posted Feb 9th, 2018 - Craig Girard does not only have an impressive record as a world class 4-way competitor, the event where he won FAI world meet gold medals in 2001 and 2008. In fact, 8-way competition has actually been his most successful event in the past.

He won 8-way world championship titles with the Golden Knights in 1989, 1991 and 1993. Then he moved to Arizona and launched Arizona Airspeed's 8-way project. Airspeed eventually dethroned the formerly impeccable U.S. Army team and won their first FAI 8-way gold medals in 1999.

His 8-way time with Arizona Airspeed included the most successful period for Russian 8-way teams, who won the FAI gold medals in 2001 and 2003. Then it was Craig Girard's Airspeed turn again with a new lineup in 2004, before France won the next three sets of gold medals in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

Airspeed did not continue the 8-way project, and the Golden Knights took back the top spot in the United States, while Craig Girard started to form an 8-way team in Dubai. Asaar 8-way made it to the world's Number 4 at the World Air Games 2015 under his and Eliana Rodriguez' guidance before the Dubai project was discontinued, as well.

8-way history of United States, Russia and France between 1985 and 2016

Craig Girard has never lost his passion for 8-way competition, even though he has mostly competed in 4-way in the recent years. He is now fully back in 8-way, even though it is in a different role. He is coaching the Russian national 8-way team from Tanay.

His wealth of 8-way experience and success will most likely create a very competitive situation in this event that the Golden Knights have been dominating without any serious challenge since 2012.

He took the U.S. 8-way title away from the U.S. Army team in 1998 and will try again to get to the top spot in the world, this time as a coach.

It is a promising situation for him. The Russian 8-way team has decided to pursue very strongly the same goal as in 2001 and 2003 when they won the FAI gold medals, and they have been in full swing with the new coach.

Tanay wants to win not only the 8-way gold medals on home turf at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2020, which will be hosted by Russia in Tanay. The 8-way team plans to complete 800 - 1000 training jumps this year and be competitive with the Golden Knights this October in Australia.

Craig Girard will travel to Dubai or Siberia every month for 2-week training camps with the team that is now back with its strongest lineup. Evgeny Stashchenko, who was on the bench due to injury last year, has fully recovered and taken back his slot in the current lineup. Alexey Minaev helped out in his slot in the meantime and continues as the Tanay alternate. Kirill Kirillov began filming Tanay's 8-way team last year and will also continue throughout the whole project.

Tanay has completed 200 training jumps since November, and Craig Girard has re-connected with several of his former opponents.

Vladimir Pavlenko, Vasily Korotkov and alternate Alexey Minaev were in the Russian 8-way team that finished two points behind in 2nd place when Craig Girard won his first 8-way gold medal with Arizona Airspeed in 1999. Evgeny Stashchenko was in the Russian 8-way lineup two years later, and the four current Tanay members took the top spot away from Craig Girard and Airspeed in 2001.

Vladimir Pavlenko, Vasily Korotkov and Alexey Minaev defended the Russian gold medals successfully in 2003, this time with Dmitry Samokhval in the lineup, who is also a current Tanay member.

FAI World Meet 1999			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		15,7,13	B,12,E,3	20,K,11	23,H,J	F,2,8	D,6,P,22	N,A,M,G,16	21,L,14	10,C,4	1,9,O	-	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	22	25	20	20	16	22	25	19	21	21	-	211	21.1
2	Russia	RU	20	23	20	23	14	19	26	19	22	23	-	209	20.9
3	Maubeuge	FR	15	21	22	23	13	21	26	19	20	20	-	200	20.0
FAI World Meet 2001			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		16,P,13	1,Q,O,5	B,K,6,8	15,9,19	21,12,20	L,7,G,H	J,F,M,C,22	3,18,17	E,11,A,14	4,D,2	-	Total	Avg
1	Russia	RU	19	15	18	17	17	21	22	22	19	23	-	193	19.3
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	19	17	17	17	19	23	21	21	19	19	-	192	19.2
3	France	FR	16	17	16	15	19	20	20	18	18	20	-	179	17.9
FAI World Meet 2003			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way		1,11,12	M,J,E,10	K,16,6	13,14,5	D,22,4	9,C,Q,N	F,19,21	2,20,L	18,B,3	8,P,7	G,O,17,H	Total	Avg
1	Russia	RU	23	19	24	16	26	21	19	18	21	15	19	202	20.2
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	23	19	24	17	23	20	19	17	24	16	19	202	20.2
3	Maubeuge	FR	25	17	21	13	25	20	16	16	24	16	-	193	19.3

Alexander Tychinskiy and Sergey Yalpaev trained and competed with the Barkli 8-way team that competed for Russia in 2010 (3rd), 2012 (3rd) and 2014 (2nd). Valentin Ilin joined the Tanay 8-way team when Tanay owner Andrey Barabash put his first lineup together at the FAI World Cup 2013 in Banja Luka.

Andrey Barabash is the youngest Tanay 8-way competitor as of time in the sport, and he is also the president of the Russian Skydiving Federation.

Craig Girard has known Andrey Barabash for a long time, as well, as both participated together in several large-formation events.

Andrey Barabash eventually decided to go into Formation Skydiving competition and has now become a very passionate and well trained 8-way expert, as Craig Girard confirmed.

Russia's Tanay team and Golden Knights will probably be the top contenders in 8-way this year, as France has not announced 8-way plans, and the competition might become as exciting as it was between 1999 and 2003...