posted Apr 18th, 2016 - Russia is still the reigning 8-way silver medalist after outlasting France in a jump-off round at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Prostejov 2014. However, it was a different team that won the silver medals with a 17.1 average. Barkli in Prostejov had Leonid Kazinets, Alexey Minaev, Vladimir Pavlenko, Dmitry Samokhval, Oleg Shalamykhin, Nikolay Sukharnikov, Alexander Tychinskiy and Nikolay Vylegzhanin in the lineup, with Andrey Seliverstov on camera.

Barkli did not come back in 2015, and a new team, Tanay, took over the 8-way reigns in Russia. The new lineup consisted of three former Barkli 8-way members (Dmitry Samokhval, Oleg Shalamykhin, Alexander Tychinskiy), three Black Cat members (Valentin Ilin, Vasily Korotkov, Evgeny Stashchenko) and Ruslan Azarov. Sponsor Andrey Barabash and the 4th Black Cat member Alexander Kvochur shared the 8th slot. Vadim Niyazov has been filming Tanay's 8-way team.

World Meet 2014			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		E,3,C,5	F,G,D,21	19,H,2	M,4,1	O,14,A,P	8,J,16	7,11,12	22,20,15	17,G,18	13,B,9	Q,10,N,L	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	24	22	15	26	22	21	19	26	21	20	-	216	21.6
2	Barkli	RU	19	18	13	25	14	16	16	19	18	13	20	171	17.1
2	Venturi	FR	19	16	14	23	18	13	18	19	15	16	19	171	17.1

Tanay's new 8-way lineup defended Russia's 8-way position in the world successfully. The silver medals at the FAI World Cup 2015 were followed by a 3rd place behind Golden Knights and France at the Clash of Champions 2015 and a new set of FAI silver medals at the World Air Games 2015.

Tanay's four Black Cat members started into the 2016 season earlier than the 8-way lineup and with impressive results, first at the Wind Games (25.5) in January, followed by the World Challenge (27.5) at the beginning of April.

The Tanay 8-way team now launched the 2016 season with a training camp in DeLand, which will be followed by a few days of Black Cat 4-way training.

World Cup 2015			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		1,4,D	E,3,L,G	C,16,N,9	13,J,11	Q,2,A,14	K,7,8	P,18,21	15,12,F	B,22,O,10	20,5,M	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Maubeuge	FR	28	30	23	18	18	17	18	26	19	18	215	21.5
2	Tanay	RU	24	24	19	17	17	15	14	20	15	15	180	18.0
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	17	19	15	12	13	13	12	15	13	14	143	14.3

The 8-way lineup has a few personnel changes. Player coach Oleg Shalamykhin, 8-way world champion of 2001 and 2003, and Ruslan Azarov do not continue with the 2016 lineup. Vladimir Arutunov and Sergey Yalpaev are filling the open slots, and they know what they are doing.

Both new members were in the Barkli lineup that won two sets of 8-way bronze medals for Russia, first at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk,

then again two years later at the Mondial Dubai 2012 with a 19.2 average. Vladimir Arutunov was also in the Russian national 8-way team Evolution Pro that won the bronze medals at the World Meet in Croatia 2004 and again in Germany 2006, together with his old and new team mate Dmitry Samokhval.

U.S.A. and France took the top spots at all these events, and the ranking order could be the same again this year. However, two Black Cat members remember the world meet where they won 8-way gold medals together, Vasily Korotkov and Evgeny Stashchenko in 2001. Vasily Korotkov even won a second gold medal two years later...