posted Apr 21st, 2006 - The Malevsky Cup in Stupino, Russia, has been on the NSL News schedule in the last two years, and the Russian event management once again invited the NSL News to cover the high-profile 4-way competition in August 2006. The preparations have begun, and the updates will be posted on a regular basis.

This year's event includes three different categories. The Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) and the International Parachuting Commission (IPC) have recognized the great efforts of the Russian event management in the past years and sanctioned two of the Malevsky Cup 2006 events for the first time as the official World Championships.

The 29th FAI World Style and Accuracy Parachuting Championship and the 12th FAI World Canopy Formation Parachuting Championship will both be part of the Malevsky Cup 2006. The annual event will be completed with this year's 4th IPC Anton Malevsky Memorial International Cup in 4-way.

Even though the 4-way event is not the official World Championship, the amounts of prize money in each event's jackpot of the Malevsky Cup 2006 shows that the 4-way competition still has the top priority. $15,000 cash for the first place, $10,000 for the second place and $5,000 for the third place add up to a total of $30,000 for the 4-way competition.

$22,500 are available for the first three places in Canopy Formation's 4-way Rotation event. The same amount goes to the three winning teams of the Men's Accuracy team competition, and another $22,500 will be paid to the Women's Team Accuracy event. This means that the Russian event management has a total of $97,500 available for the winning teams this year.

The perspective of possibly winning a share of the $30,000 for the first three teams in the 4-way Formation Skydiving competition will probably make it easier for some of the top teams to include the Malevsky Cup 2006 in this year's competition schedule.

The timing is critical. The World Meet 2006 in Germany ends when the Malevsky Cup 2006 begins. The national teams that plan to attend both events will have one day to travel from Gera in Germany to Stupino in Russia. It is not much time to get ready for the next event, however, it makes the time management very efficient, especially for teams that come from far away.

The Malevsky Cup 2006 is also an opportunity for teams that did not qualify as the national team and are not eligible to compete at the World Meet 2006. Each nation can only send one team to the World Championship of Formation Skydiving, even if several teams are very close to each other.

The World Cup and other FAI sanctioned events, such as the Malevsky Cup 2006, allow more than only one team from each nation to compete for medals and prizes. Four teams per nation will be eligible in the 4-way competition of the Malevsky Cup 2006, and the meet management usually allows additional guest teams.

Additional information can already be found in English language at the Russian Malevsky Cup website, and the NSL News will continue with regular updates. It will be a very busy and exciting year for the NSL News and its audience.