I'm with Mr. Kemp in thinking the US pilots gave a very good
performance. I followed most all of them every contest day using the
SeeYou logs posted at days end (The use of Spot was basically useless
in this regard.). When you "force" the pilots to start at the same
"virtual" time, you can get a feel for the different strategies. The
overall winners flew more efficiently, maximised their energy, seemed
to wander less (shorter air travel per task distance) and, maybe too
obviously, were the most consistent.from one day to the next. Amazing
that that speeds in many cases were so close for the top 10-15
finishers. Of added interest were the sub-plots; e.g. Dick Butler
flying his new ship winning some great days; and John Seaborn missing
a start, only upon completing the task did he learn of his zero-point
day, then subsequently flew some of his best days to move up. Just to
mention a few positives.

Why haven't we had top finishers for many years? I have no clue.
Maybe it is the amount of training, ship performance, US v FAI rules.
Unless the relative paucity of youth participation in soaring is
remedied, not much else is going to matter in a few years.