posted Aug 7th, 2007 - The competition has moved on quickly today in Russia. The second day is over, and the meet is running perfectly on schedule. Six rounds have been completed in both 4-way events, and four rounds are in the 8-way books. It is time for the NSL News to catch up with the female category of the 4-way event.

There are no surprises so far. France dominates the competition, and the 15.8 average after six rounds would put the best all-female team in 12th position of the Open event. The question at the end of this competition will be how close the French team is currently compared to the British top teams.

Team Elan and Perris Storm both decided to skip this competition and focus on their final countdown to the UK Nationals 2007, which are scheduled for the August 18 weekend. The scores at the UK Nationals 2007 will put the French scores at the World Cup 2007 in perspective.

Russia's JetBats are safely situated in 2nd place and try to stay as close as possible to the French team. Only the bronze medals are still contended by the German Chicas and Alpha Fox from Ukraine. Dr. Rainer "Exi" Hoenle and Solly Williams provided some more details of the female competition.

Exi's World Cup Corner

Alpha Fox has problems with the exit, and the German team benefits from the Ukrainian trouble. Alpha Fox lost the exit point in Round 3, and a complete exit funnel in Round 4 did not help the Ukrainian cause much either.

It took the Alpha Fox girls quite some time to build the first formation after several flips and loops. The first formation of Block 21 (Zig Zag - Marquis) was complete after approx. 10 seconds. Alpha Fox still scored 11 points and lost only two points to the solid German team. The Spanish senoritas copied the Ukrainian exit technique and ended up with the lowest score of the meet.

Solly's World Cup Corner

The female 4-way competition currently has France increasing their lead. Despite picking up a bust in Round 4 they are only going to increase the distance between them and the second place. They were happy with their performance yesterday and seem to be enjoying themselves.

However, a good fight continues for the two remaining medal sets, and this meet isn't over yet. Will the more experienced German Chicas team catch the talented Russians, or can the Ukrainians claw their way back into medal contention?