British team V-Max broke into the Top 10 for the first time, a position that has since become the norm for the strongest 4-way Women teams at recent indoor and outdoor world championships.

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Golden Knights - Synchronicity at the Shamrock Showdown 2003

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The event in Gap 2003 also marked the debut of French 4-way Women teams in the new category. France had not entered a team in the inaugural 4-way Women competition in Spain 2001. The country's first all-female lineup finished in 5th place in the 4-way Women event and 17th on the combined AAA Class leaderboard.

All-female lineups were nothing new to 4-way competition in France. The Coca Cola 4-way team was a legendary all-female Formation Skydiving team of the 1980s, widely recognized as one of the best 4-way teams in the world. They competed in the 4-way Open Class and earned medal positions during an era before the dedicated 4-way Women category was introduced in 2001.

It came as no surprise that France would soon become one of the leading nations in 4-way Women. The 5th-place finish in Gap 2003 was followed by silver medals at Rijeka 2004. Between 2004 and 2024, French 4-way Women teams won eleven sets of FAI medals, including four world championship titles in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2018.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Women		1,11,12	M,J,E,10	K,16,6	13,14,5	D,22,4	9,C,Q,N	F,19,21	2,20,L	18,B,3	8,P,7	Total	Avg
1	V-Max	UK	11	19	15	15	14	28	17	15	16	15	165	16.5
2	Norgie Girls	NO	11	20	17	15	14	24	19	12	12	18	162	16.2
3	Synchronicity	US	9	19	14	14	12	22	17	14	16	16	153	15.3
4	Kewara	IT	11	15	14	14	14	22	16	14	13	15	148	14.8
5	France	FR	11	17	15	13	12	22	17	13	11	-	131	14.6
6	Chicas	DE	9	12	10	10	11	16	12	10	10	-	100	11.1
7	Belgium	BE	9	14	10	10	12	8	7	7	7	-	84	9.3
8	Finland	FI	7	7	9	8	8	12	7	9	8	-	75	8.3

Participation was lower in 2003, and only four teams advanced to the Round 10 finals in each event. As in the 2001 combined leaderboard, the ranking positions on the combined NSL News leaderboard are based on the total scores after Round 8, the last round completed by every 4-way team.

The 4-way Open Class leaderboard featured the Golden Knights 4-way team at its second outdoor world championship, following team captain Andy Gerber and his 4-way and 8-way lineups representing the U.S. delegation in Brazil 1987. Current team captain Jesse Stahler and his Golden Knights 4-way lineup will try this October to turn the U.S. Army's silver medals from 1987 and 2003 into gold at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026.

Their current rival from Belgium, NMP PCH HayaBusa, was not yet on the 4-way radar in either 1987 or 2003. However, Luc Verstrepen, who later became HayaBusa's inside center, and team videographer Danny Jacobs competed for Belgium's military NMPV lineup in Gap 2003. At the same time, the first civilian HayaBusa lineup—Andy Grauwels, David Grauwels, Sven Ibens and Roy Janssen, with Bruno van den Eede on camera—was beginning to take shape.

FAI World Meet 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Women Combined		1,11,12	M,J,E,10	K,16,6	13,14,5	D,22,4	9,C,Q,N	F,19,21	2,20,L	18,B,3	8,P,7	Total	Avg
1	Maubeuge	FR	16	26	23	19	21	37	24	21	19	23	229	22.9
2	Golden Knights	US	17	24	22	19	18	35	22	18	19	20	214	21.4
3	DeLand Norgies	NO	13	24	21	19	18	36	19	16	19	21	206	20.6
4	Sebastian XL	UK	14	22	21	19	17	34	21	18	19	20	205	20.5
5	Sinapsi PD	IT	13	24	22	17	17	32	22	18	18	-	183	20.3
6	Endeavour	CH	13	21	19	15	17	29	21	17	16	-	168	18.7
7	NMPV	BE	15	19	19	16	15	29	19	16	16	-	164	18.2
8	EADS	DE	14	19	17	15	15	26	17	16	16	-	155	17.2
9	Wild Wind	RU	15	22	18	15	18	22	17	8	-	-	135	16.9
10	V-Max	UK	11	19	15	15	14	28	17	15	16	15	165	16.5
10	Phenix	SE	13	18	15	15	16	23	18	16	-	-	134	16.8
12	Norgie Girls	NO	11	20	17	15	14	24	19	12	12	18	162	16.2
13	Spain	ES	12	17	14	15	17	23	16	14	-	-	128	16.0
14	Synchronicity	US	9	19	14	14	12	22	17	14	16	16	153	15.3
15	Kewara	IT	11	15	14	14	14	22	16	14	13	15	148	14.8
15	Denmark	DK	6	19	14	12	14	23	17	15	-	-	120	15.0
17	France	FR	11	17	15	13	12	22	17	13	11	-	131	14.6
18	Japan	JP	12	16	14	12	13	24	14	14	-	-	119	14.9
19	Netherlands	NL	11	16	14	13	13	21	15	11	-	-	114	14.3
20	Australia	AU	11	14	12	13	13	23	15	12	-	-	113	14.1
21	Bailey 5	ZA	11	10	14	11	13	19	15	13	-	-	106	13.3
21	Monkey Circus	AT	11	13	13	13	8	20	16	12	-	-	106	13.3
23	Canada	CA	11	15	13	11	12	18	12	12	-	-	104	13.0
24	Slovenia	SI	10	12	11	9	9	16	13	11	-	-	91	11.4
25	Chicas	DE	9	12	10	10	11	16	12	10	10	-	100	11.1
26	New Zealand	NZ	8	11	9	7	10	16	10	11	-	-	82	10.3
27	Belgium	BE	9	14	10	10	12	8	7	7	7	-	84	9.3
28	Finland	FI	7	7	9	8	8	12	7	9	8	-	75	8.3
29	Skyservice	CZ	5	8	9	7	5	11	10	8	-	-	63	7.9
30	Israel	IL	1	3	2	4	4	7	3	4	-	-	28	3.5