posted Dec 8th, 2015 - Monday was supposed to be the first day of 8-way and 4-way VFS competition at the World Air Games 2015. However, bad weather kept the Formation Skydiving teams on the ground, and the situation was the same on Tuesday. There are no scores posted yet in these two categories, and the teams will try again on Wednesday.

The weather break allows the Sun Path Products NSL News to go back to the Clash of Champions and the aftermath of the 8-way indoor competition, which will be a preview of the outdoor competition at the same time.

The Golden Knights had no serious competition at Inflight Dubai and also posted the team's highest indoor meet average, after the previous 30.7 at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2014. The US Army team still allowed the French national 8-way team to steal one highscore in Round 8.

Clash of Champions 2015			Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		L,F,C,7	5,6,19	2,9,3	G,A,12,10	B,11,22	16,1,21	K,M,18,P	E,O,J,8	Q,17,15	N,H,4,D	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	34	26	30	30	37	34	35	25	31	42	324	32.4
2	France Weembi	FR	29	22	25	26	30	30	28	27	28	34	279	27.9
3	Tanay	RU	29	22	20	22	31	30	27	23	25	38	267	26.7
4	Thund8rbirds	BE	24	23	22	22	21	28	28	23	24	35	250	25.0
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	24	19	20	21	25	24	20	19	23	26	221	22.1
6	Dubai Asaar	AE	21	19	19	19	20	23	22	19	21	26	209	20.9
7	Monaco Vitalsea	MC	7	13	16	14	13	11	17	18	17	22	148	14.8

There was in fact hardly any serious 8-way battle between the seven teams. 12 points was the closest distance between two opposing teams, Weembi France (2nd) and Tanay (3rd), Qatar Falcons (5th) and Dubai Asaar (6th).

The distances will be closer between the five of the seven teams who will also compete at the World Air Games, where exits and sub-terminal challenges play an additional major role. However, the huge gap between the Golden Knights and the French 8-way team might even grow relatively larger.

France did not plan to send the complete new national 8-way lineup to the World Air Games. Not all team members had enough vacation time to stay for three weeks or longer in Dubai. The complete current lineup (Mathieu Bernier, Julien Degen, Julien Olek, Bruno Perin, Thomas Perrin, Clement Martin Saint Leon, Emmanuel Sarrazin, Damien Sorlin) only competed at the Clash of Champions.

The French 8-way lineup for the World Air Games 2015 is different and misses four of the national team members (Julien Degen, Bruno Perin, Clement Martin Saint Leon, Emmanuel Sarrazin) who competed at Inflight Dubai.

French national coach Mathieu Bernier has imported four substitutes to replace the missing 8-way world champions of 2006 and 2008. Antoine Leleu was a member of the previous French 8-way lineup and competed in Prostejov 2014 and the 5th DIPC. Eliott Lesimple and Aurelien Lemaire have been members of the French B-Team Artemis Saumur. Two of their former team mates recently joined the French FLY-IN Girls, Clementine Le Bohec and Pamela Lissajoux.

Guillaume Bernier, also 8-way world champion of 2006 and 2008, fills the last open slot, after competing with Weembi Lille in 4-way at the Clash of Champions. He has his first World Air Games medal in the pocket with a 2nd place in one of the Canopy Piloting events. Olivier Henaff is back on camera for his 4-way and 8-way world champion team mates.