posted Oct 4th, 2012 - The NSL News continues with the preview of the female 4way competition at the World Meet 2012 in Dubai.

Yesterday's story covered Germany's bad luck with the expected top contender ISB Air Remscheid. The story also mentioned that there were still a few questionsmarks behind some of the 14 teams who are registered for this event. One questionmark was behind the Russian lineup for the Mondial 2012, and the NSL News tried to get accurate information.

National coach and SportLoto member Egor Gusev was helpful once again and provided the names of the team members who will travel to Dubai at the end of November.

Russia's female lineup for the Mondial in Dubai did not attend the Russian Nationals 2012, even though some of the members were present and competed in different teams. At least three of the members are also well known in the Formation Skydiving competition community.

In fact, the team could easily register under the team name Illusions. Alena Chistova, Zhanna Kazakova and Elena Mazaeva competed with Illusions at five outdoor meets last year, including the World Cup in Germany. Elena Mazaeva was shooting the videos most of the time after competing in the active lineup at the 2nd Dubai Cup in January.

However, she will not slow down the team coming back into the active lineup for the Mondial 2012 in Dubai. She has spent most of her 4way career turning points and began to film the team only in 2011.

2nd Dubai Cup 2011	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Total	Avg
January 7	P,17,18	M,N,F,3	H,A,6,B	Q,1,C,14	4,10,15	16,O,J,22	K,2,E,11	G,9,8	Total	Avg
Russia Illusions	16	21	22	15	9	17	17	17	134	16.8

Kolomna Meet 2011	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
April 30	9,21,6	13,H,L,2	20,12,7	E,K,10,F	11,P,C,G	J,19,16	15,O,D,1	B,3,4	M,8,A,5	Q,14,17	Total	Avg
Russia Illusions	17	14	15	21	18	17	19	17	21	18	177	17.7

World Cup 2011	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
August 3	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
Russia Illusions	12	21	17	14	16	16	19	18	15	19	167	16.7

Russian Nationals 2011	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
September 13	21,6,7	5,L,8	H,Q,P,J,E	G,13,19	1,C,18	B,16,O,14	A,D,17,M	3,15,10	9,2,4	F,22,11	Total	Avg
Russia Illusions	20	19	44	13	17	20	27	13	16	17	206	20.6

3rd Dubai Cup 2011	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Total	Avg
November 29	L,C,P,20	K,M,6,15	G,19,H,11	2,10,E	13,9,5	O,7,3	B,21,16	4,1,22	Total	Avg
Russia Illusions	19	18	14	14	11	18	15	14	123	15.4

The Illusions will surely be an underdog at the Mondial 2012, as the three top teams this year (Golden Knights, Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders, Polaris) are well trained and ready to compete for the three sets of medals. The Russian pickup team for the event has to catch up quickly to get to the performance level where they can possibly challenge Polaris for the bronze medals.

It is not impossible, as Illusions demonstrated at the World Cup 2011. The Russian team actually outscored Polaris for the 2nd place and were only far behind France due to a devastating amount of 19 point deductions in the 10-round meet.

Illusions had former Kaktus Hunter member Katya Kharitonova in the lineup at the World Cup, together with Alena Chistova, Zhanna Kazakova, Maria Serova and Elena Mazaeva on camera. It was a strong lineup and no big surprise that Russia won the silver medals.

World Cup 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne DB Defenders	16	20	16	17	19	20	19	17	17 (-1)	28	189	18.9
2	Illusions	12 (-2)	21	17	14 (-3)	16 (-3)	16 (-3)	19	18	15 (-1)	19 (-7)	167	16.7
3	Polaris	13 (-2)	19	13 (-3)	15	15	17	17	13 (-2)	16	23 (-1)	161	16.1
4	Golden Knights	13 (-1)	16	14	15	14	14 (-1)	13 (-1)	15	15	24	153	15.3
5	Bodyflight Aerodyne	13 (-2)	18	12 (-1)	14	12 (-1)	16	12 (-1)	14	14	23 (-1)	148	14.8

The question is how this year's 4th member will fill the open slot. Tatyana Polynskay is an experienced skydiver and biqway expert. She also competed in 4way at last year's Russian Nationals and finished with a 11.6 average for the XO Team.

That doesn't sound like much, but it could be misleading. She has a very experienced coach and world class competitor with team member Alena Chistova who could bring her up to speed in a short time period.

In fact, Alena Chistova is already working on it. The Russian Nationals included a 2way competition, and the 2way team with Alena Chistova and Tatyana Polynskay took the 1st place. The speed update is obviously in the works, and then the four Russian members of this year's national lineup have to melt together as a 4way team quickly. There is not much time left...