posted Mar 6th, 2011 - The NSL News story on 7 January 2011 was covering the internal Russian 4-way competition at the Dubai Championship 2011.

The Russian story stopped short, as it was written after the scores of Round 2 were posted. However, the final results still did not change much.

In fact, the four Russian teams were in the same internal Russian rankings after Round 8 as they were after Round 2.

What's the situation in Russia after the Dubai Championship 2011 and the Valentine's Meet 2011?

Dubai Championship 2011		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Total	Avg
Rank	Russian Teams	P,17,18	M,N,F,3	H,A,6,B	Q,1,C,14	4,10,15	16,O,J,22	K,2,E,11	G,9,8	Total	Avg
1	Russia Gradient Alpha	19	29	28	20	11	21	20	23	171	21.4
2	Russia Black Cat	20	22	25	18	16	19	20	21	161	20.1
3	Russia Illusions	16	21	22	15	9	17	17	17	134	16.8
4	Russia FS3	14	18	22	14	11	15	15	11	120	15.0

The Sky Panthers, bronze medal winner for Russia at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010, are in a new situation after team founder Michail Kuznetsov decided to retire with his second 4-way bronze medal. Nikolay Vylegzhanin, member of the Russian 8-way bronze medal team in 2010, may take the open slot, and Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin and Sergej Shenin will probably continue with Leonid Kazinets's 8-way team, as well.

Black Cat, Russia's 4-way champion of 2009, is in a new team building phase, as the NSL News reported on 18 February 2011. This current situation leaves the door open for Gradient Alpha, the winner of the internal Russian competition in Dubai 2011.

The same door is also open for the new lineup with two former Kaktus Hunters that the NSL News introduced with the story on 2 February 2011. It was the same story that featured the new Block 13 and the modified Block 1 for the first time on NSL-TV.

Russian Nationals 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Class	7,4,M	9,A,1	22,D,O,20	19,17,3	11,Q,K,C	21,L,15	H,E,N,14	B,P,F,J,G	12,8,5	10,6,16	Total	Avg
1	Sky Panthers	26	26	23	22	27	22	23	45	19	21	254	25.4
2	Black Cat	24	29	24	21	27	19	27	39	19	14	243	24.3
3	Gradient Alpha	23	24	19	19	23	19	24	41	17	18	227	22.7
4	Kaktus Hunter	19	25	18	17	26	18	22	39	15	17	216	21.6

The new Kaktus Hunters, with Yuri Drozdov and Dmitriy Samokhval in the 2011 lineup, were showing their potential in the featured videos. The scoring and performance level will obviously not be any lower compared to the Kaktus Hunters of the past years.

The new lineup also has a good plan for the 2011 season, with tunnel training in February and March. Arizona Airspeed's former Center Inside Andy Delk will once again work with the new Kaktus Hunters. The first scores will then be posted at the World Challenge 2011.

The Russian season opener on May 1 - 3 is on the team's agenda after the indoor competition in Bedford, and Andy Delk will come back for more coaching in June at the Kaktus Hunters' home dropzone Aerograd-Kolomna.

More outdoor training in Russia is scheduled for the month of July before the new Kaktus Hunter lineup will travel to Germany to compete at the World Cup 2011 in Saarlouis. The Russian Nationals 2011 concludes the 2011 season.

The Russian scores in Dubai allowed only a glimpse into the 4-way skydiving heart of Russia. The scores from Eloy a month later did not provide much more serious information, as well. Much depends on how the Russian top teams and competitors organize their funding for the 2011 and 2012 season, and this process is still in the works.

Only the new Kaktus Hunter lineup seems to have a plan so far, and this might be a great advantage. Russia has many world class 4-way and 8-way competitors who can put together a medal winning lineup quite quickly. However, even world class competitors need some training...