posted Feb 21st, 2017 - The Sun Path Products NSL News covered last year's exciting finish of the Swedish Indoor Nationals on 18 February 2016, and the story on 30 July 2016 followed up with the outdoor championships five months later. Both times the same two teams (Gryttjom Volo - Echochamber) challenged each other, even though it was a much closer race at the indoor competition. Then they met each other again at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016, and Volo won by ten points.

Echochamber has increased the indoor training ever since, while the main Swedish 4-way rival disbanded after the October event, and Echochamber has now taken the top position in Sweden by winning this month's indoor championship with a new record average. Echochamber members Johan "Smögen" Edvall and Rickard Rodensjö also participated in VFS at the same event with their team Vikings and finished in 2nd place.

The AAA Class leaderboard also shows three members of Team Spai (2006 - 2007), who are now competing in different teams. Ulf Liljenbäck (Echochamber), Mikael Kaulanen (Volo - C4), Tobias Alsjö (Edge) and Mats Svensson were the original Spai members who fought their battles with national team 42. Mats Svensson died last November due to a heart failure. Ulf Liljenbäck said that their thoughts were with his wife Joy and son Alexander.

Swedish Indoor 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	21,N,6	J,L,18,9	Q,B,12,7	E,3,4	F,K,22,A	2,20,8	P,O,C,14	10,17,11	19,M,G,H	D,15,5	Total	Avg
1	Echochamber	25	28	25	22	28	20	31	19	30	23	251	25.1
2	Team X	18	19	21	20	25	15	24	14	23	18	197	19.7
3	Team C4	19	23	19	18	19	15	23	14	23	17	190	19.0
4	Edge	13	20	16	16	21	11	21	15	18	18	169	16.9
5	Aurora	16	18	15	16	20	13	20	13	21	15	167	16.7
6	Meija	14	16	13	13	21	14	20	14	18	17	160	16.0
7	Cornix	13	12	14	12	15	12	18	12	15	6	129	12.9

Echochamber knew that Volo would not come back this year, and the only question before the indoor championships was how well Sweden's new indoor national team would perform without much pressure.

The 25.1 average, which is the highest number posted by a Swedish 4-way team in history, answers this question clearly. The relatively fast 10-round draw allowed all teams with a previous scoring history to finish with their best results, and Echochamber's 31-pointer in Round 7 (P,O,C,14) is only one point behind the highest Swedish score for a single round.

Team C4's lineup included former Volo member Mikael Kaulanen filling the slot for Johannes Andersson who was not available. C4 also has a new team member with Hooman Ahoori. The lineup at the Swedish Indoor Nationals posted new record numbers after four hours of indoor training together. Echochamber member Ulf Liljenbäck said that 2017 might be the year that things fall into place for C4.

Team Meija, Sweden's national outdoor team in 4-way Women, came to the meet with hopes of becoming the national indoor team, as well. Ulf Liljenbäck explained that Meija coach Mattias Nord had asked the team members to do their 4-way home work through the whole fall/winter season. Results of the mental training were great indoor practice sessions prior to the competition.

However, the 4-way Women opponent, Team X, had shown at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2016 that it would take at least a 17.4 average to keep up with them, and they were even planning to increase the indoor training efforts. The Team X members all live within a 2-hour driving distance to Bodyflight Stockholm, which makes more indoor training convenient enough. Ulf Liljenbäck said that the additional training paid back: "Team X were never really challenged by Meija and won every round but one where the teams tied. 197 to 160 speaks for itself."

Team X is now the Swedish national team in 4-way Women and will represent Sweden at the Nordic Championships in late March.

Swedish Indoor Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		9,N,F	L,J,14	19,11	M,15,2	G,21,E	20,Q,6	7,K,4	B,O,18	H,8,A	P,C,D,B	Total	Avg
1	Tahma	FI	25	17	9	11	14	14	16	12	13	23	154	15.4
2	Penguins of the Sky	SE	21	11	9	13	13	10	14	14	14	18	137	13.7
3	KRAM	SE	14	15	10	14	16	8	13	14	11	17	132	13.2
4	Cumulu-Synchro	SE	21	13	9	13	13	10	11	11	13	16	130	13.0
5	Squeeze Box	SE	17	10	7	11	10	10	13	11	10	15	114	11.4

The lineup of AAA Class team Edge included Peter Mårtensson, who is a former Swedish 4-way champion of 1994. He had an indoor comeback after 17 years of hibernation. Edge finished 4th with a 16.9 average. Ulf Liljenbäck said that the team's performance was not a big surprise after following the Edge progress throughout the winter. The team plans to continue with Peter Mårtensson's outdoor comeback this summer.

AA Class team Tahma visited from Finland and won the category with a new team record average. Tahma will also compete at the World Challenge 2017and could become a medal contender if the progress continues.

The Swedish teams behind Tahma had a good battle for the medal positions. Ulf Liljenbäck said that Penguins member Henna Canevin wrote on her Facebook the day after the competition that this was the finest medal she ever earned: "Just 12 weeks ago she gave birth to her first child, and the team did just one training session between birth day and the competition."

Ulf Liljenbäck finished the meet report with A Class information: "In the A Class, team Fallout won clearly with a 13.0 average. The battle for second place was tighter, much tighter. Blyknektarna and Cirkus Cirrus tied after ten rounds and went in the chamber for a jump-off round. You could really feel the tension, and then the teams tied again, both scoring 8 points. After a couple of reviews chief judge Zeljko Tanaskovic announced Cirkus Cirrus as the winner and silver medalist with a winning margin of 0.9 seconds for the completion of the last formation.

"Three of Cirkus Cirrus members started jumping in 2016 and did their first wind tunnel session ever in December. What a fantastic performance. Bodyflight Stockholm and the Swedish Parachute Association organized an efficient meet. The only hiccup was the time between flying and presenting the scores. It wasn't until midnight on Friday that the scores of the first six rounds where posted.”

Echochamber plans to compete at the French Indoor Nationals 2017, then win the national outdoor championships with little training and has the main focus set on the FAI Indoor World Meet in Montreal later this year.