posted Nov 2nd, 2026 - The NSL News has covered the fascinating family relationships in 4-way and 8-way teams extensively over many years. Probably the most remarkable story in the history of formation skydiving competition came from Canada, where father Michel Lemay included his three sons, Martin, Vincent, and Benoit, in his own 4-way team, sharing many years of training and competition with them.

Evolution started with a 9th-place finish at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2006, without Benoit Lemay, who was still too young to be eligible for FAI/ISC events. Evolution moved up to 6th place at Maubeuge 2008, when Benoit took the fourth Lemay slot in the Canadian team.

The family's consistent progression continued, with Daniel Paquette on camera during the first six years. Evolution finished 5th two years later at Menzelinsk 2010, followed by 4th place at Dubai 2012. By then, Michel Lemay realized that the team needed fresh blood, and he made room for Katie Woods. The result was a 3rd-place finish for Evolution in 4-way Open at Prostejov 2013, along with additional bronze medals in 4-way VFS for Martin, Vincent, and Benoit Lemay, with Jean Christophe Ouimet filling the fourth VFS slot.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-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		Total	Avg
1	Paraclete XP8	US	22		19		17	-1	18	-1	20		19	-1	19		21		21	-1	20		196	19.6
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	18	-1	18		16	-2	19		19		19		17		16	-5	24		20		186	18.6
3	Operation Adler	DE	15	-1	14		13		14		11	-2	14		12		16		16		14		139	13.9
4	Netunos	BR	12		12	-1	11		11	-1	9	-2	11		10		10	-1	11	-2	10		107	10.7
5	Canada8	CA	10		9		7		9		7		11		9		8	-1	10		9		89	8.9

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Operation Adler at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026

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Richard Bisson, with his daughter Valerie and son Yannick in the 4Astrophe lineup, followed the earlier Canadian Evolution example for several years. 4Astrophe have not been active since 2025, while Richard Bisson is still training and competing in 8-way with Team Canada.

More recently, the German 4-way team Airbus Illertissen attracted special attention, not only for its 4th-place finish at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026 and the unofficial title of the new amateur world champion. The NSL News had also been paying special attention to the team's family relationships for some time, with father Thomas and son Tim Mack in the front piece of the current lineup and Moritz Mack on camera.

However, this German 4-way family team was not the only one at Skydive Arizona. The Operation Adler 8-way team also included a pair of brothers in its current lineup, Jörn and Max Thiele, who won 8-way bronze medals together. In fact, father Thomas Mack and his son Tim shared the same 8-way bronze medals with brothers Jörn and Max Thiele, as they were the official alternates for the Operation Adler 8-way team. For Thomas Mack and Jörn Thiele, it was already their second consecutive FAI bronze medal, as both had also been part of the active lineup in 2024.

German Outdoor Nationals 2009		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA Class	L,11,1	20,16,18	5,14,8	F,K,2,N	B,C,E,17	22,M,J,19	H,G,O,12	7,10,9	Q,21,D,15	13,4,P	Total	Avg
1	FSC Eisenach-Paratec	17	16	15	28	33	19	24	17	20	19	208	20.8
2	EADS	17	14	16	27	28	19	19	16	18	17	191	19.1
3	X-Ray Remscheid	17	13	15	24	29	19	17	17	17	19	187	18.7
4	Chicas	15	13	14	22	24	18	19	16	17	16	174	17.4
5	Incognito Leutkirch	15	12	13	23	21	16	19	17	17	16	169	16.9
6	Final Four	14	11	10	21	22	16	17	15	14	14	154	15.4
7	Air Bubbles	12	10	11	15	16	12	14	12	11	11	124	12.4
8	BemH Asyl Kassel	11	10	8	16	15	13	14	13	11	11	122	12.2
9	Paranodon Illertissen	11	10	10	14	16	10	14	12	10	12	119	11.9
10	Sky Five	11	9	9	14	15	11	12	11	11	11	114	11.4
11	Triple X	8	9	9	15	16	10	14	11	8	12	112	11.2
12	Neva	8	9	9	14	14	11	13	11	10	10	109	10.9
13	O2 und Freunde	10	7	8	12	14	7	12	10	10	11	101	10.1

Jörn Thiele's younger brother Max had already won his first 8-way bronze medal in Eloy 2022, where he competed alongside several other Operation Adler members for the Airbus 8-way team. Then he rejoined his brother Jörn Thiele in the active Operation Adler lineup last month.

In fact, the German 4-way brothers Jörn and Max Thiele were members of the first German 4-way team to break through the 20-point average benchmark. They achieved this a few times at shorter meets in 2007 and 2008, together with Markus Bastuck and Dieter Schwarz, Alexander Hau on camera, before recording a 20.8 average over ten rounds at the German Outdoor Nationals 2009.

The two German Thiele brothers faced the three Canadian Lemay brothers three times at outdoor world championships (2008, 2010, and 2012) and finished behind the Canadians on each occasion. Jörn Thiele continued for a few more years with a new Paratec-Saar lineup, before both Thiele brothers stepped away from intensive 4-way training and competition. They concluded the most active period of their competition careers with 4-way and 8-way double duties at Dubai 2012, where they finished 8th in 4-way and 4th in 8-way. Their 14.8 average at Dubai 2012 remains the highest ever posted by a German 8-way team since 1985. The Thiele brothers still share this ten-round average record with Operation Adler members Göran Meyer, Thomas Mack, and Olaf Biedermann, who were also part of the 2012 lineup. The Thiele brothers also continue to hold the German record for the highest ten-round 4-way average.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2012			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		N,21,B,5	14,C,13	22,M,20	17,H,16	J,E,12,4	7,19,15	G,K,8,2	O,L,F,P,A	10,11,18	9,Q,D,1	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	21	19	27	26	26	18	20	28	19	25	229	22.9
2	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	22	19	22	23	27	20	20	28	19	25	225	22.5
3	Barkli 8	RU	19	18	22	22	21	15	15	24	16	20	192	19.2
4	EADS 8	DE	14	13	15	15	18	14	14	16	13	16	148	14.8
5	VIVA 8	CH	13	13	15	15	14	11	12	17	13	13	136	13.6
6	Dubai Asaar 8	AE	11	11	12	11	10	10	10	12	12	12	111	11.1
7	M8Trix	NL	11	11	11	12	12	10	10	12	10	-	99	11.0
8	Brit Chicks 8	UK	11	11	12	11	14	10	11	11	6	-	97	10.8
9	South Africa 8	ZA	12	11	11	10	13	9	9	11	10	-	96	10.7
10	Qatar Falcons	QA	11	9	11	11	12	9	9	11	8	-	91	10.1
11	Australia	AU	10	8	9	11	12	10	9	13	-	-	82	10.3
12	The 8 Team	BE	8	11	7	11	12	9	10	12	-	-	80	10.0
12	CTR Optimum 8	BR	9	9	11	12	10	9	10	10	-	-	80	10.0
14	Austria	AT	8	8	9	10	10	6	7	8	-	-	66	8.3
15	Maximum Ride	CA	8	8	7	8	7	8	7	7	-	-	60	7.5
16	Singapore 8	SG	8	7	8	5	5	6	7	8	-	-	54	6.8

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Double Duties at Dubai 2012: Paratec-Saar 4-way - EADS 8-way

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