posted Oct 21st, 2026 - Both days of 4-way Open Class competition featured a round in which point deductions rained down on teams from the judging room. This penalty storm struck first on Tuesday, with 24 deductions recorded in Round 3, and returned on Wednesday with another 24 in Round 8. The penalties affected not only the world’s top 4-way teams but also the entire 4-way Open Class field.

Only two of the 13 teams escaped the penalty storm in Round 3: Qatar Vortex and MeXtreme. In Round 8, three teams avoided this negative competition experience: Golden Knights, Flyspot Sky4four, and Random Fixation. Amnesya Fly X has yet to take to the air for Round 8, as the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026 is once again on a weather hold.

The damage to the 4-way teams in Eloy is not the only challenge facing the event. Spectators are also likely disappointed that competition-round videos cannot be reviewed on any of the participating online platforms—not on the official FAI/ISC platform, InTime, or the NSL website. The apparent cause is a widespread computing vulnerability affecting nearly all versions of the PHP programming language, which has forced governments and major websites worldwide to take services offline. Hopefully, FAI/ISC video services will be back online soon. In the meantime, spectators can continue watching the NSL TV video productions from Skydive Arizona.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		11,16,10		9,17,4		J,D,E,19		1,14,H		K,M,2,O		B,18,6		A,N,7,8		P,L,C,12		F,3,13		20,G,22		Q,15,5		Total	Avg
1	Aethers Lille	FR	18	-1	27		38	-1	23		33		25		26	-1	26	-3	-		-		-		216	27.0
2	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	21		26		32	-3	21	-2	31	-2	23	-1	27	-2	29	-1	-		-		-		210	26.3
2	Golden Knights	US	18	-1	25		33	-3	21		33		24		25	-2	31		-		-		-		210	26.3
4	Airbus 4-way Illertissen	DE	17		19	-1	25	-2	18		22	-2	18	-1	21		23	-1	-		-		-		163	20.4
5	Echochamber	SE	13	-2	19		25	-1	18		24	-1	18		22		19	-5	-		-		-		158	19.8
6	S.O.A.R.	UK	15	-1	16	-3	22	-3	18		22	-1	18		22		19	-1	-		-		-		152	19.0
7	Qatar Vortex	QA	13	-3	17	-2	27		16		23		16	-1	20	-1	19	-4	-		-		-		151	18.9
8	Skywalkers Most	CZ	13	-4	15	-3	26	-2	14	-3	22		19		23		18	-5	-		-		-		150	18.8
9	Out Of The Blue	NL	14		17		23	-1	13		25		18		19		17	-2	-		-		-		146	18.3
10	Flyspot Sky4Four	PL	9	-2	11	-2	12	-4	13		16		12		15		14		-		-		-		102	12.8
11	Random Fixation	AU	8	-3	14		14	-2	8	-3	15		14		13	-2	13		-		-		-		99	12.4
12	Amnesya Fly X	IT	12	-1	16		22	-2	15	-1	20		13	-1	-		-		-		-		-		98	16.3
13	MeXtreme	MX	7		9		9		8		11		5	-1	7	-2	7	-2	-		-		-		63	7.9

The InTime judging system remains fully functional, and the scores for all rounds, including the penalties and point deductions, are as accurate as they can be. Interestingly, the most damaging sequences in Rounds 3 and 8 were very similar. Both could easily have appeared at a CISM World Championship, where the Golden Knights and NMP PCH HayaBusa are experts at flying sequences featuring three random formations and one block.

In fact, Round 5 featured a third sequence of a similar nature (K, M, 2, O). The Golden Knights won the combined score for these three sequences by five points over NMP PCH HayaBusa (97–92). However, neither team could outscore the French civilian team Aethers, which tied the U.S. Army team across the same three sequences (97–97). HayaBusa and the French team both thrive on faster sequences. Round 8, however, featured the last of the faster sequences. This could make it easier for Aethers Lille to defend the lead they currently hold, with a six-point advantage over both challengers. Each of the final two sequences contains two blocks and one random formation.

The French team could even afford to give away two points in each of the remaining rounds and still win the competition by two points. That would make Clémentine Le Bohec the new female 4-way Open Class world champion, the third in history after Natasha Montgomery (2006) and Eliana Rodriguez (2008). She would step onto the 4-way Open Class podium alongside four new world champions from France. Aethers are now just two rounds and six points away from claiming the 4-way Open Class gold medals.

CISM 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		T	A
R	4-way Male - Top 2		M,O,P,2		M,L,14,Q		M,D,17,G		M,F,C,1		M,N,H,18		M,K,16,J		M,A,R,22		M,19,E,B		T	A
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	38	-	33	-	34	4	41	-	35		37	1	30	3	39	3	287	35.9
1	Golden Knights	US	35	2	33	-	35	3	43	1	32	2	37	1	31		40	2	286	35.8

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NMP PCH HayaBusa (BE) - Golden Knights (US) at the CISM World Championship 2026

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