posted Feb 3rd, 2008 - The participation of three Russian teams at the World Challenge 2008 is a good reason for an update from Russia. It is a very interesting situation in Russia this year.

The best Russian 4-way teams have a challenging season ahead of them. The Russian Nationals 2008 is the qualification event for the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2008 in France. The Russian federation scheduled the event earlier than usual (June 15 - 22) to make it easier for the national team to be.

However, it is still a very small window for the winner of the national championship to prepare for the World Meet in August. The difficulty is once again the much discussed right-hand door of the Pilatus Porter. The Russian 4-way teams are used to jump from left-hand doors. It would not be fair for the majority of the teams to be forced into a right-hand door exit situation, just because one team, the Russian national team, has to jump from a Pilatus Porter in France.

At the same time, the best Russian 4-way teams of the past years, Sky Panthers, Black Cat, Crossroads, Extreme.RU, all perform on a level that is in contention for medals at the international events. It must be in the interest of the Russian federation to support these teams as much as possible in their efforts to represent the country successfully.

Three of the best Russian 4-way competitors have an even busier schedule than most others. Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin and Sergej Shenin have had double duties year by year. The same 3-way either trains and competes with Mikhail Kuznetsov or with Leonid Kazinets.

The team with Mikhail Kuznetsov is called Sky Panthers and represented Russia as the national team at the World Meet 2006 in Germany where they placed 4th with a 21.8 average. The same Sky Panthers placed 3rd at the Malevsky Cup 2007 with a 23.8 average and won the bronze medals at the FAI World Cup 2007 with a 22.9 average, one single point behind France and Hayabusa Defence after ten rounds.

The NSL News introduced Mikhail Kuznetsov with a live interview during the Malevsky Cup 2006. He is 37 years old and the Governor of a Russian state in the northwestern part of Russia, close to the Baltic nations. He had a seat in the Russian parliament for several years, the Duma, since he was in his mid 20's.

The team with Leonid Kazinets is called Skylight Barkli and never appears on the scoreboard when the Sky Panthers attend the same meet. The reason is obvious. Leonid Kazinets is a wealthy Russian industrialist, president of the Barkli corporation that sponsors the team.

Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin and Sergej Shenin will compete with Mikhail Kuznetsov and Leonid Kazinets both this year. Skylight Barkli has signed up for the World Challenge 2008, and the Sky Panthers will try to qualify as the Russian national team for the World Meet in France. Both teams have already trained a lot in Bedford.

It will once again be a tough competition to become the Russian national team for France. Black Cat and Crossroads are training and competing with the same line-ups as in 2007 and will make it very difficult for the Sky Panthers at this year's qualification event.

Black Cat is one of the two Russian world record holders of the highest score for a single round, with a 44-pointer at the Malevsky Cup 2006 where they won with a 24.0 average. Vasily Korotkov, Alexander Kvochur, Alexey Minaev and Evgeny Staschenk posted a 23.6 average at the Malevsky Cup 2007 and finished two points behind the Sky Panthers. They followed up with a 22.0 average and the 4th place at the FAI World Cup 2007, once again right behind the Sk Panthers.

Crossroads is one of the latest world-class teams that Russia has produced in the past years. Dmitry Fridman, Valentin Ilin, Maxim Tikhomirov, Alexander Tychinskiy, Nikolay Vylegzhanin and Sergey Yalpaev form the whole lineup that posted a 22.6 average at the Malevsky Cup 2007. Crossroads also competed at the FAI World Cup 2007 where the team ended up only in 11th place with 16.7 average.

Black Cat and Crossroads are taking the Russian Nationals 2008 very seriously. Black Cat has been training in Eloy, Arizona, in November and December and had another training camp in January in Morocco, alongside the French 8-way team. There they jumped from the right-hand door of the Pilatus Porter. Crossroads just completed a training camp at the Paraclete XP windtunnel in North Carolina.

It was still not clear yet which jump plane will be used at the Russian Nationals 2008 in June. It could be a Pilatus Porter if problems with the aircraft's certification in Russsia can be resolved. The alternate plane is the LET-410 with a left-hand door. The main event of the 2008 season for most of the Russian teams will probably be the Russian FS Cup in Kolomna at the end of August. 4-way competition in general is becoming more popular every year in Russia, with more and more teams forming. The new Russian windtunnels have surely contributed to the upswing.

Ocean 5 is a completely new Russian team that has a promising line-up, as well. Kaktus Hunter comes back with the same line-up from the 2007 season. Both teams complete the Russian delegation at the World Challenge 2008. The NSL News will introduce these teams with another update from Russia.