posted Aug 15th, 2006 - There is not much more to say about the Russian team Black Cat at the moment. The scores speak for themselves. The only question is whether Black Cat will be able to continue with this first-class performance throughout the remaining six rounds or not. If yes, then there will be a new world record after round ten, and there might also be a new record average.

It is also interesting to take a look at the teams behind the current leader. France's "fun and pick-up team" enjoys another meet without pressure and keeps scoring away as they did in Germany. The team members admit that it is a great feeling to skydive without pressure and for the fun of it.

However, the French team serves as a benchmark for other teams. It is a fact that Paul "Polo" Grisoni, Julien Losantos, Davide Moy, Erwan Pouliquen and Nicolas Ruellou on camera won the silver medals last week in Germany. Whoever can beat the French team is obviously close to the very top of the 4-way world class level. Black Cat would have threatened DeLand Fire at the moment.

Team Fastrax has a good reason to be motivated, as well. The first round was not very successful after a few glitches. However, John Hart (Tail), Niklas Hemlin (Point), Mark Kirkby (Center Inside), Doug Park (Center Outside) and Steve Redinbo on camera have kept up with the French team ever since.

In fact, both teams tied the total of their scores for rounds two through four. Each team won one round by one point, and they were tied in round two. Fastrax will continue trying to stay close to the world's silver medalist. Black Cat seems to be too far away, and the Fastrax members study the Russian style to see what makes them so good.

The teams are now on a call for round five, and the first scores and videos of today will follow soon. Stay tuned, this page will be updated later.

Round 5 update

Round five was a penalty round after the relatively clean round four with point deductions only for the Russian team Sky Tec-BBC. It began the other way around when the judges did not detect an infringement of the same team in round five right away. The Chief Judge asked the panel for a 4th and 5th viewing to find the absolute mistake.

No infringement remained unpunished from then on, and four teams were effected. Team Fastrax had bad luck and lost one point on the hill. Exit formation and the inter of Block 6 (Stardian - Stardian) were easy to see, but the video angle made it difficult to see the completion, which was slightly off level.

The 17 points on the scoreboard do not show that Fastrax was only inches away from the 19th point in time. The US team completed Block 17 (Danish T - Murphy) within 35 seconds and almost had the complete first Stardian. However, it was a 17-pointer for the records and after another solid performance.

France made it to the first Stardian and got the 19 points on the scoreboard. Then came Black Cat to conclude the judging session for round five, and it was another Russian show of excellence. Black Cat completed Block 6 in time and added the first formation of Block 22 to the score.

The Russian lead keeps growing, and even France seems to be too far away to go after the $15,000 cash for the first place. The distance is currently seven points, and the Black Cat average is at 23.4 after five rounds. Round ten alone will probably bring up the meet average by additional two points. That is if the teams will get through all ten rounds. Clouds have moved in, and all events are on a weather hold.