Arizona Airspeed Vertical and DeLand Majik scoring the
highest ten-round  averages in
the history of 4-way Formation Skydiving were not the only
records being set at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2002. The
Italian national team "Sinapsi" posted a new Italian record
for one sequence in round two of the
meet. |
The 27 points for the the sequence of random
formations J-L-G-D-P was the highest score of an Italian team
in history, the team members reported to the  NSL News. And this record round was still not enough
for Sinapsi. Along with this highscore came a new record
average, as well. The team from Udine finished the ten-round
meet with a 17.8 average. This was the highest average of an
Italian team, as well. |
Italy has always had very good 4-way teams. Sinapsi
members Livio Piccolo, Luca Marchioro and Marco Arrigo placed
6th at the World Championship 2001  with a 15.9 meet
average. Luca Poretti was already the team videographer by
then.
At the World Cup in 2000, Piccolo and Marchioro posted a
15.5 average on 8th place in Eloy with another Italian team.
At the World Championship in 1999 in Australia, Italy came in
8th with a 14.7 average. None of the current Sinapsi team
members was in the Italian team of
1999. |
The last Italian record was scored at the World Cup
2000 in Portugal with 23 points in time. No current Sinapsi
member was part of this Italian team. Meet average was 14.0 by
then. And in 1997, another Italian team scored 13.7  at the World
Championship in Turkey.
Italy had their peak results in the late 80's/early 90's.
In 1987, an 11.6 average resulted in the 4th place at the
World Championship in Brazil. The 12.8 average in Spain in
1989 brought the 5th place. And the World Championship in 1991
saw the | |
Italian 4-way team even with the bronze medal on the
podium  with a 14.6
average.
Livio Piccolo, Luca Marchioro, Marco Arrigo and Arianna De
Benedetti have formed the current Sinapsi team. Luca Poretti
is again filming the team. Valentina Sabatini is the team
packer. They have completed 350 training jumps at this point.
Piccolo, Marchioro and Arrigo have approx. 1,000 team jumps
together. De Benedetti was member of an Italian all female
team before she joined
Sinapsi. |
Sinapsi already competed at the NSL
Championship 2001 as a guest team.  The 16.4
average at Fantasy of Flight was already promising and the
highest result of an Italian team compared to the other
international events. Sinapsi plans another 1,200 jumps
between here and the next World Championship in 2003 in
France. |
Looking at the potential of the team, this will most
likely move Italy up very close to the medal level. Sinapsi
has also the advantage that they can train consistently from
the  same plane that
will be used at the world meet in France, the Pilatus Porter.
The right-hand door will mirror image everything for teams
that are used to train from Twinotters. At least the U.S. team
and the British team can only switch to the right-hand door
after winning their national
championships. |
At the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2002, Sinapsi
was  allowed to use Skydive DeLand's Pilatus Porter for
the competition jumps.
Keep an eye on the next NSL-TV show. Sinapsi's new record
round will be shown together with Vertical's and Majik's
highscores. And, by the way, all these records are inofficial
since the NSL events have not been sanctioned by IPC and USPA
yet. | |
