posted May 17th, 2024 - The NSL News reported scores of the Russian Indoor Cup 2024 with the update on May 4th. It pointed out that the lineup of the winning team, Airborne VDV, included Salomeya Popova, who had launched her 4-way team career just six months ago and finished the ten rounds for Airborne VDV with a 31.7 average.

That alone was impressive enough for the update, while there is actually even more behind the performance of the winning team. VDV with the new and young competitor in the lineup were not expected to be a top contender for the 1st place. It seems like the team in 2nd place, Strike, had the strongest and most experienced lineup of all AAA Class teams.

In fact, observers of the competition in Moscow expected Strike (Olga Bykova, Alena Chistova, Yury Drozdov, Alexander Golovkin) to be strong enough to threaten Russia's record average for indoor competition. Black Cat had posted the 31.6 average at the FAI European Indoor Championship 2018 in Norway and won the silver medals behind the French national team in 4-way Open.

Valentin Ilin, Vasily Korotkov, Alexander Kvochur and Vladimir Pavlenko had finished with the highest average in Russian 4-way history in Norway. Black Cat followed up with Alexander Golovkin for Vasily Korotkov in the lineup and a 28.7 average in 6th place at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2019 a year later at Weembi Lille. Black Cat did not continue as a 4-way team at the end of the 2019 season, while Valentin Ilin, Vasily Korotkov and Vladimir Pavlenko were still members of the Tanay 8-way team at the same time.

FAI European Indoor Championship 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		G,12,20		F,16,22		N,E,D,21		17,L,4		18,14,O		19,2,5		7,15,Q		6,B,M,P		K,11,9		8,H,J,C		Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Realfly	FR	25		29		39		31		26		26		32	-1	45	-1	33	-2	38	-2	324	32.4
2	Black Cat	RU	23		31		36		32		25	-2	26		32	-1	46		30	-2	35	-2	316	31.6
3	Echochamber	SE	21	-1	26		34		27		23		23	-1	29	-2	38	-1	27	-2	35	-1	283	28.3
4	Airheads	CH	21	-2	26		35		26	-1	22	-2	23		29		40	-1	28	-2	32	-4	282	28.2
5	Amnesya	IT	21	-1	28		29	-2	22	-3	24		22		29	-1	39	-2	27	-2	38	-3	279	27.9
6	ACM Weembi	UK	19	-1	24		29		24	-1	20	-1	22		29		35	-2	25	-2	28	-3	255	25.5
7	FlySpot Sky4Four	PL	16	-1	18	-1	20	-3	19		17		16	-1	21		25	-2	21	-1	20	-4	193	19.3
8	Skydive University Slovakia	SK	14		18		21	-1	17		15	-1	14	-1	19	-1	27		21		25		191	19.1
9	Norway	NO	13		14	-1	19	-1	13	-2	14		15		16	-2	26		19		15	-3	164	16.4
10	HF Bad Boys	CZ	16	-1	22	-2	22		21	-1	-		-		-		-		-		-		81	20.3

---

France 4-way Open - Black Cat at the FAI European Indoor Championship 2018

---

Alexander Golovkin was in the Black Cat lineup at Weembi Lille 2019 and continued with IFS-Moscow between 2020 and 2022. He and his former IFS-Moscow team mate Yury Drozdov then joined forces again for this year's Indoor Cup and with the new team Strike.

Bubbles members Alena Chistova and Olga Bykova had already posted their own 30.8 average with the Russian national team in 4-way Women at the Russian Indoor Cup 2022, together with Maria Odinokova and Yulia Shuvaeva. It was the same event where Airborne VDV tied the Black Cat average of 31.6 with their 2022 lineup.

VDV of 2021 (Alexey Izmalkin, Georgy Miroshnichenko, Sergey Seregin, Evgeny Shatnenko) already had a 31.5 average in their records that they posted a few months before the FAI Tanay Mondial at the Russian Indoor Cup 2021. VDV was supposed to compete for Russia in 4-way Open at the outdoor world championship on home turf in Tanay just a few months later, when the tragic plane crash interfered with any VDV plans for the outdoor competition.

Russian Indoor Cup 2024		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	P,21,19	15,C,D,E	12,10,J	A,G,16,Q	14,1,B	3,H,O,N	2,5,11	13,22,K	9,L,17	F,7,20	Total	Avg
1	VDV Airborne	29	38	26	39	31	37	23	27	35	32	317	31.7
2	Strike	28	35	25	38	27	37	20	25	41	34	310	31.0
3	2x2	27	37	22	36	26	34	23	23	34	30	292	29.2
4	Airborne Club	22	34	17	34	22	30	20	22	30	25	256	25.6
5	Feathers	21	24	21	28	22	30	20	21	28	25	240	24.0
6	Nomads	21	29	16	29	22	30	18	17	29	23	234	23.4
7	Trinity	23	29	18	21	23	29	17	20	29	24	233	23.3
8	Night Eagles	21	16	21	32	21	28	15	20	28	26	228	22.8
9	H4	19	18	17	27	18	26	18	20	26	22	211	21.1
10	MT Ka-Tet	18	24	18	23	16	22	17	18	24	18	198	19.8
11	Gang	21	22	15	21	15	22	17	18	17	22	190	19.0
12	FlyStones	16	15	15	21	17	21	10	17	19	19	170	17.0
13	Airborne Club 2	11	13	18	10	11	10	8	8	10	11	110	11.0

---

Airborne VDV: 31.7 in April 2024 - 31.6 in April 2022 - 31.5 in April 2021

---

The 31.6 average a year later tied the Black Cat number with a different competition draw. The NSL News did not receive scoring information of the 2023 season in Russia, however, the 31.6 averages of Black Cat in 2018 and VDV in 2022 were still the standing record averages in 4-way indoor competition.

Former Black Cat team member Alexander Golovkin and his IFS-Moscow team mate Yury Drozdov then formed Strike with Alena Chistova and Olga Bykova and shared their different 30-average experiences. Strike were expected to be the top contender for this year's Indoor Cup. It was a surprise for participants and observers when VDV with new team member Salomeya Popova and a new lineup won the first five rounds and had a 15-point lead over Strike after Round 8. In fact, even the VDV lineup themselves were surprised and began to feel the potential for a new Russian record average.

They lost the last two rounds to Strike and carried a 7-point lead over the finish line. Most importantly though, VDV had improved the 31.5 average of 2021 to 31.6 in 2022 and now to 31.7 last month with the new lineup. Salomeya Popova did not only win the 4-way top spot in Russia, she also owns the highest average in Russian 4-way history after her very short time in the sport. The complete Strike lineup still finished with their highest personal record averages, as well.