posted Sep 22nd, 2026 - The USPA Nationals 2026 served as the qualifier for 4-way and 8-way teams in the United States planning to compete at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2027 in Brazil. Only Golden Knights (4-way Open), Ranch TNT SDAZ (4-way Women), and Paraclete XP8 (8-way) will represent the United States in the horizontal formation skydiving events at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026. The 4-way VFS competition has already been canceled due to an insufficient number of registrations by the deadline.

The biannual FAI Outdoor World Cup has its own rules, and the FAI/ISC rules and regulations allow each nation to register up to four teams in each of the three horizontal formation skydiving competition disciplines. The teams competing at the USPA Nationals 2026 were well aware of these rules, which applied to everyone from first place to the last place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard.

The USPA Nationals do not include a separate leaderboard for teams seeking to qualify for a position on a 4-way Women leaderboard at FAI/ISC events. USPA requires potential national teams in 4-way Women to register for the 4-way Open Class competition at USPA Nationals if they want to qualify for FAI World Championships or FAI World Cups.

USPA Nationals 2026		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	A,9,B,D		5,C,L,15		F,7,8		E,H,13,N		16,P,M,20		Q,G,11,21		4,12,17		22,O,2		19,6,J		18,1,K		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	47		25	-2	26		31	-1	26	-1	18		20	-1	20		23		18	-2	254	25.4
2	Golden Knights	38	-4	27	-1	25		30	-2	27	-1	19	-4	20		21		25	-1	19	-2	251	25.1
3	SDC Rhythm XP	31	-4	19	-3	20	-2	24	-3	21		17	-3	16	-1	19		20	-1	17	-1	204	20.4
4	Elsinore Elevate	35		19		21		22	-2	18		17	-1	15		16		16	-2	15	-1	194	19.4
5	Hammertime 2.0	27	-1	19		19		21	-2	19		16	-2	13	-1	16		17		14	-3	181	18.1
6	Four Warned XP	26	-4	15	-1	20	-1	21	-2	18	-1	16	-1	12	-3	16		18		13	-2	175	17.5
7	Ranch TNT SDAZ	28	-2	16	-1	19		21		17		13	-2	12		15		15	-1	14		170	17.0
8	Redline XP	24	-1	16		17		17		17		15	-1	11	-2	11	-1	16	-1	13		157	15.7
9	SDC Rhedux	24	-1	14		16	-2	16	-3	15	-1	14	-2	10		14		15	-1	13		151	15.1
10	Girls Will Be Girls	24	-1	13		15	-3	17	-1	14		14	-1	13		14		13	-2	13		150	15.0
11	Adorable AF	20	-2	14		15	-1	19		11		13		11		11	-2	14		10	-3	138	13.8
12	Chicken Bolts	16	-5	13	-2	15	-2	12	-4	12		13	-2	13	-1	12		10	-5	13	-1	129	12.9
13	Mercenaries	21		12		13	-2	17		12	-1	14		9	-1	11		9	-4	10	-1	128	12.8
14	Air Raid XP	21		10	-1	15	-2	10	-8	13	-1	14		7	-4	11		13	-1	10	-3	124	12.4
15	AeroGiRhls	12		8	-1	11	-1	14		9		8	-1	7		10		8		8	-1	95	9.5
16	Perris 3 D & Dan	13		9	-1	11	-1	5	-3	8		8		8	-1	8	-1	8	-1	8		86	8.6

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SDC Rhythm XP - Elsinore Elevate at the USPA Nationals 2026

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The U.S. delegation used the full four-team quota in 4-way Open at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025 (Golden Knights, SDC Rhythm XP, US Team One, and RhEvolution XP), while two teams (XP Angels and Perris 4ever) competed in 4-way Women at Skydive Teuge in the Netherlands.

Arizona Airspeed, Golden Knights, SDC Rhythm XP, and Elsinore Elevate took the first four places on last week's 4-way Open Class leaderboard. The strong Hammertime 2.0 lineup (Matt Davidson, Craig Girard, Jack Jefferies, Brian Johnson, with Taylor Buffington on camera) finished in 5th place, just outside the qualification positions for the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2027. A different Hammertime lineup (Eliana Rodriguez, Matt Davidson, Craig Girard, Andrew Happick, with Taylor Buffington on camera) had won the 4-way Open Class bronze medals at the USPA Nationals 2022, but did not follow up at Norway 2023.

However, Craig Girard and Taylor Buffington returned with US Team One at Teuge 2025, together with Michelle Karamon, Brenn Richards, and Niklas Hemlin. Michelle Karamon and Brenn Richards had finished 2nd at the USPA Nationals 2024 with XPG4, with Taylor Buffington on camera. They subsequently formed US Team One with Craig Girard for the Outdoor World Cup after no fourth team signed up for the U.S. delegation in Teuge. Hammertime 2.0 could compete in Brazil next year only if one of the four teams ahead of them decides not to compete at next year's Outdoor World Cup.

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Four Warned XP - Ranch TNT SDAZ at the USPA Nationals 2026

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Hammertime could not take one of the four spots in the U.S. delegation for 4-way Women, even though they finished ahead of all of the women's teams on the USPA 4-way Open Class leaderboard last week. Four Warned XP and Ranch TNT SDAZ were the highest-placing 4-way Women teams, finishing 6th and 7th, respectively. Two other teams with all-female lineups, Girls Will Be Girls and AerOGiRhls, also confirmed their intentions to register for the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2027.

Ranch TNT SDAZ was the most improved team on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, averaging 17.0 in Perris after posting a 14.1 average at the USPA Nationals 2025. Former Chimera (UK) and Tunnel Vision (US) member Laura Hampton replaced Angie Scoggins on very short notice, as the NSL News reported on August 29th. Laura Hampton, an unofficial amateur world champion with the British national 4-way Open Class team Chimera at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022, proved more than capable of filling the open slot and is now qualified to compete with Ranch TNT SDAZ next year.

The 17.0 average in Perris with Laura Hampton was still not enough for Ranch TNT SDAZ to win the 4-way Women competition. Jeana Billings and her newly formed Four Warned XP team (Laura Galdamez, Jill Stephenson, Christy West, and Youngsup Lee on camera) finished ahead of them. Girls Will Be Girls and AerOGiRhls were the two other 4-way Women teams that indicated potential plans to compete at the Outdoor World Cup next year.

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Girls Will Be Girls - AeroGiRhls at the USPA Nationals 2026

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