posted Jul 19th, 2021 - The Russian Airborne team VDV won the Russian Indoor Cup 2021, as the NSL News reported on July 13th. The same news update mentioned that the Russian Formation Skydiving delegation of the traditional events (4-way Open, 4-way Women, 8-way) will be introduced soon.

There are no changes or surprises in 8-way (Tanay) and 4-way Women (Bubbles), while the 4-way Open story is much more complicated and includes the Airborne VDV team, as well.

The indoor update mentioned that Airborne VDV finished with a new 31.5 team record average, which is just one point below the highest Russian indoor average ever, posted by Black Cat at the FAI European Indoor Championship 2018. Team leader Georgy Miroshnichenko had finally joined the Airborne VDV signature lineup for indoor and outdoor training and competition before the Russian Indoor Cup, after a few years with Russian Thunder.

The recent crash of a L-410 Turbolet jump plane in Tanay did not only add another burden to the host of the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. The International Skydiving Commission (ISC) and the Russian host reacted quickly and announced that "substitute aircraft have been ordered and organization is going ahead as planned". The impact on Airborne VDV was heavier, as Georgy Miroshnichenko was in the plane that crashed, and he was injured.

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Russian Indoor Cup 2021		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	21,12,19	Q,G,A,J,17	M,8,O,22	5,7,15	9,C,2	18,4,K	D,P,H,N,3	1,13,14	L,16,11	10,E,20	Total	Avg
1	VDV	27	41	28	32	36	27	43	27	28	26	315	31.5
2	IFS-Moscow	23	39	28	28	31	27	41	24	23	26	290	29.0
3	Bubbles	25	33	25	27	31	28	41	22	26	26	284	28.4
4	Russian Thunder	21	32	20	29	31	25	38	23	23	23	265	26.5
5	VDV 2	21	30	24	24	28	24	33	20	22	20	246	24.6
6	42	17	28	23	24	24	21	31	22	22	21	233	23.3
7	No Limits	21	33	21	21	24	21	32	19	20	19	231	23.1
8	Antibodies	21	28	21	24	25	21	31	20	21	17	229	22.9
9	DDW-Team	20	32	17	22	26	21	30	20	19	20	227	22.7
10	Quartet	17	27	22	19	26	15	31	19	19	19	214	21.4
11	Bumblbee	14	29	20	18	24	17	27	18	19	17	203	20.3

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Airborne VDV at the Russian Indoor Nationals 2021

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Airborne VDV was and still is the 4-way Open Class team that represents Russia at the upcoming FAI Tanay Mondial 2020, despite the tragic plane crash and the implications on the event host and the team.

The Tanay Wolves had actually won the qualification as the national team in 4-way Open at the Russian Nationals 2019. Timur Frank and his three world-class team mates Vladimir Pavlenko, Dmitry Samokhval and Alexander Tychinsky won before the three Tanay 8-way members withdrew from 4-way training and competition to focus only on 8-way.

The FAI Tanay Mondial was rescheduled in 2020, due to the corona virus crisis, and the Tanay Wolves did not try to defend their 2019 title at last year's national championships. Airborne VDV won the small 6-round competition and became the new Russian national 4-way champions in 4-way Open.

The Russian skydiving federation then sanctioned Airborne VDV as the national outdoor team for the rescheduled world meet, after the team had also won the Russian Indoor Cup 2021 in April. Host Andrey Barabash and Tanay Wolves founder Timur Frank joined forces to support the new national team financially, and Timur Frank became VDV's alternate. He was now training with the team on a regular basis on weekends before and/or after the actual team training of the complete Airborne VDV lineup.

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Russian Nationals 2019		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	N,E,D,16		G,F,Q,C,13		8,B,A,3		L,10,1		22,J,K,14		21,9,M		18,O,12		4,7,11		20,19,2		H,6,15		Total	Avg
1	Tanay	23	-2	22		21		23		20		20		18	-1	23		17		22		209	20.9
Rank	4-way Open	17,21,20		9,18,10		1,14,A		15,D,B,F		L,4,N,O		3,22,6		2,7,5		12,19,G		J,P,13,H		E,8,11		Total	Avg
1	Tanay Wolves	19		18		18		26		25		16		19		18		27		16	-1	202	20.2
2	Black Cat	19		17	-1	12	-5	28		22		16		20		17		24	-1	19		194	19.4
3	Sausages in Dough	17	-1	18		17		24	-1	21		17		19		17		25	-1	17		192	19.2

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Timur Frank, Alexander Furman, Georgy Miroshnichenko, Alexander Izmalkin and videographer Alexey Afanasyev were in training on the day of the plane crash, and the tragedy happened after they boarded for their third jump. All team members survived with injuries, Georgy Miroshnichenko and Timur Frank more severely injured than their team mates.

Alexander Izmalkin and videographer Alexey Afanasyev have recovered quickly enough to resume with easier parts of the Airborne VDV training, while Georgy Miroshnichenko will not be able to compete at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020. The Russian national team in 4-way Open needed a replacement for him after they decided to continue.

Airborne VDV and Andrey Barabash finally asked Oleg Shalamykhin, one of the most experienced Russian 4-way and 8-way competitors, to step in for Georgy Miroshnichenko, and he agreed. Oleg Shalamykhin had already been working with Airborne VDV as their external coach since the team was sanctioned as the national team in 4-way Open. Now his role changed, and he will also compete with the team at the FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 in August.

He replaces Georgy Miroshnichenko in his outside center slot as the Airborne VDV player-coach. There is not much time left for any preparations, and the new VDV lineup started with indoor training, while waiting for Skydive Tanay to go back to normal operation. Outdoor training in Tanay was scheduled to begin on July 19th, and VDV with Oleg Shalamykhin will try to get as much out of the last training opportunity as possible.

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Russian Outdoor Nationals 2020		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	8,B,A,3	L,10,1	N,E,D,16	G,F,Q,C,13	22,J,K,14	21,9,M	Total	Avg
1	Airborne VDV	19	17	22	28	14	26	126	21.0
2	Bubbles	19	17	24	24	12	22	118	19.7
3	5th Element	13	12	13	14	11	17	80	13.3
4	42	11	12	0	17	11	19	70	11.7

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