posted Feb 28th, 2005 - The Russian national 4-way team, Sky Panthers, bronze medal winner at the last world meet in Crotia 2004, recently visited Florida for a tunnel camp at SkyVenture Orlando. The NSL News used the opportunity to meet with the team and collect information of the team situation and plans for the near future.

The 2004 season was one of the most successful years in the Russian history of 4-way Formation Skydiving competition. Russian 8-way teams have won several medals at world meets in the past, including the gold in 2001 and 2003, while Russian 4-way teams have ususally been behind the medal rankings.

In fact, Russia had won a medal only once before the Sky Panthers finished in the bronze medal position last year. Teams from Russia joined the international Formation Skydiving competition for the first time at the world meet 1985 in former Yugoslavia. The Russian 4-way team finished in 10th position, while the 8-way team ended up in fourth place.

This was the first and last world meet for Russia without a medal in 8-way. Russia has collected two sets of gold, three silver and five bronze medals at the world meets between 1987 and 2004. However, the Russian 4-way teams did not keep up with this Russian 8-way success.

The Sky Panthers began to catch international attention when the team won bronze medals at the Malevsky Cup in 2003 and 2004 with very respectable meet averages (20.0 - 20.1) and clean performances. However, the Sky Panthers were not the Russian national team in 2003. The 4-way competition for medals at the world meet in France 2003 happened once again without a serious contender from Russia.

The 2004 season finally put the Sky Panthers on the top of the Russian 4-way teams. The Sky Panthers won the Russian Championship 2004 with a 20.2 average and qualified as the national team for Croatia 2004. The trip to the world meet in Croatia was rewarded with the bronze medals after a most exciting battle over ten rounds with Italy's Sinapsi PD. The SkyPanthers finished one single point ahead of Sinapsi PD with a 21.1 average.

The foundation for Russia's comeback into the medal rankings in Croatia was laid in round seven. The Sky Panthers delivered a performance in this round that did not only catch up with the Italian team, which was apparently safe in third place until round seven. The Sky Panthers also posted the highest score for this round and beat the new world champion, DeLand Majik, by one point and France Maubeuge by five points. The audience in Croatia was very impressed after watching the Russian video on the big screen and gave the Sky Panthers extra applause. This jump can still be viewed on NSL-TV (click here).

The Sky Panthers sent out a message to the rest of the world in Croatia. The extremely clean and smooth style came along with a fast pace and other top scores besides the peak in round seven. The Russian team had already kept up with Majik and France in earlier rounds of the meet, as in rounds three and five. The message of the Sky Panthers was already clear in Croatia, and it is no secret any longer. The ultimate goals on the team agenda for the 2005 events are gold medals at all events.

The Sky Panthers were founded in the fall of 2001, with Vasili Korotkov, Yevgeni Stashenko, Michail Kuznetzov, Alexei Minaev, Vladimir Pavlenko and Vadim Niyzov on video in the line-up. Michail Kuznetzov (36 years) is the team's sponsor and a very high-profile Russian politician. The team trained and competed with Korotkov, Stashenko, Minaev and Kuznetzov in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Alexei Minaev (37 years) has been the team's veteran as a member of the Russian national 8-way teams between 1994 and 2003. His career includes the two Russian gold medals in 8-way at the world meets in Spain 2001 and France 2003.

Kuznetzov's political career became even busier shortly after the success in Croatia 2004. He was elected as the Governor of Pskov, one of the Russian states. He could not continue as a full member of the Sky Panthers and has stepped back to be only available as the alternate for his team in 2005.

Vladimir Pavlenko (35 years) was added to the 2005 line-up when Kuznetzov had to step back. Pavlenko is no newcomer and brings in even more competition experience for the Sky Panthers. His skydiving competition career is almost identical with Alexei Minaev's. In fact, Pavlenko and Minaev were team mates in the Russian 8-way teams between 1994 and 2003, including the gold medals in 2001 and 2003. Their careers only parted in 4-way when they joined different teams in 2001. Pavlenko became a member of "R.T. Evolution PRO" and won the Russian 4-way Championship in 2001 and 2002, while Minaev formed the Sky Panthers.

Minaev and the other Sky Panthers continued with the team in 2003 and 2004. Pavlenko switched to another Russian 4-way team and competed with Kolumna Quick Blue in 2003 and 2004. He ended up with 4-way bronze medals at the Russian championships in both years and a second place in 8-way with the Sky Panthers and friends. Minaev and Pavlenko now have their re-union in the 4-way line-up of the Sky Panthers.

The remaining two members of the 2005 line-up, Vasili Korotkov (32 years) and Yevgeni Stashenko (29 years), were also both team members of the Russian 8-way world champion team of 2001. They were founding members of the Sky Panthers in 2002, and Korotkov was also recruited for the 8-way world champion team of 2003. Stashenko competed only in 4-way the same year. Videographer Vadim Niyzov (28 years) has filmed the Sky Panthers from the very beginning.

There is obviously no weak spot in the 2005 line-up. Pavlenko will not hold back the team in its pursuit of 2005 gold medals. The 2004 performance of the Sky Panthers will be a challenging starting position for the new line-up with Pavlenko. However, the team has no doubt that the golden goals are in reach.

The tunnel camp at SkyVenture Orlando as the very first training for the 2005 line-up. The team members explained that the weather in Russia and lack of resources did not allow an earlier start fir the Sky Panthers. However, the schedule will become busier from here on. The 20 hours of tunnel time will be followed by an April training camp in Empuriabrava, Spain, May and June camps in Russia. The goal is to complete 120 training jumps at each camp.

The Malevsky World Cup in Russia and the World Games in Germany are on the team agenda for July, followed by the Russian national championship in August. The team goals for these three events are simple: gold medals. The Sky Panthers will train again in September and plans to make another 120 jumps in Spain.

The next and last 2005 competition for the Sky Panthers is the World Cup of Formation Skydiving 2005 in Eloy, Arizona. The Russian team will train in Eloy prior to the event and hopes to complete additional 120 jumps. The goal for the World Cup is not any different compared to the other 2005 goals.