posted May 11th, 2010 - The NSL News dedicated the story on 1 April 2010 to the French national 4-way team in the Open Class, Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, after a very impressive performance at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010.

The story explained some of the reasons why the French team has been performing so strongly in 2009 and 2010. The same story mentioned that France and Arizona Airspeed had not competed directly with the original lineups since the World Challenge 2009: "It is coincidence that only Airspeed has not met this new French 4-way power directly so far."

The NSL News went a step further and forecasted an increasingly difficult situation for Airspeed at the World Challenge 2010: "This time, Airspeed might be challenged more than ever before. The French lineup has completed a whole year of only 4-way training and has already posted very impressive outdoor scores. The French 4-way confidence must be on a very high level."

Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge at the Shamrock Showdown 2010 - Rounds 1 to 10

The Road to Russia

Finally, Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge confirmed the strong 2009 season and the impressive start of the 2010 season at the indoor competition in Bedford with the next victory after another outstanding performance.

A lot of information has been provided during the event and after the conclusion, including an interview with the team members on 5 April 2010, and the NSL News has covered the French team since it was assigned as the French national 4-way team at the end of the 2006 season.

Actually, Julien Degen, Jeremy Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier were covered by the NSL News much earlier, as they were selected as members of the French national 8-way team at the end of the 2003 season. The NSL News reported the World Meet 2004 live from Croatia where the new French 8-way lineup won the silver medals, three points behind Arizona Airspeed.

Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge at the World Challenge 2010

Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier then continued with the French 8-way team until they had won two sets of 8-way gold medals, 2006 in Germany and 2008 in France.

National coach Jerome David eventually assigned them in 2007 as the national 4-way team, as well, and they won the additional 4-way silver medals at the World Meet 2008, one singe point behind Airspeed. Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet and Guillaume Bernier then dropped the 8-way event and began to focus only on 4-way, while Mathieu Bernier is still doing both events.

The NSL News has covered the history of those four French competitors obviously since 2004, first indirectly as members of the French teams and then more personalized recently. However, where are they actually coming from, and what did they do before they were selected for the national teams? French national coach Jerome David kindly provided more information of the 4-way top contenders for gold medals at this year's World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Russia.

National coach Jerome David, himself a former French 4-way world champion in the early 90s, made an important decision at the end of the 1999 season when France (Perris Maubeuge Thierry Boitieux, Marin Ferré, Martial Ferré, Davide Moy, Laurent Pechberty on camera) had just won 4-way gold medals over Airspeed (Jack Jefferies, Kirk Verner, Mark Kirkby, Dan BC, Steve Nowak on camera, alternate Craig Girard) in Australia.

France had never won a gold medal in 8-way, and Jerome David wanted to change that. He selected a group of "old French competitors", including himself, to secure another bronze medal in 2001 after only 100 training jumps, while he began to recruit new young French talent for the serious 8-way project.

He invested all available funds into the 8-way project, which began with seven recruiting camps in 2000 where he tested more than 45 different candidates. He worked together with two other very experienced French competitors during those camps, Martial Ferre and Manu Ars.

Jerome David and his two assistants had worked down the list of candidates to ten names in December 2000 and invited the young French skydivers to the very first training camp in Perris early in 2001.

Amazingly, it turned out that seven of those ten candidates would eventually win the first 8-way gold medals for France at the World Meet 2006 in Germany. Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier were four of the seven 8-way world champions who traveled to Perris with Jerome David in 2001.

Manu Sarrazin, Damien Sorlin and Bruno Perin were the other three selected candidates of 2000 who would win the 8-way gold medals in Germany. Clement Martin St Leon, currently team captain of the French 8-way team, joined the project in 2003.

The young project members had to spend three years in the French B-Teams (2001 - 2003) before they were finally put together in the 8-way lineup that would win the first gold medals in 2006. Main goal in this time period was to learn all necessary Formation Skydiving skills and techniques and get used to specific group dynamics.

All B-Team 4-way members would also train in 8-way here and there. However, Jerome David and Martial Ferré had set them up in two 4-way lineups in December 2000, the "Toshib West" team (Manu Sarrazin, Mathieu Bernier, Damien Sorlin, Jean Debièvre, Benji Reffet) and the "Toshib East" team (Bruno Perin, Jérémie Rollet, Guillaume Bernier, Julien Degen).

"Toshiba" is the nickname of packer Fred Leroux who has been working for the French delegation since 1996.

Jerome David eventually asked both teams at the end of the 2003 season to give up their 4-way training and focus only on 8-way training and competition. France had won another 8-way bronze medal at the World Meet 2003 in France with the previous lineup, and now it was time for the new project team to take the responsibility as the new French national 8-way team.

Brothers Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier, who had been training and competing in the two different B-Team 4-way lineups, finally became 8-way team members in 2004, won the 8-way gold medals in 2006 and 2008 and have also been pursuing 4-way gold medals at a world championship since 2007, together with Jérémie Rollet and Julien Degen.

They did this for two years in both events and missed the double gold by one single 4-way point in 2008.

The silver medals in 2008 came almost surprisingly, as the 8-way goal of successfully defending the Excalibur sword had priority. The 8-way team of 2006 did not want to continue, as six members prefered to be selected for the new French 4-way team.

The compromise situation, with the complete new 4-way team also in the 8-way lineup, was worked out under the condition that the 8-way goal had priority. Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier accepted and won 8-way gold and 4-way silver in 2008.

The next twist came after the World Meet in 2008. National coach Jerome David and his 8-way world champions may have realized that the situation was similar to 2003 and decided that Julien Degen, Jérémie Rollet, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier would focus only on 4-way from then on. The results speak for themselves so far.

Jerome David concluded the review of his work and the history of the current French lineups with an interesting observation:

"It's funny that the actual Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge lineup is nearly the same as the Toshib East team of 2001, except that Mathieu Bernier now fills the slot of Bruno Perin who was not available for 4-way and 8-way both after the World Meet in 2006."

Mathieu Bernier still has a special position in the current French delegation. He is the only competitor who continues to train and compete in both events. No team and no individual has ever won a gold medal in 4-way and in 8-way at the same World Championship of Formation Skydiving. Mathieu Bernier has a realistic chance this year.