posted Dec 30th, 2020 - IFS Moscow have been one of the best indoor 4-way teams in the world since the team was founded in 2017.

The team career began with a 26.6 average and a 7th place at the World Challenge 2017 and a 3rd place with a 30.9 average at the same event in 2019.

IFS Moscow still have not competed yet for Russia at an indoor world meet. Black Cat represented Russia in Montreal 2017 and at Weemi Lille in 2019, after winning the qualifying Russian national indoor championships.

This now changed just a few weeks ago when IFS Moscow won the Russian Indoor Nationals and will compete at the next indoor world meet.

Black Cat did not compete in Moscow this year, however, this year's national indoor championships were everything but a walk in the park for the the winning team. Even the 30.8 average after ten rounds was still challenged by a new top contender, the military team of the Russian Air Force.

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Russian Indoor Nationals 2020		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	22,9,11	6,12,N	16,L,7	B,F,P,21	4,K,G,8	O,C,H,3	17,5,E	J,10,20	A,1,D,14	18,19,M	Total	Avg
1	IFS-Moscow	25	26	34	42	29	35	39	22	29	27	308	30.8
2	VDV	25	26	34	37	24	37	41	24	28	28	304	30.4
3	Russian Thunder	25	24	34	38	26	34	37	20	26	26	290	29.0
4	Bubbles	21	23	27	33	25	29	37	22	25	23	265	26.5
5	Team 42	18	19	26	32	22	27	25	19	26	23	237	23.7
6	Antitela	20	20	26	27	19	29	29	17	23	23	233	23.3
7	DDW-Team	20	17	25	31	17	29	33	17	22	18	229	22.9
8	No Limits	16	17	24	28	20	27	26	17	20	20	215	21.5
9	Quatro	19	18	21	24	17	26	29	16	18	21	209	20.9
10	5th Element	19	15	21	28	20	24	27	13	18	15	200	20.0
11	Bumblbee	14	15	21	24	17	23	23	14	19	14	184	18.4

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IFS Moscow and VDV at the Russian Indoor Nationals 2020

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Black Cat have not been back after the 6th place at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019 and a 2nd place at the outdoor championships a few months later. Black Cat members Valentin Ilin, Vasily Korotkov and Evgeny Stashchenko are all members of the Tanay 8-way team and prepare exclusively for the outdoor world meet at the FAI Mondial Tanay 2020 in August next year.

IFS Moscow was somehow in the same situation, as original member Dmitry Samokhval had to drop out of the 4-way team for now, as well, and focus only on 8-way training and competition.

Alena Chistova replaced Dmitry Samokhval after the Wind Games 2020, and the new lineup had begun with preparation for the FAI Indoor World Cup 2020. The event was canceled due to the corona virus pandemic, and Alena Chistova left the team in August.

Eventually, both teams found a combination that worked on both sides. Alexander Golovkin had competed for Black Cat at Weembi Lille last year, and he was without a team when the Black Cat members turned to 8-way. He replaced Dmitry Samokhval and Alena Chistova for IFS Moscow, won his Russian indoor gold medal and would compete again at the next indoor world meet.

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Covid Cup 2020		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	M,E,B,20	5,6,22	2,J,19	13,L,17	14,F,15	D,G,K,16	3,12,N	Q,9,21	8,O,7	A,1,4	Total	Avg
1	IFS-Moscow	39	22	26	28	25	32	25	34	31	26	288	28.8
2	Russian Thunder	37	20	24	28	25	28	20	30	25	24	261	26.1
3	Team 42	31	18	20	23	24	28	20	29	23	21	237	23.7
4	DDW-Team	28	15	16	20	20	24	18	25	20	19	205	20.5
5	Antitela	22	17	18	18	20	22	17	24	20	18	196	19.6
6	Quatro	22	13	19	18	18	21	15	24	21	17	188	18.8
7	Bumblbee	24	16	14	14	14	18	15	22	19	17	173	17.3

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IFS Moscow at the Covid Cup in October

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Yury Drozdov, Egor Gusev and Dmitry Komkov with Alexander Golovkin in the lineup finished almost exactly with the same meet average (30.8 - 30.9) that they had posted with Alena Chistova replacing Dmitry Samokhval for the same reason at the World Challenge 2019.

The world-class average in Moscow was still just barely enough to fend off the VDV challengers. The Air Force team had finished in 3rd place at last year's indoor championships with a 23.9 average. IFS Moscow member Egor Gusev explained that the team spent around three hours per week with coach Georgiy Miroshnichenko in their military wind-tunnel.

Georgiy Miroshnichenko is a top competitor himself and finished in 3rd place with Russian Thunder. The VDV lineup now outscored their coach at the nationaL indoor championships.

IFS Moscow attended a warm-up meet eight weeks before the national championships. They won easily over Russian Thunder at that time. However, the winning 28.8 performance might have not been enough to win the national indoor title...