The last World Championships during 2012 in Dubai was a pretty close battle in VFS between the French defending champions Team4Speed and the American Nexus team representing UAE. After the first 2 rounds UAE had a 6-point lead on the French, they stayed comfortably in front right up till the last round where Team4Speed had a phenomenal jump, taking back the lead and winning their second WPC.
In the 2013 World Cup Nexus managed to beat T4S and later in the 2013 DIPC VFS Competition they won with a mindblowing 26.38 average (that’s 1 point more than Hayabusa who won in FS). So, for the WPC2014 at Prostejov we expected Nexus to be the favorite for taking home the gold but surprisingly they did not register. The team is back in the US now, their line-up changed a little (Tim McMaster is out and Dusty Hanks in). They are entering the US Nationals right now in Chicago and may well be at the next World Championships in 2016, representing the USA.
Team Evolution
One of the most interesting teams is the Canadians with the 3 Lemay brothers. They participate in FS as well as in VFS with almost the same line-up and they are they are top notch in both disciplines. Talking to one of the brothers, he told us last year they mainly focused on 4-way FS, making around 600 jumps with only 150 for VFS. At the start of the FS 4-way competition that was immediately clear, as they scored the same as the US and one point behind Belgium. They ended up in bronze medal position just 4 points behind Arizona Airspeed!
Arizona Arsenal
Arsenal won the nationals last year at their home DZ so they represent USA. They also have a new member in the line-up since then, Niklas Daniel replacing Amy Chmelecki.
Team4Speed
With Nexus not competing, the French were the favorite for taking their third consecutive gold on a world Championship! This will probably be their last competition, we met Team Transfert (French “espoir”) on the Wind Games in the beginning of the year and they will be the “first” French VFS team next year.
WPC 2014
After 2 days of really shitty weather in Prostejov the VFS competition finally started on Wednesday afternoon with 4 jumps programmed that day. The medal places were pretty predictable beforehand and that was clear after round 4 with T4S in a comfortable lead and same for Arsenal in 2nd place.
The battle for 4th place would be little bit more exciting. QFX (UK), Avalon (Switzerland) and Element (Belgium) are pretty evenly matched. During the Wind Games at Windoor in Empuria we also had a nice competition with them and there was a great atmosphere between the teams. This was also the case in Prostejov in general. For me it was the first World Championship – in fact, my first outside competition ever! – and I was pleasantly surprised by all the good vibes between all teams within competitions and also between teams in general (skydivers are a jolly bunch of lovely people!)
Back to the VFS comp… so after day one: top 3 decided, 4th place excitingly close and Russia and Australia would battle for last. On the 2nd day of the VFS comp 2 rounds were completed, the top-3 all reinforced their lead and we were still battling the Swiss for 4th and trying to keep the British behind.
##Last Round
On the last day Arsenal did 2 very strong rounds, beating the French on both but it didn’t make a difference: Gold for Team 4 Speed, Silver medal for Arsenal (USA) and Bronze for Evolution (Canada). Avalon had 2 clean rounds to finish and so they took 4th place, and the first ‘amateur’ team, we managed to stay clear of QFX by 1 point! (phew!)
##And Finally
So all in all it was a good week in Prostejov; nice DZ, good organization and a great atmosphere. We hope to be back for Chicago 2016, looking forward to a rematch with QFX and Avalon! A big thanks to our sponsors Vigil AAD, Larsen & Brusgaard and Sonic FlyWear for their support. But most importantly we would like to thank Serge Angilella for being part of the Belgian national VFS team for 4 years! We will miss you in this sport mate. Good luck pannekoek! ☺
Previous World Championships article, Freestyle, by Emma
Ninth World Championships article, FF, by Joel
Eighth World Championships article, Speed, by Mikey
Seventh World Championships article, FS, by Lesley
Sixth World Championships article, FS, by Lesley
Fifth World Championships article, FS by Lesley
Fourth World Championships article, FS by Lesley
Third World Championships article, FF by Joel
Second World Championships article, FS by Lesley
First World Championships article, FF by Joel
World Championships website for day videos and info
