posted May 13th, 2008 - Several NSL News stories have already mentioned the Russian teams and their situation in the national race for the ticket to France. The latest update from Russia on 9 May 2008 covered the situation in the female 4-way category.

It is no surprise that the NSL News goes back to news from Russia on a regular basis. Russia has been one of the powerhouses in Formation Skydiving competition for decades. The 8-way success of the early years prepared the foundation for Russia to bring up 4-way teams to the world's top level, as well.

It has now come to a point where the experts would not discuss the contenders for medals in 4-way and 8-way without considering the Russian teams. Russia has already won gold medals in 8-way (2001 and 2003). It has been more difficult for Russian 4-way teams to bring home any medals so far.

The Russian 4-way team of 1989 won silver medals in Spain with a 13.2 average. Only the Sky Panthers, with Vasili Korotkov, Michail Kuznetzov, Alexei Minaev, Yevgeni Stashenko and Vadim Niyzov (Camera) in the lineup, managed to win a set of bronze medals ever since and with a 21.1 average in Croatia 2004.

However, two Russian 4-way teams are still sharing the official world record for a single round. Black Cat and Extreme.RU both scored 44-pointers at the Malevsky Cup 2006 in Russia, and the best Russian team of 2008 will once again be in the hunt for the top positions in France.

Black Cat's scores and performance at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2008 was already covered by the NSL News with a few stories. The NSL News story on 3 February 2008 explained the two lineups shared between the Sky Panthers and Skylight Barkli.

Black Cat and Sky Panthers are probably the two top contenders in the race for the Russian slot in France, even though other top teams, as Crossroads, SkyTech BBC or Ocean 5, could make it more challenging.

Skylight Barkli, with team sponsor Leonid Kazinets, Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin and Sergej Shenin in the lineup, competed at the World Challenge 2008 and finished with a world-class 24.2 average in 6th place. The NSL-TV camera captured the team live in action with Round 10. The level video from close by can be viewed by clicking here.

The same Round 10 video from the judging perspective is also available by clicking here. NSL-TV also uploaded Skylight Barkli's video of Round 7 where the Russian team shared the highscore for the round with Airspeed Odyssey. It was the fastest sequence of the competition (P-9-A-J), and both teams posted 45-pointers.

The performance in Bedford was the peak so far for team sponsor Leonid Kazinets who was introduced by the NSL News with the February story. Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin and Sergej Shenin can only jump with him or with the Sky Panthers and Mikhail Kuznetsov at the qualification event in June (15 - 22).

Another Russian team is also slowly and steadily moving up the ranks and to new scoring and performance levels. Kaktus Hunter was introduced by the NSL News with the story on 16 February 2008. The high level of motivation and consistent training has worked very well for the young team. The 22.2 average at the World Challenge 2008 speaks its own language.

Kaktus Hunter, with Egor Gusev (Inside Center), Andrei Kharitonov (Outside Center), Katya Kharitonova (Point) and Anna Panasyuk (Tail), managed to keep up with Skylight Barkli already here and there and even won two rounds. Round 4 was probably the best one for Kaktus Hunter and can now be viewed on NSL-TV, as well.