posted Oct 11th, 2015 - The early Sun Path Products NSL News preview of the FAI World Cup 2015 on July 13th reported that Russia would send a strong delegation to the competition in Teuge.

It turned out that the Russian delegation would actually be the largest one in Formation Skydiving competition. Russia was the only country with the maximum number of four teams in the 4-way Open Class competition, and there were also Russian teams in the three other FS categories: Infra Red Band in 4-way Women, Tanay in 8-way, Vertical Flystation and UFO in 4-way VFS.

It was not only the number of teams that made Russia the second strongest FS delegation in Teuge. The Russian delegation also collected four sets of FS silver medals (Black Cat, Infra Red Band, Tanay, Vertical Flystation). Only France was more successful with three gold medals and one 3rd place.

FAI World Cup 2015			Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		1,4,D	E,3,L,G	C,16,N,9	13,J,11	Q,2,A,14	K,7,8	P,18,21	15,12,F	B,22,O,10	20,5,M	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	22	32	32	24	23	24	24	22	23	24	250	25.0
2	Black Cat	RU	21	26	27	18	23	24	21	19	20	20	219	21.9
3	VR4 France	FR	20	26	25	19	23	20	22	18	20	24	217	21.7
4	Artemis Saumur Espoir	FR	18	23	21	18	21	21	19	17	20	20	198	19.8
5	4mula	UK	16	23	23	16	18	15	17	16	15	16	175	17.5
6	Final Fire	AT	15	19	21	15	17	19	16	16	15	18	171	17.1
7	AtomiX YUU-Skydive	DE	13	17	17	13	16	16	17	15	14	16	154	15.4
8	Barguzin	RU	15	21	18	14	19	14	18	16	14	-	149	16.6
9	XO Team	RU	17	20	12	14	17	17	16	13	12	-	138	15.3
10	M4trix	NL	15	17	17	14	14	13	16	14	14	-	134	14.9
10	eX3mo	IT	12	19	19	15	15	14	15	14	11	-	134	14.9
12	VAF Warriors	DK	16	19	13	15	17	14	13	11	15	-	133	14.8
13	Energy Italia	IT	14	17	18	12	15	16	15	13	-	-	120	15.0
14	Eclipse	UK	14	17	17	12	14	15	16	13	-	-	118	14.8
15	Sky 4 Four	PL	12	9	13	11	12	11	11	9	12	-	100	11.1
16	Phoenix	UK	11	16	12	11	14	13	14	8	-	-	99	12.4
17	Tanay Wolves	RU	11	12	11	13	13	14	10	12	-	-	96	12.0
18	Impulse	AU	10	12	13	9	10	11	12	10	-	-	87	10.9
19	Barak	ES	11	12	7	9	10	12	10	8	-	-	79	9.9
20	TNT	RO	8	10	7	6	10	9	8	8	-	-	66	8.3

Three of the four Russian 4-way Open Class teams made it to the semifinals where all four teams of a nation can place in the world cup rankings. Russia's second strongest team, Barguzin, with former Barkli members Vladimir Pavlenko and Sergey Shenin in the lineup and Barkli videographer Andrey Seliverstov on camera, battled with Austria's Final Fire for the 6th place and the last slot in the finals. Final Fire ended up four points ahead and advanced to Round 10.

Barguzin actually outscored the German team AtomiX by 11 points, and Russia's XO Team was tied with the German team after Round 9. However, both Russian teams were eliminated after the semifinals, as only six teams qualify for the World Cup finals, and only six national teams advance to the finals of the European Championship.

Black Cat had Russia's slot, while AtomiX competed for Germany. There was no room for the other two Russian teams any longer.

Russian Nationals 2015		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	5,11,16	M,P,O,6	12,G,N,D	L,14,J,H	K,8,17	Q,9,18	15,10,A	13,4,E	7,22,C	21,B,1	Total	Avg
1	Black Cat	19	32	20	24	18	24	17	20	20	19	213	21.3
2	Red Cat	17	28	18	23	18	21	15	16	17	17	190	19.0
3	Barguzin	17	25	18	20	16	22	16	15	19	18	186	18.6
4	XO Team	15	26	18	20	17	19	13	16	16	16	176	17.6
5	Sky 45	16	23	16	16	17	19	13	13	13	14	160	16.0
6	B.team	13	24	15	22	15	19	11	13	13	14	159	15.9
7	CSKA	12	19	15	17	15	13	11	13	15	14	144	14.4
8	Infra Red Band	11	20	16	12	12	16	13	11	12	12	135	13.5
9	Tanay Wolves	9	18	15	13	10	14	8	12	10	12	121	12.1
10	Goryachie Golovy	9	14	11	11	9	13	7	7	11	11	103	10.3

The Sun Path Products NSL News reported later that several teams at the World Cup had very little time to get ready for the competition in Teuge after competing at the national championships.

It was the other way around for the teams from Russia. They did not have much time after coming back from the Netherlands to get ready for their nationals, which were held the week after the conclusion of the World Cup.

All five 4-way teams, including the Infra Red Band, competed at the Russian Nationals and finished in the same order as they did in Teuge. Barguzin and XO Team both scored significantly higher than in Teuge and might have made the cut after the semifinals with the same meet averages as on home turf a week later.

Black Cat defended the Russian 4-way title successfully with a 21.3 average, and with sponsor Valeriy Gredasov in the lineup who replaced Alexander Kvochur.

Red Cat, who had competed at the World Challenge 2015, interfered with Barguzin's and XO Team's placing behind Black Cat and took the 2nd place. Only Olga Bykova was back from the lineup in Bedford. She had Alexander Golovkin, Oleg Shalamykhin and Alexander Tychinkiy in her lineup this time, with Andrey Tretiak on camera.

Black Cat now continues with a busy schedule for the remainder of the year. The lineup with Valeriy Gredasov currently trains in DeLand and will compete for Russia at the World Air Games in Dubai. Alexander Kvochur will be back in the lineup at the 1st FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championships later this month and then compete for Black Cat at the Clash of Champions.