posted Jul 15th, 2004 - The Omniskore transmission in Stupino got even worse when round six of the IPC Anton Malevsky Memorial World Cup 2004 was on the way. The NSL-TV missed the whole round, except one jump by Norway Arcteryx. It is almost a tragedy since round six was the turning point in the competition for the gold medal.

DeLand Majik was four points down after the penalty deduction in round five for one centerpoint violation in Block 12 (Zipper - Star). The French and the US national team had been going exactly the same pace for three rounds after France Maubeuge came out of the starting blocks a little bit faster in the first two rounds. Would it be possible for the DeLand team to pick up the pace and make up the four-point distance?

Round six offered the perfect opportunity with a fast sequence (M-17-G-N), and the Majik veterans did not hesitate to give it a good shot. It came out better than they had hoped for. France had a good round, and Majik had an excellent round. With a fast sequence, this means that the excellent performance will be rewarded with more than only one point. Majik won three points in round six, and the French lead was back down to one point.

Round seven was the last jump on the second day of the competition. France had won the three jumps of the first day by two points (77 - 75). Majik was up by one point after the three jumps of the second day and had the momentum on their side. However, the US national team still did not have a good start into round seven and lost two more points on the first page of the jump, caused by a bad key in the Hook and the according penalty call. Majik recovered quickly and lost only two points to France Maubeuge by this accident.

The DeLand team was lucky that it was not more damage. The French world champions lost a lot of time during the sub-terminal Block 13 (Hammer - Hammer) when a team member slid down the hill and away from the 3-way. Both teams were not very happy with their mistakes and glad that the day was over. Day two finally went to the French team, as well (87 - 86). The overall lead had once again increased to three points, and it had been a rollercoaster day.

Behind the two top teams, the Russian Sky Panthers had also added three more points to the lead over Sinapsi PD on the second day of the meet, for a total of nine points distance. The Italian team had lost two more points due to a penalty call in round seven. Very quietly, the Russian team had also tied the scores of France Maubeuge in round six and of DeLand Majik in round seven. In the race for the fifth position between Extreme.RU, Kolumna Quick Blue, the Danez and EADS, the German amateur team had won or tied the highest scores of this group in each round of the second meet day. It was still a horse race for the fifth place.

Skyleague.com visitors discussed a technical question after reviewing the videos of round seven. They were surprised by the fact that some teams, including Franvce Maubeuge, had the point and the tail of Block 13 (Hammer - Hammer) turning the other direction. The greatly appreciated feedback included the assumption that the cat had to step out and turn in the same direction that the point was facing.

Fact of the rules for Block 13 is that the cat can turn either direction, no arrow indicates any turning direction. This is different for the single flyers. The point has to turn 270' outwards and away from the cat, no matter which direction the point is facing in the side body position. The tail has to turn the opposite direction compared to the point. Once again, the cat has then the choice to turn either direction, no matter what the individual flyers are doing. Thanks for the important feedback, which might help other visitors to understand the block techniques more and better.

The NSL-TV review of the Malevsky Cup jumps now takes a three-day break for the upcoming meet weekend. It is a good time to take a deep breath after the rollercoaster of the second meet day in Stupino. The eighth and next round will be the first jump of the third and last meet day.