posted Oct 16th, 2026 - The NSL News published its last update on the Fun Flag situation on July 20th, followed by additional information a day later. Those updates were an almost desperate appeal to restore the Fun Flag to its original purpose and make it part of the formation skydiving community and its events once again.

It was a welcome development when competitors at other skydiving events decided to fly the Fun Flag at their own competitions, adding an extra element of fun while reminding participants of another important aspect of competition. However, the Fun Flag was created by the formation skydiving community and remains its original property. Its purpose is not to be possessed and hidden away, but to fly at events across the skydiving community — especially at formation skydiving competitions.

Nothing has changed since the previous update and reminder, except for one encouraging development. A photograph provided by Bert Ham, Chief Judge at the World Cup of Speed Skydiving in Hohenems, Austria, earlier this year and in Eloy confirmed that the Fun Flag had been present at that event. Ham shared the photo in Eloy. With the Speed Skydiving and Formation Skydiving events taking place at the same location this year, there is renewed hope that the Fun Flag will once again be seen and enjoyed by the skydiving community that originally created it, after three years in unintended hiding.

FAI World Meet 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 10		21,L,B,G		22,18,17		19,7,O		J,16,12		10,A,D,15		Q,M,F,C,N		H,20,P,13		6,14,11		E,2,5		4,1,3		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	32		21		27	-2	24		22	-3	62	-2	22	-2	20	-1	27	-1	22		279	27.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	-5	21		27	-1	24		24	-1	60	-1	26		22		27		20		277	27.7
3	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	29	-1	19		24	-2	23		24		52	-3	20	-3	17	-3	24		19		251	25.1
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	-2	14	-1	24	-1	21		22		53	-4	21	-1	18		20		17		234	23.4
5	Echochamber	SE	25	-1	16		21	-1	17	-2	20	-1	48	-4	14	-3	18		21	-1	15	-1	215	21.5
6	Amnesya	IT	24	-2	14		20	-1	18		18	-1	48	-5	18		14	-2	21	-1	15		210	21.0
7	Airheads	CH	22	-3	14	-2	19	-2	17	-1	18		44		16		16	-2	18	-1	17		201	20.1
7	Satori XL	UK	21		14	-1	21		19		19		37	-3	19		17		18	-1	16	-1	201	20.1
9	Evolution	CA	21	-1	13	-2	22		18	-1	15	-3	43	-2	15	-5	15	-2	19		15		196	19.6
10	Airbus FSZ Saar	DE	21	-1	14	-1	17	-5	17		16	-1	45	-1	15	-3	14	-1	18	-1	15		192	19.2

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France 4-way Open at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2018

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Returning to the latest developments in formation skydiving competition, the Dutch 4-way Open Class team Out Of The Blue was another new arrival on Thursday. The team’s newest and youngest member, Siem Ibens, was accompanied by his entire family. It was hardly surprising that original HayaBusa member Sven Ibens and Annelies Hasewinkel-Ibens would also make the trip to Skydive Arizona, even though the journey from Belgium is considerably longer than their trip to the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2025 at Skydive Teuge last year. The current NMP PCH HayaBusa lineup was also training on Thursday.

Niklas Hemlin continued preparing for the 8-way competition with Paraclete XP8 by still warming up actively with the Golden Knights. Team captain Jesse Stahler offered a new humorous explanation for the coach’s particularly active role just a few days before Round 1 begins on Monday. Sweden’s Echochamber had spent several days training at Oceanside in California, where the team’s sponsor is based. After completing that part of their preparations, the team traveled to Arizona and returned to training on Thursday.

An interesting story is also unfolding in the history and current landscape of 4-way Open Class formation skydiving. The NSL News has regularly pointed out that only two female competitors have ever won FAI 4-way Open Class gold medals: Natasha Montgomery in 2006 and Eliana Rodriguez in 2008.

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NSL TV Unfiltered: Thursday, October 15th, at Skydive Arizona

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Arizona Airspeed’s Michelle Karamon recently demonstrated at the USPA Nationals 2026 that she could be on track to become the third woman to win a 4-way Open Class world championship title, potentially in 2028. However, Clementine Le Bohec could beat her to that milestone, with the same opportunity beginning on Monday in Eloy.

Clementine Le Bohec is now the second French woman to compete in 4-way Open Class with the ambition of winning an FAI outdoor world championship gold medal. The only previous French woman to attempt the same feat was Laurence Herve, who competed in 2016 and 2018 and won bronze medals on both occasions. Damien Gouriou, Clementine Le Bohec’s current teammate at Aethers Lille, was also part of the French lineup at both world championships. Aethers Lille’s two expected strongest opponents, Golden Knights and NMP PCH HayaBusa, have their own ambitions at the top of the leaderboard. Both teams must maintain all-male lineups because they also represent their countries in military CISM competitions, where separate leaderboards are maintained for all-male and all-female teams.

For HayaBusa’s Dennis Praet, there is an additional incentive to prevent the French team from taking the gold. Another 4-way gold medal would bring him level with Mark Kirkby at the top of the all-time list of the most successful 4-way competitors, disregarding the camera slots. Dennis Praet could then claim the outright lead at the next world championship in 2028, which is the ultimate goal for the current HayaBusa lineup.

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4-way Open Class outdoor world champions between 1985 and 2024

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