posted Nov 16th, 2011 - Yesterday's NSL Talk conversation with the Norwegian national 4way team in the female category, Polaris, included a few pointers that the NSL News picked up and researched a little bit deeper.

Polaris did not have the upcoming 3rd 3rd Dubai Championship 2011 on the team schedule at the end of the 2011 season and is planning for the Shamrock Showdown 2012. However, the Norwegian team will surely follow the female 4way competition in Dubai and mentioned a change in the French lineup of the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders.

A closer look at the final team registration documents for the 3rd Dubai Championship confirmed a new Deep Blue lineup. Sophie Deremaux is not registered for the upcoming competition, and former alternate Stephanie Texier has taken her slot. This change adds a few interesting twists to the situation in the international female 4way competition.

2nd Dubai Championship 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	Female 4way	P,17,18	M,N,F,3	H,A,6,B	Q,1,C,14	4,10,15	16,O,J,22	K,2,E,11	G,9,8	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders	20	26	28	20	15	19	20	21	169	21.1
2	USA Alpha Armada	17	26	30	17	14	19	18	19	160	20.0
3	Russia Illusions	16	21	22	15	9	17	17	17	134	16.8
4	Spain Empuria Gatas	11	14	13	10	10	12	11	10	91	11.4
5	Denmark Lady Vikings	8	13	12	11	9	11	10	11	85	10.6
6	Canada	4	9	8	0	2	7	6	6	42	5.3

The 3rd Dubai Championship will provide the first impressions of how the new lineup follows up on the French world class performances in the past years. The meet will also fill the cashiers of the three registered teams better than ever. Dubai doubled the prize money of the previous events in both 4way categories to a total of $180.000 for the upcoming competition, $90,000 for each event.

The three teams in the female 4way category will share their $90,000 with $40,000 for the winning team, $30,000 and $20,000 for 2nd and 3rd place. Every female 4way team is a winner this year. Most of the members of the three teams know each other after competing at the 2nd Dubai Championship in January this year and then at the World Cup 2011.

However, each team has a different lineup, not only the Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders. The Russian Illusions have a new member with Yulia Salyukova, and only Sarah Smith-Cannon is in the UK lineup after competing for Bodyflight Aerodyne at the World Cup. There was no UK team at the 2nd Dubai Championship in January 2011.

World Cup 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne DB Defenders	16	20	16	17	19	20	19	17	17 (-1)	28	189	18.9
2	Illusions	12 (-2)	21	17	14 (-3)	16 (-3)	16 (-3)	19	18	15 (-1)	19 (-7)	167	16.7
3	Polaris	13 (-2)	19	13 (-3)	15	15	17	17	13 (-2)	16	23 (-1)	161	16.1
4	Golden Knights	13 (-1)	16	14	15	14	14 (-1)	13 (-1)	15	15	24	153	15.3
5	Bodyflight Aerodyne	13 (-2)	18	12 (-1)	14	12 (-1)	16	12 (-1)	14	14	23 (-1)	148	14.8

The change in the French female lineup may give the other top contenders hope for a chance to catch up with the French world leader in this category. It will not be easy though since the French team factory, with 4way coach Marin Ferre, is always prepared to quickly produce a new world class competitor if necessary.

Stephanie Texier has been the offcial alternate for a while and has also trained and competed together with Laurence Hervé in the French CISM 4way lineup. She will most likely fit in well and quickly, which will be necessary to fend off the aggressive Illusions who were far behind France at the World Cup only due to penalties.

And then there is the "pickup team" from the United Kingdom, loaded with former 4way world champions and highly experienced 4way competitors. The NSL News will introduce this lineup later. Fact is that Team Blue has the potential to perform at the very top level of female 4way competition without much training at all.