posted May 1st, 2009 - The NSL News has already covered a few exciting smaller races within the field of 47 teams at the World Challenge 2009.

The trio of Satori (United Kingdom), Kaktus Hunter (Russia) and Aerokart Pamiers (France) follows Aerokart Deep Blue and Pussy Galore at each new round of NSL YouTube TV, in reverse order, according to the final rankings, and these three teams had their own little world meet going throughout the ten rounds at Bodyflight Bedford.

Only two competitors of these three teams have really been at a World Championship of Formation Skydiving. Clement Martin-Saint-Leon and Emmanuel "Manu" Sarrazin won 8-way gold medals for France in 2006 and 2008 and bring up to speed new talent from France in their 4-way lineups. However, there is a very good chance that all members of Satori, Kaktus Hunter and Aerokart Pamiers could really be competing at the next World Meet 2010 in Russia.

Clement Martin-Saint-Leon, Arnaud Mille, Emmanuel Sarrazin and Erwan Pouliquen are all members of the new French 8-way lineup, even though Emmanuel "Manu" Sarrazin actually wants to retire from 8-way and is officially the alternate.

Satori's Aaron Faith, Julia Foxwell, John McIver and Katie Woods seem to be the strongest team in the United Kingdom and will most likely and finally reach their goal of winning the national 4-way title and then qualify for the World Meet 2010.

The only questionmark is probably behind the chances of Kaktus Hunter to represent Russia next year on home turf. Kaktus Hunter was the only Russian team at the World Challenge 2009. If Egor Gusev, Andrei Kharitonov, Katya Kharitonova and Anna Panasyuk continue with their impressive progression of the last three years, then they will probably have a chance to beat the other Russian world class competitors who have been competing with Black Cat and Sky Panthers.

Only Crystal, also known as Gradient Alpha, and Cross Road have attended any of the early meets this year so far. Both teams competed at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2009, while the two Russian top contenders have not announced any plans for the 2009 season yet.

The NSL News provided details about Kaktus Hunter's team career with the story on 1 February 2009. The article mentioned already that the team's goal of a 22- to 23-point outdoor average would seriously challenge the other Russian top teams and that it could become a very interesting competition season in Russia this year.

The numbers on the leaderboards confirm that Kaktus Hunter is on the right track. The Russian team attended the World Challenge for the first time in 2007 and finished with a 16.6 average. The team's indoor average went up to 22.2 a year later in Bedford. The 23.9 average at the World Challenge 2009 was only five points behind the world class lineup of Arcteryx Nice.

Kaktus Hunter has worked its way up systematically and well planned ever since the team was formed in August 2006. The self-sufficient team trains in Kolomna and has no financial support from resources outside of the team environment. At this point, Katya Kharitonova, Andrei Kharitonov's younger sister, has a career similar to former 4-way world champion Natasha Montgomery, as she is now only in her third year in the sport.

Her brother Andrei Kharitonov is considered one of the best skydivers in Russia and can forward all his experience to his sister. Egor Gusev and Katya Kharitonova, on the lowest experience level in the team, sought the best help from the very beginning. They have attended several skills camps with Airspeed coaches and brought their own skills level quickly up to the point where they were ready for ambitious team training.

The Kaktus Hunter results at the World Challenge 2009 are surely convincing, and the top 4-way contenders in Russia will carefully observe how the young team continues from here on. The NSL News will do the same...