posted Aug 20th, 2026 - There is more movement in the NSL Power Rankings for the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026 as more scores and information become available. Feedback from NMP PCH HayaBusa coach Gary Smith during the NSL Live Talk conversation significantly changed the preview leaderboard and was reflected in yesterday's NSL News update.

Gary Smith is no longer working with Qatar's formation skydiving delegation, although he remains well informed about the country's team development. He confirmed that the Falcons 8-way team is in full training with coach Jérémie Rollett, and he expects the Falcons to post their first 2026 scores after the conclusion of the German Outdoor Nationals 2026, where they are planning to compete as a guest team.

The confirmation of Qatar's 8-way participation pushes Germany's Operation Adler from the potential silver medal position down to 3rd place. In fact, the current NSL Power Rankings for the medal positions are identical to the final results at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024, where Operation Adler won the bronze medals for Germany. The rankings also match the 8-way medal positions from the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022, where the Airbus 8-way lineup won the bronze medals.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open Power Ranking		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Paraclete XP8	US	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	Operation Adler	DE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Netunos	BR	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Canada8	CA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Germany's 8-way Airbus team repeated its position in the nations' rankings at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025, where they finished behind Qatar and the United States with a lower meet average than they had achieved in 2022. The Qatar Tigers won the gold medals at Skydive Teuge last year and will travel to Arizona for a rematch with Paraclete's new XP8 lineup and a similar Operation Adler lineup to the one that competed in 2024.

The three teams currently expected to occupy the medal positions will probably not challenge each other too much without a major surprise. The Qatar Falcons were well behind XP8 in 2022 and 2024, and the new U.S. 8-way team should be as well trained as the previous lineups. The Netherlands and Great Britain competed in 8-way at the outdoor world cup last year but have not registered or confirmed 8-way participation at Skydive Arizona in October.

The Qatar Falcons are also very securely positioned in 2nd place. The gap to Germany's 8-way teams in 2022 and 2024 was almost identical to the gap between XP8 and the Falcons at both events. Qatar coach Jeremie Rollett will probably aim to reduce that gap and challenge XP8 as strongly as possible, round by round. Reaching a 20-average is another clear goal, and the competition in Germany at the end of the month should provide a great test before the team travels to Eloy in October. Operation Adler will have to fend off Brazil's 8-way Netunos and Canada's 8-way team to successfully defend the bronze medals won in 2024.

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FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		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	GKXP8	US	19	-1	21	-1	22		26		21	-1	21	-1	25		24		37		23		239	23.9
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	16		18		19		21		17		16	-1	20		19		25	-2	19		190	19.0
3	Operation Adler	DE	14		14		11	-2	13	-1	13		14		15		14		20	-2	15		143	14.3
4	Netunos	BR	10		8		9		8		5	-3	9		12		9	-1	12	-1	10	-1	92	9.2
5	Ap8thy	UK	11		6	-1	8		11		6	-1	6	-1	10	-1	8	-1	14		11		91	9.1

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Paraclete XP8 (US) - Qatar Falcons (QA) - Operation Adler (DE) at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024

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The low participation in 8-way is becoming a serious threat to the event itself. Six 8-way teams competed at Tanay 2021, including improvised teams from Kazakhstan and Belarus, followed by five teams at Eloy 2022 and five at Crystal Coast 2024.

According to the current FAI/ISC rules, a world championship competition requires a minimum of four teams; otherwise, the event is canceled. And that is not the end of the regulations: two consecutive world championships with four teams or fewer result in the permanent cancellation of the event. 8-way, 4-way Women and 4-way VFS are now getting dangerously close to the minimum participation levels. 4-way Open remains in a safer position, even though the number of participating national teams is also declining.

Four national teams are currently registered for the 4-way Women competition in Eloy, while only two are registered for 4-way VFS. The VFS competition may not even be held if no additional teams register. Late registration at a higher fee remains an option until a few days before Round 1, leaving national federations another two months to register teams for the most relevant event in the sport.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	Paraclete XP8	US	25	-1	20		20	-1	18	-1	18		19	-1	23		26	-1	16	-2	20	-2	205	20.5
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	21	-1	14	-2	16	-1	17		16		15	-1	19	-1	20	-1	14	-1	12	-4	164	16.4
3	Airbus	DE	18		14		14		13		4	-1	12	-2	16		16		12		14		133	13.3
4	MicroClim8	UK	16		9	-2	12		10		11	-1	7	-3	15		16		11		12	-1	119	11.9
5	Mojo Annecy-Clermont	FR	15		10		11		10		11		10	-1	8	-5	13		9		10		107	10.7

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Paraclete XP8 (US) - Qatar Falcons (QA) - Airbus 8-way (DE) at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024

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