posted Aug 16th, 2018 - The update from Russia on 15 August 2018 explained that Black Cat, one of the best 4-way teams in the world, will not compete at the FAI World Meet in Australia this year. The team members have been training and competing with Tanay's 8-way lineup, as well, and focus only on the battle for 8-way medals.

The same story mentioned that the Tanay Wolves will represent Russia in 4-way Open with a new lineup, guided by Russian 4-way and 8-way legend Oleg Shalamyhin.

The Tanay Wolves have scoring records in the NSL News archives since 2015. Timur Frank launched the team project, and Alexander Furman, Dmitry Samokhval and Alexander Tychinskiy were in his 2017 lineup, with Alexey Afanasyev on camera. The Tanay Wolves had posted their last scores at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2017 in Saarlouis.

Dmitry Samokhval and Alexander Tychinskiy were in the same situation as the Black Cat members. They are in the Tanay 8-way lineup and have been dedicating their training efforts only to the Russian prime discipline this year. They had to discontinue with the Tanay Wolves, and Timur Frank was looking for two new members and new leadership.

FAI World Cup 2017			1		2		3		4		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		L,O,F,K,11		C,3,7		13,2,G		1,17,20		Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	35	-1	26	-1	21		20	-1	102	25.5
2	RealFly-Sion	FR	35		26	-1	20		20	-1	101	25.3
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	33		24		20		16	-2	93	23.3
4	Black Cat	RU	26	-4	24	-1	17	-3	18	-2	85	21.3
5	bUSA Defiance	US	26	-1	22		16		17		81	20.3
6	Airbus	DE	27	-1	21		17		15		80	20.0
7	Espoir Saumur Weembi	FR	25	-2	19	-2	16		18		78	19.5
8	Papea Masculino	ES	26		19		12	-1	14		71	17.8
8	ISR FireFlash	BE	24	-1	18	-1	14		15		71	17.8
8	Barguzin	RU	24	-1	15	-3	17		15		71	17.8
11	Airheads Realfly	CH	24		20		13	-1	13		70	17.5
12	eX3MO	IT	23	-1	17		12		14		66	16.5
12	Espoir Maubeuge Weembi	FR	24		17		12	-1	13	-1	66	16.5
12	AtomiX YUU	DE	19	-2	19		13		15		66	16.5
15	Chimera	UK	21	-1	16	-1	14	-1	13		64	16.0
15	Kinetix	AU	22		17		13		12	-1	64	16.0
17	Tanay Wolves	RU	22		16		14		11	-1	63	15.8
18	Antimatter	UK	19		14	-1	13		13		59	14.8
19	NeVa	DE	20		15		11		11	-1	57	14.3
20	Out of the Blue	NL	18		14	-1	12		12		56	14.0
21	Team C4	SE	17	-1	14		12		11		54	13.5
22	Flyspot Sky4four	PL	18		14	-1	9	-1	11		52	13.0
22	Eros	UK	16		14		11	-1	11		52	13.0
24	Aurora	SE	15	-3	11	-1	11		11		48	12.0
25	Airvengers	AT	16	-1	12		10		9		47	11.8
26	Tyanno4us Rex	UK	11	-1	11	-2	8	-1	10		40	10.0
26	Atmosfera G4	PT	12	-1	10		9		9		40	10.0
28	Yingyang	UA	10	-2	12		9		6	-2	37	9.3
28	TNT	RO	13		11		6		7	-1	37	9.3
30	Tulpar	TR	8	-2	8		9		7		32	8.0
30	Cyprus	CY	12		9		6		5		32	8.0

Oleg Shalamyhin was available when his 4-way project with Barguzin was over at the end of the 2017 season, and he was a perfect fit when Dmitry Samokhval and Alexander Tychinskiy had to withdraw from the Tanay Wolves.

Oleg Shalamyhin is not in the Tanay 8-way lineup and could focus all his energy on the new player-coaching job.

The Tanay Wolves did not know at that time that they would become the Russian national team in 4-way Open for the FAI World Meet 2018.

Timur Frank added another highly experienced 4-way and 8-way competitor to the lineup, Vladimir Arutyunov, while Alexey Afanasyev continued on camera. The new Tanay Wolves were ready for action.

Training began with indoor training, and the first outdoor camp followed in April in Dubai. More outdoor camps took place on Tanay home turf in June and July. It was a good start, as the Tanay Wolves increased their performance level from 15+ in Saarlouis last year to 17+ in training meets this summer.

Russian Nationals 2016		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	E,21,7		F,1,D,K		G,8,C,J		H,19,3		Q,4,11		5,22,B		15,10,O		18,20,A		M,12,L,9		13,P,2		14,16,N		Total	Avg
1	Black Cat	25		27		25		23		20	-2	22		16	-1	19		21		18		-		216	21.6
2	Barguzin	26		23		21		19		19		17		17		16		23		18		-		199	19.9
3	XO Team	20		22		19		15		17		14		14		16		20		14		13		171	17.1
3	DOSAAF RO	22		20		19		21		14		14		14		16		17		14		13		171	17.1
5	Tanay Wolves	19		19		18		15		15		13		11		15		17		14		-		156	15.6
6	DZ Grozniy	15		21		17		17		16		12		13		13		16		11		-		151	15.1
7	Tanayskiy Pryanik	15		17		15		14		13		13		10		12		15		11		-		135	13.5
7	Girls	13		18		13		12		14		13		10		13		15		14		-		135	13.5
9	UFO	3		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		3	3.0

Then the lineup changed again when Vladimir Arutyunov had to step back. It is not very easy to fill open slots in the middle of the training and competition season. However, the Tanay Wolves were fortunate that another highly experienced Russian 4-way and 8-way competitor became available at the same time.

The Russian national team in 4-way Women, Bubble Trouble, made plans only for the FAI Indoor World Cup in Bahrain, which is scheduled shortly after the world meet in Australia.

It would be difficult to be well prepared for indoor and outdoor competition with little time in between, even though Bubble Trouble was still hopeful to be able to attend both meets.

Eventually any potential Bubble Trouble plans had to be canceled when team member Maria Odinokova found out that she is expecting. Bubble Trouble will neither compete in Australia nor in Bahrain, unless an adequate substitute can be found on a short notice.

Result of this situation was the fact that Alena Chistova, one of the most experienced Russian 4-way and 8-way competitors, was suddenly available for the remainder of the 2018 season.

The new Tanay Wolves lineup (Timur Frank, Alexander Furman, Oleg Shalamyhin, Alena Chistova, Alexey Afanasyev on camera) started with training in July, and coach Oleg Shalamyhin was very pleased with the performance and the team dynamics. The scheduled training camps are held together with the Tanay 8-way team.

The training camps with the Tanay 8-way team allow several of the 4-way and 8-way team members to re-connect, as they have spent a lot of time together and won many medals for Russia in the past.

This year, it will once again be the 8-way team who will bring FAI medals back to Russia, while the Tanay Wolves are still in the building phase.

Vladimir Arutyunov continues as the alternate for the Tanay Wolves, while the new lineup has the rest of the summer to get ready for the trip to Australia, together with Tanay's 8-way team.

Black Cat will still compete at the national championships, once again with Valery Gredasov in the lineup, who is also limited with time for training. Both teams could be close enough to each other for an internal Russian battle for the 4-way top spot in Russia...