posted Nov 14th, 2026 - Some of the many interesting topics that emerge from an event like the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026 are connected in additional ways. One of them was a competitive reunion of four Chimera members at Skydive Arizona, which the NSL News had already pointed out in the run-up to the event.

The story began on August 14th, with the introduction of Great Britain's national 4-way Open Class team for the event, S.O.A.R., and the three former Chimera members in its lineup: Sarah Ashworth, James Woods, and Pete Harries on camera. They had claimed the unofficial amateur world championship title at Eloy 2022, and their new team, S.O.A.R., with Julia Swallow and Pete Allum in the lineup, was considered a top contender for the same distinction on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard.

The story became even more interesting when their former Chimera teammate Laura Hampton joined the U.S. 4-way Women team Ranch TNT SDAZ for the same competition, competing on a different leaderboard. The NSL News reported the change in the TNT lineup just two weeks later, on August 29th. Almost the entire 2022 Chimera lineup would now be reunited in Eloy, with its members making separate comebacks. Only Will Cooke did not take part in this reunion.

FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Women Combined		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
4	Nephtys Maubeuge	FR	17		17	-2	29		19		26		19		21		22	-1	21		15	-1	-		206	20.6
5	Airbus 4-way Illertissen	DE	17		19	-1	25	-2	18		22	-2	18	-1	21		23	-1	21		15	-1	-		199	19.9
6	Echochamber	SE	13	-2	19		25	-1	18		24	-1	18		22		19	-5	18	-1	16		-		192	19.2
7	Skywalkers Most	CZ	13	-4	15	-3	26	-2	14	-3	22		19		23		18	-5	21	-1	18		-		189	18.9
8	Qatar Vortex	QA	13	-3	17	-2	27		16		23		16	-1	20	-1	19	-4	21		16		-		188	18.8
9	S.O.A.R.	UK	15	-1	16	-3	22	-3	18		22	-1	18		22		19	-1	18		16		-		186	18.6
10	Out Of The Blue	NL	14		17		23	-1	13		25		18		19		17	-2	17		15	-1	-		178	17.8
11	Ranch TNT SDAZ	US	11	-1	15		21		15		19		16		18		19		16		13	-1	-		163	16.3
12	Thyra	NO	12	-2	11		15	-2	11		18		13		15		14		14		11	-1	-		134	13.4
13	Amnesya Fly X	IT	12	-1	16		22	-2	15	-1	20		13	-1	14	-3	19		0		0		-		131	13.1
14	Flyspot Sky4Four	PL	9	-2	11	-2	12	-4	13		16		12		15		14		12		11		-		125	12.5
15	Random Fixation	AU	8	-3	14		14	-2	8	-3	15		14		13	-2	13		12	-2	12		-		123	12.3
16	Funky Falcon	NL	8	-1	8	-2	13		10	-1	13	-1	9	-2	12		6	-2	12		10		-		101	10.1
17	MeXtreme	MX	7		9		9		8		11		5	-1	7	-2	7	-2	6		7		-		76	7.6

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S.O.A.R. (UK) - Ranch TNT SDAZ (US) at the Fai Outdoor World Championship 2026

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The performance and scoring level of the new Ranch TNT SDAZ lineup improved significantly after Laura Hampton joined the team. The U.S. 4-way Women team finished with a 17.0 average and 7th place on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard at the USPA Nationals 2026. However, Laura Hampton would be separated from her former Chimera teammates at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026, where the two AAA Class teams competed on different leaderboards: Sarah Ashworth, James Woods, and Pete Harries in 4-way Open, and Laura Hampton in 4-way Women.

Nevertheless, the former Chimera teammates, along with the audience, other teams, and competitors, could still compare their performances indirectly, as both competition classes used the same competition draw. The NSL News has traditionally added combined leaderboards for all AAA Class teams whenever the same competition draws were used at an event.

The combined leaderboard for Eloy 2026 shows the two teams finishing quite close to each other. Only Dutch team Out Of The Blue separated them near the bottom of the Top 10. S.O.A.R. did not claim the unofficial amateur world championship title, while Ranch TNT SDAZ went on to win the FAI silver medals in 4-way Women.

FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		20,16,B		P,D,21,13		17,K,11		E,A,19,22		2,9,M		C,14,F,12		3,6,18		4,10,1		8,Q,O,H		5,7,J		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	21	-1	28		27		27		31		23		21		20		32		31		261	26.1
2	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	20	-1	25	-2	21		23		28		20	-2	19		17		29		26		228	22.8
3	Qatar Tigers	QA	19	-2	23	-1	22	-1	21	-1	26		18		17	-1	17		28		28		219	21.9
4	France 4-way Open	FR	19		23	-1	22		23		27		20	-1	18		15	-1	20	-5	27	-1	214	21.4
5	Chimera	UK	16		21	-2	19		19	-1	18	-5	18	-1	16		14	-1	23	-1	24		188	18.8
6	Papea Masculino	ES	17	-1	20	-1	18	-1	21		21	-2	18		15		15		21	-1	20	-3	186	18.6
7	Echochamber Oceanside	SE	14	-1	21		19		19		20	-1	17		16		15		24	-1	20	-1	185	18.5
8	Airbus Oceanside Illertissen	DE	16		18	-2	19		16	-1	20	-1	13	-3	15		14		19	-2	22	-1	172	17.2
9	Agera FS 2022	NO	16		16	-2	17	-1	17		18	-1	15		15		13	-1	18	-3	21		166	16.6
9	4Astrophe	CA	15	-1	20		19		15	-2	21		15		15	-2	14		16	-3	16	-2	166	16.6
11	Out of the Blue	NL	16		16	-3	17		17		14	-2	17		12	-1	13	-1	21	-1	18		161	16.1
12	Ripper	AU	14	-1	16	-1	18		16	-1	21		15		12		10	-3	19	-1	19	-1	160	16.0
13	Sky4Four	PL	13	-1	14	-3	14		16		16	-2	12	-1	12		13		21		18	-1	149	14.9
14	HF Flying Circus	CZ	13		10	-7	16		15	-1	18	-2	12	-1	13		11	-3	16	-5	17	-1	141	14.1
15	Sequenz	DK	10	-2	16		15		14	-1	17	-1	12	-1	12		11	-1	17	-1	11	-3	135	13.5
16	INIT-Y	BR	12	-2	14	-1	14	-1	13	-4	16		11	-2	10	-3	12		17	-1	15	-3	134	13.4
17	HSV Red Bull Aerodynamix	AT	10	-2	16		14		15		15	-1	8	-3	9	-2	10	-1	15	-1	13	-1	125	12.5
18	Adventure Flyers	PY	9	-1	13		12	-1	11		16		11		10		9		14		14	-1	119	11.9
19	Equinox	LT	10	-1	12	-2	12		12	-1	13	-1	10		10		9	-1	12	-4	14	-1	114	11.4
20	Tina & The Dinosaurs	NZ	5		8	-1	4		9		9	-1	8		5		4	-2	10		8		70	7.0
21	La Playa	GT	2	-1	7	-2	5	-1	3	-3	7		5		3	-1	5		-		-		37	4.6

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Chimera (UK) at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2022

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The British 4-way Open Class team still won the indirect duel by 23 points (186–163), even though its average of 18.6 was slightly below the 18.8 average posted by Chimera in 2022. The new unofficial amateur world champions from Germany, Airbus Illertissen, posted a 19.9 average this year, which would also have been enough to accomplish the same mission at Chrystal Coast 2024.

S.O.A.R. had posted a 20.1 average at the British Outdoor Nationals 2026 in August, a performance that would have given Airbus Illertissen a serious challenge for 4th place. Their 18.6 average at Eloy earned them only 8th place last month.

Sarah Ashworth and James Woods quickly switched to the indoor environment after returning from Arizona. They joined forces with former Meraki members Catherine Leather and Kate Lindsley to form a new MeraS.O.A.R. lineup, without Pete Allum and Liz Matthews. The new lineup finished with an impressive 24.1 average after an exciting ten-round battle against NFTO at the British Indoor Nationals, finishing just five points behind the top position on the British leaderboard (246–241).

NFTO, with new member Tano Parker, is now qualified to represent Great Britain at the FAI Indoor World Championship in Germany next March. Sarah Ashworth and James Woods came within six points of qualifying to compete at both the outdoor and indoor world championships within less than half a year.

British Indoor Nationals 2026			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		F,2,14	7,L,20	B,19,A,15	G,10,1	C,9,J,6	Q,D,N,5	O,8,K,17	22,16,21	E,4,18	P,12,M,3	Total	Avg
G	Dynos	INT	27	29	30	23	36	37	29	21	26	28	286	28.6
G	Weembi Slow Rollers	INT	25	25	27	22	33	35	27	21	24	25	264	26.4
1	NFTO	UK	22	26	26	20	34	31	21	20	20	26	246	24.6
2	Merasoar	UK	22	22	27	21	30	33	23	19	21	23	241	24.1
G	Airdrops	CH	19	21	21	18	24	26	20	16	17	19	201	20.1
3	What the HelRoy	UK	19	21	16	16	23	20	17	14	14	19	179	17.9
4	Ice 45	UK	18	16	20	16	24	19	16	15	16	16	176	17.6
G	PARALLAX	UK	16	16	20	16	19	22	18	15	16	17	175	17.5
5	Bar Larks	UK	17	18	20	12	22	20	17	15	15	17	173	17.3
6	Old at Heart	UK	14	19	19	14	21	19	19	14	17	13	169	16.9
G	Sora	UK	15	19	19	15	18	21	17	12	15	16	167	16.7
7	Trigger's Broom	UK	17	18	17	14	22	17	14	13	15	17	164	16.4
8	Nakama	UK	12	17	15	14	19	19	13	10	12	15	146	14.6
9	Airlocked	UK	13	16	14	12	15	17	12	12	11	15	137	13.7
10	VR-Quatre	UK	11	13	13	11	15	12	13	10	10	14	122	12.2

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MeraS.O.A.R. (UK) at the British Indoor Nationals 2026

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