posted Dec 5th, 2016 - An interesting situation seems to develop in Italy's 4-way world.

Ex3mo have been the national 4-way champions since 2011 and represented Italy at the last three FAI World Championships of Formation Skydiving (Dubai 2012, Prostejov 2014, Ottawa 2016). There has not been much serious domestic competition yet for Ex3mo, even though two other Italian teams (Sei Uno Zero 610, Energy) began to set their eyes on the dominating 4-way champions.

Sei Uno Zero and Energy both have increased their performance and scoring levels consistently in the past years, however, Ex3mo was still out of reach at this year's national championships, where the two challengers pushed each other to their best meet averages. The recent scores at the ISR Grand Prix 2016 are showing that Energy continues with the progression after posting a new indoor team record average in Roosendaal. The same leaderboard also presents a new factor in the Italian 4-way game: Amnesya.

Italian Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	K,B,E,A,O	18,M,6	19,Q,D,17	13,N,1	16,22,5	4,11,15	L,3,14	2,7,20	G,9,F,H	12,P,10	Total	Avg
1	Ex3mo	32	19	16	14	14	15	16	15	27	16	184	18.4
2	Sei Uno Zero	28	16	18	13	14	14	14	15	24	15	171	17.1
3	Energy	30	15	16	12	15	11	14	14	28	14	169	16.9
4	Amnesya	23	15	16	11	9	11	13	13	27	13	151	15.1
5	A.N.P.D.I. Bari	17	11	10	8	8	8	8	9	16	9	104	10.4
6	Enigma	11	9	6	6	8	7	7	5	12	8	79	7.9

Amnesya was not even close to the Italian medal rankings at the national championships this year. Nothing else could have really been expected, as the team had just stepped up into the AAA Class competition, with the first 10-round meet in this category at the World Challenge 2016.

Different Amnesya lineups had won the Italian Nationals 2015 in the AA Class and won silver medals at the Clash of Champions in the A Class. Original members Giuseppe Cossu and Antonio Nardelli continued with the complete FAI dive pool this year and had Chiara Brunetti and Antonio Delogu in the lineup at the Italian Nationals 2016.

The lineup changed again after the conclusion of the 2016 outdoor season, and Giuseppe Cossu is now the only original member. Chiara Brunetti, Antonio Delogu and newest member Michele Silvi completed the lineup in Roosendaal and posted the 23.0 average.

ISR Grand Prix 2016			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		A,17,9	12,P,L,18	C,B,O,11	14,21,M	6,K,D,E	N,3,J,15	22,16,F	7,Q,H,2	Total	Avg
1	Thunder ISR	BE	35	23	33	25	33	28	26	31	234	29.3
2	Flying Squad	FR	31	22	30	22	31	26	20	26	208	26.0
3	Amnesya	IT	24	19	22	21	30	22	19	27	184	23.0
4	Energy Garzigliana	IT	26	19	24	21	27	20	19	25	181	22.6

Amnesya had the opportunity at the ISR Grand Prix to measure the performance level of the new lineup with the help of Italy's 2016 bronze medalist Energy. Result is the fact that Amnesya has not only closed the gap to the Italian medal level. The new lineup won the bronze medals in Roosendaal and finished ahead of Energy.

The recent indoor results put additional pressure on Sei Uno Zero and Energy who seem to have a new Ex3mo challenger by their side. The competition between these three teams could push all of them to a level where Ex3mo's 4-way dominance could be in jeopardy.

Energy outscored Ex3mo (21.0 - 18.8) already once at an earlier event, the ISR Grand Prix 2014. However, Ex3mo are the Italian outdoor experts with a wealth of competition experiences, and they have not posted many indoor scores. The three challengers will have to get ready for the next national championships, which could become very interesting if they transfer the indoor skills successfully to outdoor competition...