posted May 8th, 2010 - The unofficial Scandinavian championship was a topic when the NSL News covered the Finnish national team, the Pro Team, with the story on 3 May 2010.

The same topic came up when the NSL News met with two teams from Denmark, Voluntas and Altius, and their coach Solly Williams for a new live NSL Talk at the end of a recent training camp in DeLand.

It was interesting to hear from the Danish competitors that the internal competition between the teams from Scandinavia really has a meaning. There is no official Scandinavian championship so far, and the teams are just watching each other at the different meets that they attend. The World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Russia will be this year's major event where the national teams from Denmark (Voluntas), Finland (Pro Team), Sweden (t.b.d.) and Norway (X3M4s) will find out who is the strongest 4-way team from the northern parts of Europe.

NSL Talk with Solly Williams and Voluntas and Altius from Denmark

The Road to Russia

Voluntas experienced at the World Challenge 2010 how strong the Pro Team from Finland is. The Pro Team finished with a 23.2 average in 14th place, and Voluntas placed 17th with a 21.3 average. Denmark's national team had already posted a 15.4 average at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010.

Norway's national Open Class team did not compete in Bedford. Norgies 40 (19th - 20.2) was a fun lineup of three DeLand Norgies (Lise Aune, Torstein Valen, Pal Kolbenstvedt) and Lise Nansen's husband Nikolai. Polaris (23th - 19.6) is the national 4-way team in the female category. Sweden did not have a team at the World Challenge.

Voluntas had a slow start at the indoor competition in Bedford and picked up the pace in the second half of the meet. The teams from Denmark and Finland tied their total scores of the last four rounds. However, the Pro Team was already far ahead before Voluntas moved up to the same scoring level.

Voluntas at the World Challenge 2010

Coach Solly Williams sees the Danish national team in contention for the unofficial Scandinavian Championship at the World Meet in Russia, and the scores of the last four rounds in Bedford confirm the confidence.

The biggest team goal is a different one though. Voluntas wants to beat the best Danish meet averages and scores for a single round of the past. The 18.0 average is the goal for Russia, and the internal competition with the other Scandinavian teams will probably help to push all teams to their best performances.

An 18.0 outoor average will probably bring any team also close to another interesting position on the leaderboard. Teams as the Rotor Out Aussies are aiming at one of the Top 10 spots. Then there is also the unofficial title of the amateur champion, which will be somewhere in this range. Voluntas will be involved in at least one of those interesting races.