posted Dec 27th, 2015 - Two 4-way teams had the busiest agenda of all teams that recently attended both top events in Dubai, first the Clash of Champions and then the World Air Games 2015.

Dubai's Asaar Black lineup and Black Cat from Russia both completed 40 competition rounds within two weeks. In fact, Black Cat was the only team with 41 rounds, as Asaar Black did not qualify for the Speed Battle at the Clash of Champions, where only the Top 10 teams were invited for the extra round.

Valentin Ilin, Vasily Korotkov, Alexander Kvochur and Evgeny Stashchenko competed with Black Cat at both 4-way events and with 8-way team Tanay at the same time. Vadim Niyazov was filming all Russian 4-way and 8-way jumps at the World Air Games and served as Black Cat's alternate at Inflight Dubai.

Clash of Champions 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 AAA Class		J,13,8	K,20,5	9,21,19	C,3,6	7,O,15	A,18,1	2,H,P,D	16,L,11	E,N,10,B	12,Q,F,22	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	26	32	30	28	33	29	41	28	37	29	313	31.3
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	28	30	29	30	34	27	39	28	34	26	305	30.5
5	Qatar Tigers	QA	24	25	28	27	28	25	33	26	30	23	269	26.9
5	Evolution	CA	24	29	27	25	29	26	30	26	28	25	269	26.9
9	Black Cat	RU	22	26	27	26	29	26	33	26	24	23	262	26.2
10	FLY-IN Open	FR	20	27	27	26	31	22	33	21	30	23	260	26.0

Clash of Champions 2015			Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way AAA Class		L,F,C,7	5,6,19	2,9,3	G,A,12,10	B,11,22	16,1,21	K,M,18,P	E,O,J,8	Q,17,15	N,H,4,D	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	34	26	30	30	37	34	35	25	31	42	324	32.4
2	France Weembi	FR	29	22	25	26	30	30	28	27	28	34	279	27.9
3	Tanay	RU	29	22	20	22	31	30	27	23	25	38	267	26.7
4	Thund8rbirds	BE	24	23	22	22	21	28	28	23	24	35	250	25.0
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	24	19	20	21	25	24	20	19	23	26	221	22.1
6	Dubai Asaar	AE	21	19	19	19	20	23	22	19	21	26	209	20.9
7	Monaco Vitalsea	MC	7	13	16	14	13	11	17	18	17	22	148	14.8

Black Cat came to Dubai as the reigning silver medalists in 4-way and 8-way at the FAI World Cup 2015. The same Black Cat 4-way lineup had also won the silver medals at the 1st FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championships.

Black Cat has quietly taken Russia's top spot in Formation Skydiving competition. Barkli had competed for Russia in both events at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014. The 4-way lineup finished in 5th place in Prostejov, and Barkli's 8-way team brought home the silver medals.

Black Cat then won the national championships in 4-way and joined forces with Ruslan Azarov, Andrey Barabach, Dmitry Samokhval, Oleg Shalamykhin and Alexander Tychinkiy to complete the recent Tanay 8-way team.

World Air Games 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		B,C,17,2	N,19,4	13,14,F	6,E,O,L	7,1,A	D,18,P,22	M,H,5,15	16,9,12	21,K,G,Q	11,20,3	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH Hayabusa	BE	29	26	23	36	28	23	31	24	27	22	269	26.9
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	29	27	22	36	28	19	29	25	30	20	265	26.5
3	Black Cat	RU	23	23	21	30	21	21	26	23	27	19	234	23.4
4	Qatar Tigers	QA	22	21	17	28	23	19	27	19	21	17	214	21.4
5	Evolution	CA	21	22	17	28	20	15	24	20	22	16	205	20.5
6	Dubai Asaar Black	AE	21	20	17	20	20	17	23	19	20	17	194	19.4
7	FLY-IN	FR	24	20	18	29	20	17	19	19	22	-	188	20.9

The new Russian 8-way team did not only maintain Russia's silver medal position at the World Air Games 2015. Black Cat has also brought Russia back to the bronze medal position in 4-way - at least for the moment.

It will become challenging for Black Cat and Tanay to defend the current positions next year at the Mondial 2016. The new French national 4-way team FLY-IN and Evolution's new 4-way Open Class lineup will put more pressure on Black Cat with more training, and the French 8-way lineup for the Mondial 2016 does not even look at Tanay and the 2nd place. They plan to put pressure on the Golden Knights.

However, Black Cat's outdoor performance at the World Air Games was convincing, and the distance to France, Qatar and Canada is significant at this point in time. Tanay could also make it more difficult for the former French 8-way world champions, who outscored the Russian national team by only 12 points (27.9 - 26.7) at the indoor competition.

World Air Games 2015			Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Total	Avg
Rank	0-way Open		20,13,4	F,L,B,G,P	22,D,7	14,O,5	9,C,J,H	19,K,3	Q,17,E,A	15,21,18	12,16,1	8,11,2	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	22	33	19	19	18	22	21	22	29	17	222	22.2
2	Tanay	RU	17	26	17	14	19	21	17	17	24	13	185	18.5
3	France Weembi	FR	16	23	13	15	16	20	17	17	22	13	172	17.2
4	Dubai Asaar	AE	14	17	13	14	15	16	16	16	15	11	147	14.7
5	Qatar Falcons	QA	13	16	14	10	13	16	15	14	16	11	138	13.8

Who are the current Black Cat members? Three Black Cat members know each other very well. Vasily Korotkov and Evgeny Stashchenko won 8-way gold medals for Russia in 2001 and 2003 and invited young Alexander Kvochur to train and compete with Black Cat in 2005, together with Alexey Minaev, another Russian 8-way world champion and 4-way bronze medalist of 2004.

Former Sunny Wind member Valentin Ilin joined Black Cat when the team began to pick up efforts and pace. Sponsors Andrey Barabash (8-way) and Valeriy Gredasov (4-way) train and compete with Tanay and Black Cat whenever their time allows, and both have posted impressive scores in their respective disciplines this year.

The 2016 season will be challenging for the Russian medal projects. The major opponent, France in 8-way and 4-way, focuses only on one event, while the Black Cat members have to split up their training schedule. The Qatar Tigers could also become dangerous opponents soon, while Evolution is busy in two events, as well. Russia finishes 2015 in a good position and is facing a tough new year...