Kim van der Horst shares insight into the Nordic Sequentials and a new freefly tunnel competition
What are the Nordic Sequentials?
The Nordic Sequentials are sequential skills camps for both indoor and outdoor.
How did the idea come about?
In 2023, I hit a bit of a plateau in my skydiving and tunnel flying. I didn’t have a 2WD teammate anymore, and I wasn’t too motivated to keep investing in one-on-one dynamic flying without a clear goal.
At the time, the AirBerlin Sequentials crew were running indoor camps in Berlin. Sequentials had always been something I enjoyed but never fully committed to, so I decided to give it a shot. I went to one of their camps and absolutely loved it—only to find out it was one of their last. Everyone had career changes coming up, and it had simply become too much work for them to keep running.
So, I asked Matthias (Kuttler) if I could take over. I offered to handle all the organizing so they could just show up as coaches. He and Niko Flaj agreed, and from winter 2023 onwards, I started running the camps at Aeronautica Arena in Finland, a tunnel that offers amazing rates (starting from just €299). Eventually, Matthias and Niko got too busy, so I brought in Rob Jones and Jérémy Saint-Jean, and since then, I’ve been getting more international coaches involved.
What’s behind the name “Nordic Sequentials”?
Sequentials have been around for a while in freeflying. However, historically (can you even use that word in a sport as young as ours?) it mainly referred to vertical flying and FS. We’re now stretching the meaning to include all types of freefly moves.
Sequentials are basically the art of building freefly routines for a group of people. It’s such a cool challenge to come up with a routine that suits the flyers’ level, where moves flow from one move to the next.
Whether you’re building the perfect 1’30” or 2’ routine, or creating one that can be looped, it’s awesome when it goes well. I get so excited when people get the hang of it and everything is smooth.
You don’t have to be a well rounded flyer to start flying sequentials with us. We fly with groups of all levels, starting a bit more static at the beginner/intermediate level. But if you stick with it, for sure you will for sure be pushed to work on all skills.
Nordic Sequentials is not the most creative name, it’s an ode to where the skill camps originated, in Finland. In November this year I have a Nordic Sequentials Workshop at Aero Gravity in Milan, and every year we host a big camp at CLYMB Abu Dhabi as well (next one: 22–25 January 2026). Outdoor camps have also been held in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the south of France.
What is Vertical Sequentials 8-Way?
Vertical Sequentials 8-Way is a new freefly competition discipline that combines all freefly styles, dynamic, VFS, and freestyle, into 8-way routines. On top of those that, it introduces 3D formations and full-formation flips and transitions. The competition will be part free routine and part compulsories.
What inspired this new format?
It was actually a team member from the EEIPC, who approached me to organise this new discipline. The EEIPC is a competition organized by EASA at CLYMB Abu Dhabi that also includes the AIR Championships and 16-way belly. They were looking to expand the competition and, during the CLYMB Sequentials I hosted in January 2025, they saw the potential of sequentials as a visually exciting format.
It fit perfectly with my dream of connecting different sequential communities around the world. There are so many groups flying sequentials, each with their own unique style. The idea of bringing them all together in the 32-foot tunnel to fly, learn, and inspire each other just made total sense.
That tunnel is made for this kind of flying. It would be a crime to limit it to vertical flying only. We want to use every dimension of the tunnel: dynamic, vertical, 3D, whatever we can come up with. Right now, we’ve got four very strong teams almost complete and are still looking for one or two more. It’s going to be awesome to see what everyone comes up with.
How is this different from traditional tunnel competitions?
It’s very much like how 4-way dynamic started: a discipline by the athletes, for the athletes.
There’s a rough structure, which is part free routine, part compulsories, but the creative freedom is wide open. Teams can combine classic sequential moves with dynamic flying, and hopefully invent brand-new ones.
We’ve started posting the classic sequential building blocks on the Nordic Sequentials and Vertical Sequentials 8-Way Instagram accounts, and we’re refining those to serve as the compulsories.
The finer details like judging criteria, definitions of a “bust,” scoring systems, what speed concept we use (dynamic/VFS), etc. will be decided collaboratively among the competitors.
What does a round look like?
There will be eight rounds total, free routines and compulsories (exact ratio still TBD).
For this first edition, teams will judge each other. Each free routine will be scored on three or four criteria: technical difficulty, use of dynamic flying, and use of the tunnel, with two flyers from each team assigned to judge one criterion. We’ll fine-tune the concept in the next couple of months and also practice judging during the workshop week.
What kind of skills does this competition reward?
You need to be able to fly both dynamic and sequentials at a solid level. But honestly, it’s the first time we’re doing this so we’ll see what ends up being rewarded most. All current teams are made up of well-rounded flyers, so it could go either way.
Who are the judges?
For this first year, the competitors themselves. I want to understand what the flyers value most before setting top-down rules. Once we’ve identified the key judging elements, we can look into bringing in external judges in the future.
Who is this competition for?
It’s for well-rounded flyers, most of them tunnel instructors, coaches (indoor or outdoor), competitors, and very dedicated sports flyers.
How has the community responded?
The response has been amazing. Competitors are stoked. It’s a great excuse to fly together in the big tunnel.
The community is keen too; a lot of people are getting stoked about sequentials. It’s such a great way to share tunnel time with friends. It allows people to share time much sooner than dynamic flying, is more complex than VFS, and relies heavily on teamwork, creativity and trust.
At the camps, it’s awesome to watch a group become a team over the weekend. Once trust builds, people get more confident, push harder, and nail the more complicated flips. Our coaches mix in a fair bit of dynamic flying too, which pushes flyers to broaden their skill sets. Having a goal that can be shared with others, which is both challenging and within reach, I think, motivates a lot of flyers.
What do you hope competitors and viewers take away?
The stoke of flying together, and inspiration for new moves and routines to take back to their home tunnels and communities.
What can competitors expect from the event?
A lot of flying, figuring stuff out, active participation in the process, and the excitement of creating something from scratch.
Which countries or teams are confirmed?
So far:
- A team from Dubai (captained by Jamie Webster)
- A team from the U.S. (under Jesse Jaber)
- A European team (led by Jérémy Saint-Jean and myself)
- An international team under Rob Jones (and hopefully an Australian flyer TBC) is being recruited
How is this project challenging you personally?
This project is pushing me to scale up. I’ve been organizing events for a long time, running the organisation mostly by myself. That’s not sustainable anymore. I recently hired a virtual assistant and someone to handle social media, so we’ll see how that goes.
It’s exciting to collaborate with people, but at first it actually increases the workload. Still, it’s a good kind of challenge forcing me to rethink how I work, experiment, fail, and try again.
What’s been the hardest part?
When I think about the flying, I get super excited but the logistics are a lot of work and, honestly, stressful.
Most athletes are stoked to join, but for some, the cost is simply too high. It would be great if tunnels recognized the value of their instructors participating and helped cover travel or registration, but that might be wishful thinking.
Overall, the biggest challenge is covering the budget. CLYMB and EASA are supporting us, which is fantastic, but we also need funds for photo, video, and social media which are key to promoting and growing the competition beyond this year.
Furthermore, I also recognise that I don’t know all the good dynamic/sequentials flyers and communities. So I started by inviting the people and captains I know and hope that flyers outside my periferie find their way to us through the socials and by word of mouth. Or through this article 😉
What impact do you hope Vertical Sequentials 8-Way has on the sport?
This isn’t a brand new discipline, it builds on the work of communities like Undercover Ninjas, Maktoum, XP Crew, SDC Core, Echelon, Barn Storm, and AirBerlin Sequentials. I see this project as a link in that chain, carrying the torch forward.
I hope it inspires flyers everywhere to gather their friends and try these moves, both indoors and outdoors. Sequentials offer a great way to share flying time, and for those who want to push further, mixing in dynamic elements is the next step.
Who are the sponsors?
The competition is sponsored by EASA and CLYMB, and CLYMB also sponsors the flying time for the workshop. Personally, I’m sponsored by UPT and L&B. We’re still looking for additional sponsors for the competition, so if you’d like to get involved, send us a DM! We’re still recruiting competitor. How to get in touch: E-mail: info@exitnow.nl Nordic Sequentials on Instagram.
