It couldn’t possibly be more exciting in 8-way, with UAE losing a point to Monaco, making them dead level on 121 points each, with 2 rounds to go. It’s anybody’s game. Craig Girard is loving it, he wants it to go all the way to a jump-off; his teammates are a bit less excitable and would just like to win. They did not expect to be so close to gold but you can see the intensity now they really want it. Their highest average so far has been around 11 and now they’re over 15.
Monaco is fired up too; ‘les anciens’ smell the scent of victory and are in the groove. The Russians are 6 points behind, followed by the German team, who are scoring very well on an 11 average (it’s not the National team). The Columbians had their best round yet posting a 2 (sic), popular with the crowd.
4-way
Dubai Nexus finished in the same classy way they began, and finished on a 26.4 average, which is their best by a long way. They are delighted, to win the gold for UAE on home turf, and to outperform their own expectations. France finished on a 23 average, looking so quick you can’t quite figure out how Nexus could go any faster. Poland put up a strong show to end in bronze position with a 7.9 average; Dubai Nexus has been working a lot training up this new promising team. The 4-way open and female just has the final round to go but the places look pretty set in these events. There were more interesting judgement calls, when Qatar built a formation that was not a 20 (Piver) but was still scored by all 5 judges.
Canopy Piloting
Conditions were perfect for high scoring distance rounds, with a slight tailwind. This was the most exciting spectator event so far, with lines of people cheering the pilots down the course, encouraged by ebullient commentary from Regan Tetlow, who is doing an amazing job. Nick Batsch set a new World Record in distance with 158.76m. Brian Vacher set a new British Distance record at 129.75m, and Maxine Tate set a new European Women’s Distance record at 94.09m. There is one round of the Distance left to go, with Nick in front for the USA, followed by Jay Moledzki for Canada, then Brian Vacher (UK), Billy Sharman (UAE) and French Julien Guiho. Any of these guys could win, and of course the speed places count towards the overall competition, where everyone is routing for the impressive Cornelia (UAE) to get on the podium.
Canopy Formation
These events are complete, with USA a clear winner in 4-way Rotations with 144 over 8 rounds, averaging 20.6 (with a throwaway round) followed by Russia, then Kazakhstan. 2-way Sequential was also dominated by the USA, with a phenomenal average of 25.6 formations in 60 seconds. Russia took silver and France the bronze.
Finals
Tomorrow (Friday) should see the final rounds complete in all events, with a sandstorm due to blow in on Saturday, making it imperative to finish on time. The afternoon is promised to be a show of local culture; presumably in the same lavish Dubai style we are now becoming accustomed to.
Full scores and video at: Omniskore
Image gallery at: JuanMayerProductions
