posted Jul 29th, 2010 - It was a very hot day in Menzelinsk, Russia, even though the competition at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 has not even begun yet. It was the weather that brought temperatures of up to 40'C (104 F) to the teams, competitors, officials and staff during the day. The conditions were once again perfect for training, not very energizing for office and other ground work.

This area in Russia is not used to such hot weather conditions, and there is not much air conditioning. Tents, trees and buildings help to hide from the sun, cool beverages are crucial - a lot of water throughout the day, adult beverages in the evenings.

It was a busy training day, and all delegations seem to be at the competition site. The French delegation was one of the latest ones to arrive, and all other 4-way top teams were in the air today. France practiced only in 8-way.

The latest headline on the front page announced that a video clip of Arizona Airspeed's training today was in the works. It has been uploaded and is ready for reviews. The video shows Airspeed's path from the team's spot in one of the DZ buildings to the boarding area, the landing area and back to the debriefing station, as well as dirtdiving for the next training jump and creeping.

Several other teams crossed the Airspeed and NSL-TV path on this roundtrip. There was also a special reason for this Airspeed feature video today. The US team is not only the defending 4-way world champion, July 29 is also Craig Girard's birthday.

The NSL News posted congratulations earlier today and followed up with a short conversation while Airspeed was waiting for the final boarding call. NSL-TV is also working on videos of a few Airspeed training jumps, which will hopefully be uploaded later. NSL-Talk with the whole team and a summary of the day with Joey Jones and Solly Williams are on the agenda, as well.

The NSL News also met Eric Heinsheimer while following Airspeed around the DZ. He is in Menzelinsk as a training judge for an FAI license. Unfortunately, he is not eligible yet to judge at this world meet. He has been judging at other big events, such as the Shamrock Showdown and the USPA Nationals, and will soon make the FAI judging panels at the big international meets even stronger.

He mentioned that he competed with a few Golden Knights 8-way members at the CISM Championships last week. The NSL News had only covered NMP-PCH Hayabusa's performance in Switzerland and not at the other teams.

Eric Heinsheimer and his US team finished in 6th place with a 22.7 average after six rounds, tied with the team from the Czech Republic. He added that the US female 4-way team won the gold medals with a 22.1 average. Eric Heinsheimer and many other top competitors are currently preparing a birthday jump for Craig Girard. The NSL News will present this special feature later.