posted Oct 2nd, 2012 - The NSL News has recently covered the Russian part of the Formation Skydiving competition world quite extensively, and it is still not the end yet, as the plans of Russia's national 8way team Sky Panthers Barkli include upcoming events covered by the NSL News.

Team captain Oleg Shalamykhin recetly updated the NSL News with the Barkli schedule for the remainder of the 2012 season. The team's agenda includes two training camps in DeLand and one in Eloy. The update became even more exciting when he added that the camp in Arizona will include participation at the USPA Nationals 2012.

It means that the USPA Nationals 2012 will not only be the first re-match between Barkli and Golden Knights after the 8way competition at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 in March and before the final showdown at the World Meet 2012 in Dubai. There is another story behind it.

Paraclete Outdoor 2012		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8way	8,7,E	O,4,14	Q,H,18,1	D,L,N,B,13	21,20,5	17,A,19	10,15,11	P,K,22,F	16,J,3	6,M,9	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	18	24	23(-2)	21(-2)	17	18	23	26	29(-2)	20	219	21.9
2	Sky Panthers Barkli	15	21	20(-1)	21(-2)	17	16	19	19(-3)	29(-1)	14(-2)	191	19.1
3	Dubai Assar 8	6	8	10	5(-2)	6(-1)	7	6(-1)	6(-2)	9(-1)	10(-1)	73	7.3

The history of this specific duel goes back to the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk, Russia, where Sky Panthers Barkli and Golden Knights competed for the first time with and against each other. The lineups were only slightly different for both teams when the 8way projects began on both sides. The Golden Knights (19.6) placed 2nd behind France, and Barkli (18.5) won bronze medals in 8way and in 4way.

A year later, both teams met again at the World Cup in Saarlouis, Germany, and Barkli fell further behind (20.7 - 16.3) the Golden Knights who won the gold medals by a single point over France.

Barkli was not happy with the results at the World Cup and decided to attend another high-profile 8way competition, and that's where the new story begins. The Russian 8way team traveled to Eloy and competed at the USPA Nationals 2011. Not only the Golden Knights waited in Eloy, two other strong US 8way lineups offered great competition for Barkli, as well: Arizona Airspeed and Paraclete XP8.

USPA Nationals 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8way	1,16,C	22,F,11	21,15,2	5,P,D,17	8,Q,3	O,M,G,10	9,12,19	A,N,14,J	4,H,20	E,18,B,7	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights (US)	26	23	19	19	21	20	17	23	24	20	212	21.2
2	Sky Panthers Barkli (RU)	22	24	16	10	19	17	15	18	19	17	177	17.7
3	Arizona Airspeed (US)	24	17	17	11	17	15	13	18	23	15	170	17.0
4	Paraclete XP8 (US)	19	19	16	11	14	17	14	18	18	17	163	16.3

Sky Panthers Barkli did much better at the USPA Nationals 2011 than at the World Cup a few months ago, even though the Golden Knights were still far away. The Russian 8way team took the 2nd place in front of Airspeed and XP8.

The USPA Nationals 2012 will feature the same 8way battle, which will be fought even harder. The NSL News mentioned earlier that the Golden Knights skip the 4way competition to focus on 8way. Barkli is doing the same thing, even though the 4way lineup is currently Russia's best one and will compete at the Mondial 2012. Arizona Airspeed and Paraclete XP8 will also be back, as last year, and offer additional US 8way opposition.

The 8way competition at the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2012 was the latest commom milestone for Barkli and Golden Knights on their road to Dubai. The Golden Knights won again clearly. However, the chart shows that the situation is not hopeless for the Russian 8way team. In fact, Barkli has reduced the distance to the Golden Knights in November 2011 and March 2012. The USPA Nationals 2012 will show whether Russia can continue to move closer to the US team or not - a month before the Mondial 2012 in Dubai.