posted Nov 5th, 2026 - The dramatic finish to the ten-round 4-way Open Class duel between Golden Knights and NMP PCH HayaBusa at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026 became one of the highlights of the event, while also exposing a weakness in the FAI/ISC rules.

The NSL News reported on October 24th that the FAI/ISC tie-breaking rules had been applied for the first time in the modern history of formation skydiving competition since 1985. In fact, an extra round in an outdoor 4-way Open Class competition had been necessary only once before, at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 1989 in Spain. However, the U.S. team from DeLand won that jump-off round and claimed the bronze medals by posting the higher score in Round 11.

This makes the situation between Golden Knights and NMP PCH HayaBusa at Skydive Arizona last month unique. The two teams were still tied in their overall totals after eleven rounds, and the FAI/ISC rules and regulations neither require nor provide for additional jump-off rounds in such a situation. The judges therefore had to apply the existing tie-breaking rules to the circumstances that emerged after Round 11 between these two teams. It was hardly surprising that the existing tie-breaking criteria did not necessarily produce the most logical outcome, as they had never before been tested in actual 4-way Open Class competition at this level of scoring and performance.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Top 3		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	27		21		-		264	26.4
2	Golden Knights	US	18	-1	25		33	-3	21		33		24		25	-2	31		26		21		23	-1	257	25.7
3	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	21		26		32	-3	21	-2	31	-2	23	-1	27	-2	29	-1	26		21		23	-1	257	25.7

One consequence of applying the historic tie-breaking rules was that both teams already knew they were not in exactly the same position when they boarded the Twin Otter for Round 11. The current FAI/ISC rules determine the winner of a tie-breaking procedure by awarding the advantage to the team with “the highest score in any completed round” if the opposing teams remain tied after the jump-off round.

The NSL News pointed out in the same update from Eloy that the Golden Knights had recorded two scores of 33 points, in Rounds 3 and 5. NMP PCH HayaBusa's highest score was 32 points, also posted in Round 3. These previous scores were already well known, having been posted days earlier. NMP PCH HayaBusa knew that they had to win the jump-off round by at least one point to claim 2nd place. This added both theoretical and practical performance pressure on the Belgian team.

NMP PCH HayaBusa and the Belgian delegation already knew they had lost when both teams saw their tied scores for Round 11 appear on the screens. Even an advantage and a better performance in Round 11, including coming closer to completing Block 5 in the sequence (Q,15,5), would not have secured the silver medals. The Belgians needed 24 points to finish ahead of the Golden Knights on the final leaderboard. Both teams had been so closely matched in the final three rounds (9–11) that they even had identical finishing positions at 35.0 seconds of working time in Round 11.

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Round 11 between Golden Knights and NMP PCH HayaBusa at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026

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Only Round 10 actually revealed a difference in the otherwise athletically identical performances of the two teams, even though both completed 21 points within working time. The Golden Knights were slightly ahead of NMP PCH HayaBusa during the inter of Block 20, the final maneuver for both teams within the 35 seconds. In fact, the Golden Knights had already secured their silver medals in Round 10, while the current tie-breaking rules made it more difficult for NMP PCH HayaBusa to win the duel simply by posting a higher score in the extra round.

The highest score recorded during a competition, which determines the winner under the current rules, does not necessarily reflect which team performed better at the end of the competition. That is also the point at which teams would perform a potential jump-off round. The current FAI/ISC rules actually include a criterion that relates more directly to performance, such as completing a scoring formation faster or advancing more quickly and further through the final maneuver of the sequence. However, this criterion applies only as the last of the three tie-breaking options, and only when the previous options based on the highest scores in any completed rounds fail to break the tie:

“The fastest time (measured to hundredths of a second) to the last formation scored without infringement by both teams in the last completed round. Starting time must be that used for original evaluation of the jump.” There would not even be a need for the previous tie-breaking options if the “fastest time to the last formation,” either in an extra round or in the final completed round of the competition, were used to determine the strongest team at the conclusion of the event.

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Round 10 between Golden Knights and NMP PCH HayaBusa at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026

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