posted Jul 8th, 2006 - The 8-way scores of the Russian Nationals 2006 were posted on June 29, one day after the Russian 4-way scores had made it to the NSL leaderboard and then made the headline of the NSL News on July 5. All the attention to the impressive performance of Sky Panthers Barkli might have overshadowed the Russian 8-way scores.

FAI judge Klaus Wellens was in Stupino for the 4-way and the 8-way event, and he was also in charge to set up the Omniskore judging system on site. It was quite an adventure for him to get everything ready in time. The whole Omniskore equipment was shipped to his residence in Cologne, Germany, and it was already difficult enough to clear it at customs.

It became even more challenging when the Omniskore box with the whole equipment got lost on the way from Cologne to Russia. The next flight would arrive only two days later, and the meet management in Stupino had to find a way how to start the competition without the judging system ready to be used.

The Russian Intermediate Class teams opened the competition, and the Open Class followed with the first rounds. All jumps were recorded on discs and would be judged as soon as the Omniskore equipment would be available. The meet management then sent Klaus Wellens back to the Moscow airport in a police car, escorted by security personnel.

The German FAI judge had to claim the Omniskore box at the Lost&Found service and managed to find and take possession of it. The convoy rolled back to Stupino, and Omniskore was set up and ready for judging purposes at 8 p.m. the same day. The judging panel was seated for a late night session, and the scores for the first three rounds were posted at midnight.

A thunderstorm slowed down the 4-way competition just before the conclusion of round ten next day. However, Klaus Wellens reported that the flexibility of the Russian meet management made it possible to finish the meet as soon as the weather allowed jump planes to take off again.

Judge Klaus Wellens observed a similar 8-way situation in Russia as in most other countries. There is only one seriously training 8-way team that represents the country as the national team. Sky Panthers Barkli and Extreme.RU joined forces trying to give R.T. Evolution Pro a competition. However, the pickup 8-way with world class 4-way competitors had no chance and withdrew after two rounds (14 - 11).

The 8-way competition was concluded after nine rounds. Klaus Wellens said that it was time for award ceremony and the celebration party before round ten could be completed. R.T. Evolution Pro volunteered for shorter calls already after round five in order to complete as many rounds as possible.

Four weeks before the start of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2006 in Germany, each of the three top contenders for medals in the 8-way event has finally put some 2006 scores on the board. Arizona Airspeed attended the SSL Valentine's Meet 2006 on home turf in February. The NSL News story on February 19 commented the six rounds of the 8-way event, and the meet videos are still available for reviews on the NSL-TV event page.

Feb.19th, 2006 - 8way			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAAClass		A-M-9-L	4-6-19	J-18-O-10	C-11-8	14-2-D	B-F-21-17	Total	Avg
1	USA Arizona Airspeed	USA	15	20	16	16	14	17	98	16.3

The French 8-way team competed at the Coupe de France event at the beginning of June, and the scores were posted with the NSL News story on June 7. The 20.8 average after eight rounds was the highest average score for this line-up and also the highest 8-way average at world meets or world cups since 1999.

June 3rd, 2006 - 8way

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Total

Avg

Rank

AAAClass

13-H-18

11-F-2

10-J-N-L

15-21-Q

D-1-20

7-C-O-14

4-3-6

8-22-G

Total

Avg

1

France Maubeuge 8-way

INT

19

19

21

21

22

18

26

20

166

20.8

The Russian 8-way team R.T. Evolution Pro was the last top contender that attended a competition this year, and the 18.1 average after nine rounds last week was the second highest result for this line-up since it was formed in 2004. In which position do these scores of 2006 put the teams shortly before the World Meet 2006?

June 29th, 2006 - 8way

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Total

Avg

Rank

AAA Class

9-E-L-1

4-O-8

7-G-H-15

A-6-3

M-18-B-20

K-21-13

F-Q-17-J

C-19-14

16-22-11

Total

Avg

1

Russia R.T. Evolution Pro

INT

19

15

18

21

19

17

19

14

21

163

18.1

Arizona Airspeed's 16.3 average in February is almost meaningless. The team had completed 85 training jumps with the new line-up and attended the Valentine's Meet to continue with a team tradition. Airspeed was surely not ready to put world class scores on the board by then.

Fact is that Airspeed has always been up to speed when it was necessary, even after significant personnel changes. Fact is also that Airspeed has never scored lower than 19.1 at a world meet ever since the Arizona team represented the USA in 8-way (21.1 in 1999, 19.2 in 2001, 20.1 in 2003, 19.1 in 2004). It would be naive to expect anything different at this year's world meet in Germany.

The Airspeed members also know exactly that this year's 8-way competition might become the toughest challenge in the team history, and there is no doubt that the preparations in Arizona have been in full swing since February. Only the Russian 8-way team really challenged Airspeed in 1999, 2001 and 2003. These battles were already incredibly exciting (211 - 209 in 1999, 193 - 192 in 2001, jump-off and tie-breaker in 2003), and it might still become even more difficult to win the gold medals this year.

The difference is the fact that a third 8-way powerhouse has made the 8-way competition a 3-team race. France has knocked at the 8-way door for many years and tried different ways to make it to the very top. It has not been a successful effort so far, but the situation has changed. There is a very good chance that the 8-way Excalibur might be taken to France this year. It would be the first 8-way gold medal for France in the history of Formation Skydiving competition.

The French 8-way team was re-built after the disappointing bronze medals on home turf in 2003. French national coach Jerome David did not expect to win the gold medals already in Croatia 2004, he was aiming at the 2006 competition with his new and young line-up. However, the team performed very strongly and caught up with Russia and USA earlier than expected. In fact, the 8-way competition in Croatia 2004 was already a 3-team race, and France won the silver medals, only three points behind Airspeed and two points ahead of Russia.

France continued with the same line-up in 2005, while Airspeed had to bring in two new members. However, both teams ended up in exactly the same situation as in 2004. Airspeed won the gold medals at the World Cup 2005 three points ahead of France. Russia was not really a factor at last year's World Cup in Eloy. However, R.T. Evolution Pro seems to be in much better shape again this year, as the scores of the Russian Nationals 2006 show.

Once again, France continued with the same line-up throughout the 2006 season and posted the impressive 20.8 average in June. Does this impress the Airspeed veterans? Not too much probably. The US team had to replace two more members from 2005 to 2006, however, Thomas Hughes and Eric Gin will not slow down the Airspeed progression.

There are more and other aspects, which will be covered later. No matter what the top teams have been doing in the meantime, the 8-way competition in Germany will most likely be another exciting horse race between the three 8-way powerhouses, USA, France and Russia.