WISC 2015 – 4-way FS

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Team Asaar, UAE 4-way about to begin their round

4-way FS
The field included 16 Open teams, and 9 Female, surely the highest proportion of female participation to open in any major international competition to date. It also included two ‘demo’ teams, junior flyers under 16 participating to show the possibilities of tunnel to involve flyers at a very early age.

It was interesting to see how many teams are launching intact 4-ways now, it has really changed since the early days of the competition. When Hayabusa launched their 10, it seemed that tail flyer Jeroen Nollet was spinning to start the block move as they fired through the door, very reminiscent of the French 8-way launches out of the Porter.

##Gold

The Belgian team Hayabusa had a storming meet, despite their jumpsuits, clothes and helmets being stolen out of their team van. They found the culprit in the streets wearing a Hayabusa jacket! Between visits to the police, the guys were forced to fly in borrowed equipment. Gregor made a trip of mercy from Skydive Empuriabrava with some replacement or old gear, such as Dennis’s old jumpsuit he sold last year, and Andy flew in a suit lent by the Qatar team.

The Belgians went into an early lead and stormed through the competition well ahead of anyone else, finishing on a 31.1 average. Andy Grauwels said they suffered from coming from the summer where they have been skydiving hard, to a tunnel environment. They were beaten on a couple of rounds by the Russians, and intend to train hard before their next meet, the Clash of Champions in Dubai.

“For the first time in my life I want to fly 4-way” Domi Kiger, world freestyle champion and developer of D4W, on watching Hayabusa

First indoor 4-way World champions, Hayabusa, for Belgium (current outdoor champions)

##Medals

The Russians flew hard to take silver medal and beat the current world champions on some rounds. The French teams struggled in round 3, both losing heavily to busts, the male team lost 4 points and the female team 3 for the same offence. The judges ruled that the teams had pushed on the side of wall, a rule relatively recently introduced to avoid using muscle against the wall rather than flying. After that, both teams were super careful to avoid the wall. The French lost 4 points to penalties on that round, giving four points away to Qatar, who powered up and gave the French a battle all the way for the bronze medal. France went into the final just one point ahead, it was a fast round and anyone’s game. Watching the high speed action in the tube, no-one was giving anything away and we had to wait for the judges’ decision… 26 points France to 25 for Qatar and the new young French team took the bronze!

The French, bronze medallists

##Notables

Qatar did outstandingly to get so close to the medals with a team and squad that has only existed a few years, nice one coach Luc Verstrepen! UAE (Asaar) had an epic battle with the UK, setting off in the lead and charging till round 4, when a small brain lock for Asaar (UAE) and a superb round from Voodoo (UK) made a 6-point difference, turning the tables. The next few rounds were neck and neck, and UAE just won the final round, leaving them in equal 7th.

4-way Open scores

GK4, Golden Knights, first indoor World Champions in female 4-way

#Female 4-way

##Gold
The Golden Knights 4-way were incredible – they were on fire. Establishing themselves very early on as the clear winners, a league ahead of any nearest rival, they never slackened off for a microsecond, finishing in style with a 29.4 average – unbelievable! Along the way they scored a 41 and a 40. They are crowned Indoor World Champions in female 4-way, and rightly so – but it’s a sign of their class that, had they entered the Open event they would have taken a clear silver medal, with 294 points to Hayabusa’s 311 and Russia’s 281. Outstanding!

##Medals

The French in second flew ’Strong and calm’ like their coach urged, to a 25.2 average, displaying not only their class but their potential for the future… this is a young team with one team member only having 40 jumps!

UK Ladies, Fly like a Girl

In bronze position were the British team Fly Like a Girl, a scratch team formed from the Bodyflight World Challenge this year, that did so well they decided to stay together. Including veterans such as Sparky and Lynne Murray, they had a great meet. They went into their last round 12 points ahead yet still flew their bootees off, really flying hard with great presence,, ending on a 22.5 average. if that’s what Girls Fly Like, you’re setting a fine example! Sparky told me they only started training in October as they were all committed to other teams in the summer. She commented, ”Never have I been to a World Meet and only started training 3 weeks before! Fortunately Joey managed to lick us into shape and we had a great competition.”

In fourth were local team Hurricane Factory, this team has come all the way up the ranks from Rookie and is a force now they have added determination to their great flying skills. Their average, 21.2

Hurricane Factory ladies team

##Notables

Les Stunts for Belgium had a great meet, ramping up the pace as the meet went on and their confidence grew. They ended in fifth place with an 18.7 average. (PB is 18.9) Cajsa Tonoli, team member commented “After just 3 months training we are very happy with our performance! It was the first tunnel competition for Julie, our new one! And we only made one conclusion: if you have enough fun, it’ll all be okay in the end!”

##Disaster

Due to technical issues everyone had to repeat round 1 !! The worst part of this was that most teams were told only as they were waiting to fly round 2… just minutes before, then told they were to repeat round 1 – how’s that for screwing with your head! There were a few other re-flights but not significantly more than re-jumps at an outdoor meet.

GK4, indoor world champions

##How did the meet differ from being indoors?

On the whole there were many advantages, such as the absence of weather holds, the predictability of the schedule, and the bringing together of many disciplines in an environment that encouraged shared awareness through the excellent commentary by Domi Kiger and Regan Tetlow. The downsides? Not many. One factor is that the teams set their wind speed for the competition during training, when generally the tunnel is hot, due to full-on use, but it can be much cooler when they fly their round, so then the wind speed is higher than ideal.

#The Future

It has been agreed there will be a second IPC Indoor World Cup next year. So now IPC has embraced wind tunnel competitions, will its member countries have to run Nationals? Many countries have already done so but some governing bodies may be more reluctant. We shall see! For now the indoor format gets a big thumbs-up!

4-way Female scores

You can watch the Live Stream again on the WISC website

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Meet: Lesley Gale

Lesley has been in love with skydiving for 35 years. She is a multiple world and national record holder and a coach on 20 successful record events worldwide. She has over 100 competition medals spanning more than 25 years and has been on the British 8-way National team at World events. She started Skydive Mag to spread knowledge, information and passion about our amazing sport.
Lesley is delighted to be sponsored by Performance Designs, Sun Path, Cypres, Cookie, Symbiosis suits and Larsen & Brusgaard

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