posted Sep 12th, 2026 - The NSL News is taking one more look at the previews for the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026 with a special topic before turning its full attention to what is usually the world's largest national outdoor championship, the USPA Nationals 2026. Round 1 of the 4-way competition at Skydive Perris is scheduled for Monday morning.

The unusual Scandinavian connection in formation skydiving competition between Ditta Valsdottir (Thyra – Norway) and Mattias Nord (Echochamber – Sweden) is not a new topic. The NSL News covered it in an update on 17 January 2025, a few months after the conclusion of the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024.

In fact, an update published almost 18 years earlier, on 14 November 2007, covered Mattias Nord's transition from Sweden to Norway, where he continued his 4-way career with Norway's new national team Arcteryx. The article shed more light on this one of several transitions of 4-way and 8-way competitors from one national team to another. Mattias Nord met Norway's Ditta Valsdottir while training and competing in 4-way with Arcteryx. He has now been a member of Sweden's national 4-way team Echochamber for several years.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2024			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-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	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	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	19		21	-2	25		25		25	-1	20		19		17		21	-1	20		212	21.2
5	Echochamber	SE	17		21	-1	24	-2	26		22	-1	16	-2	20		14	-2	19	-1	17		196	19.6
Rank	4-way Women		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	XPG4	US	19	-1	22	-1	28		30	-1	28		20		20		18	-1	24		18		227	22.7
2	China	CN	18	-1	17	-4	29		27		28	-1	18		21		16	-1	21		17	-1	212	21.2
3	Nephtys	FR	17		20		27		26	-1	25		18		17	-1	15	-1	17	-2	16		198	19.8
4	Meltemi Oceanside Illertissen	DE	16		17		21		23		20		16		15	-1	15		19		17		179	17.9
5	Thyra	NO	12		14		18		14	-2	11	-5	13		12	-1	12		14		12		132	13.2

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Echochamber Oceanside - Thyra at the FAI Outdoor World Championships 2024, Video Footage Courtesy of FAI/ISC/InTime

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The NSL News story of the 4-way relationship between Ditta Valsdottir and Mattias Nord began with Norway's 4-way Open Class team Arcteryx, even though it also included Ditta Valsdottir's earlier years with Norway's 4-way Women team, the Norgie Girls. The team won FAI silver medals for Norway twice, at Spain 2001 and Gap 2003.

The earlier update in January 2025 then pointed out how this same relationship came to an interesting conclusion at Crystal Coast 2024. However, the previous related NSL News articles did not include the fact that this special 4-way relationship had actually begun even earlier.

In fact, it began in much the same way as it concluded at Crystal Coast 2024, where Ditta Valsdottir and Mattias Nord met again under circumstances similar to those of 2003. Ditta Valsdottir was competing with Norway's national 4-way Women team, Thyra, while Mattias Nord had been back on Sweden's national 4-way Open team, this time Echochamber since 2017.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 10		B,17,7	H,N,13,A	10,J,C,6	18,12,2	E,3,9	19,O,4	D,M,5,16	14,20,21	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	30	32	24	16	29	21	28	15	195	24.4
2	Maubeuge	FR	28	30	23	17	27	23	28	18	194	24.3
3	HayaBusa Defence	BE	27	33	23	17	27	22	25	17	191	23.9
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	28	30	22	16	28	20	27	17	188	23.5
5	Arcteryx	NO	27	29	21	17	25	21	26	14	180	22.5
6	Evolution	CA	25	27	22	17	24	18	26	16	175	21.9
7	Spin Team	IT	23	21	16	13	21	16	21	-	131	18.7
8	Dynamic Fource	NL	22	20	16	12	21	16	22	-	129	18.4
9	VIVA	CH	19	23	17	13	21	15	18	-	126	18.0
10	FSC Eisenach	DE	21	17	14	13	21	15	21	-	122	17.4

The situation in 2024 was similar for Ditta Valsdottir and Mattias Nord to what it had been in 2003. Both had trained and competed with the national teams of their native countries: Ditta Valsdottir with the Norgie Girls in 4-way Women and Mattias Nord with Phenix in 4-way Open. Phenix finished in 10th place, while the Norgie Girls won FAI silver medals at the second World Championship to include a 4-way Women competition. The two teams finished right next to each other on the combined 4-way leaderboard (AAA/Open/Women).

Echochamber has since moved up the rankings for Sweden and is now just outside the medal positions, while Thyra has developed into a medal contender in 4-way Women. This year's situation once again resembles that of 2003, when Ditta Valsdottir and Mattias Nord competed in different competition classes for two different countries.

Mattias Nord and Echochamber appear to face even stronger competition in the battle for 4th/5th place and the unofficial amateur world championship title than they did in 2024. Ditta Valsdottir and Thyra, meanwhile, are currently in a safe medal position, with only Dutch team Funky Falcon standing between them and the bronze medals. U.S. team Ranch TNT SDAZ is probably out of reach for Thyra this year.

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

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