It’s always fun at the first meet of the year to see where everyone is at. But at the same time nobody is ready. It seems strange to say that, looking at some of the scores, and it’s exciting to look at that knowing that this is truly a starting point for everybody.
4-way
In the 4-way Hayabusa started off strongly with a good first round, which carried on through the meet. They had a few wobbles closer to the end, allowing some of the other teams to close the gap a little, but with around a 20-point lead they were already quite safely in first place. Airspeed unfortunately had a bit of a bumpy start but they pulled it out of the bag on round 3, with an impressive high score, and then with some more good rounds later in the meet. It was a bit of a rough competition for them but it did make for a nice battle for the next 3 spots.
By the end of day 1, there were only two points separating Airspeed (USA), us [Evolution, Canada], and the French. In Round 8 Airspeed pocketed another point and then really pulled away from the field with an impressive round 9. It’s fun to see what happens when the pressure is on. The battle was then on for third place between us and the French. We went into the second day 1 point up and managed to maintain that and gain one more in round 10, finishing in third place.
8-way
The 8-way and 4-way ran alongside each other, with the 4-way starting off in the morning, and then the 8-way afterwards. 6 teams started off entering and then after the 4-way meet finished, I joined up with Hayabusa and VoltR members to join in for the last 4 rounds.
As always it was super impressive to watch the Golden Knights flying like clockwork and finishing with a remarkable average of 30.7, a new record! Second place went to Paraclete XP, a team that only started training 3-4 months ago and consists of some ex world champions, and some talented jumpers who first saw the 8-way dive pool just a few months ago! Third place went to the new French 8-way team; again a completely new line-up with only one member from the old team continuing. This is a young group and very nice to watch.
It was also fun to see some of the coaches getting involved. Gary and Solly teamed up with Tim D’Annunzio and some other 4-way competitors to form a team, as did the two Danish teams. The other entry was an all-girls team headed up by Janette from Rhythm XP.
The judging was done by a group of experienced competitors and judges. Scores came out super fast, just minutes after finishing each flight. It was really nice to get the feedback soon after each round. They did a great job.
Super nice meet and very well run, thanks Paraclete XP! 🙂
