posted Nov 30th, 2009 - Exciting news came from Russia last week.

The NSL News had raised the question already earlier this year whether Russia would recruit a strong 8-way lineup for the 2010 season. Russian teams have focused on the 4-way event in the past years and ever since Evolution Pro disbanded at the end of the 2006 season.

There was not even a Russian 8-way team attending the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2008 in France. The 8-way team at the FAI World Cup 2009 was a pickup team for the event, as the NSL News reported from the Czech Republic.

The Russian 8-way drought seems to be over, as eight of the current Russian world class competitors are working on serious plans for the 2010 season.

It is actually no big surprise since Russia is hosting the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010 in Menzelinsk, and it was unlikely that Russia would not have a team in each FS category. The question was only how strong the home teams would be.

The NSL News had already mentioned during the coverage of the World Cup 2009 that the Russian hosts have invited the NSL News and CamScore to cover the event live from the competition site.

The recent news from Russia brings additional excitement already at a very early stage of the runup to the world meet next year.

Russian 4-way and 8-way teams have been a part of the battle for world meet medals ever since Russia joined the international Formation Skydiving community in 1985, and she has become a powerhouse in the last decade, together with the USA and France.

The FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) had already hosted a World Cup of Formation Skydiving in Russia, as a part of the Malevsky Memorial Cup in 2007. The NSL News was reporting live from Stupino. It was only a logical step that Russia would eventually become the host of a World Championship, as well.

It was somehow to be expected that Russia would not only have a strong 4-way team but also a strong 8-way lineup. In fact, Russia's biggest success in the past was achieved by the 8-way lineups between 1987 and 2006. Russian 8-way lineups won medals at each of the world meets in this time period. Only the very first Russian 8-way team at a world meet placed 4th in 1985. Then there was no Russian team competing in 2008.

Extreme.RU and Black Cat, the world records holders in 4-way until this year's USPA Nationals, and the Russian national team of the past years, Sky Panthers/Skylight Barkli, have been standing for Russian world class performance in the 4-way event since the Sky Panthers won the 4-way bronze medals for Russia in 2004.

It was the first set of 4-way medals for Russia since the lineup of 1989 had won silver medals in Spain.

The Russian 8-way lineups between 1987 and 2006 collected a total of two gold medals, three silver medals and six bronze medals, compared to one set of silver medals (1989) and one set of bronze medals (2004) in 4-way. Mikhail Kuznetsov and his Sky Panthers won the bronze medals in 2004 and missed the 3rd place by only one single point in Germany 2006, and then by three points in France 2008.

The new lineup for the 2010 season is a very dangerous combination of the best and most experienced Russian 8-way and 4-way competitors during the most successful time period between 1999 and 2009.

It is dangerous for the 8-way teams from the USA and France, as this new Russian 8-way team has the potential to get up to the top level of 8-way competition in a short period of time.

The NSL News found Russian 8-way footage in the NSL-TV archives. The first one above features the Russian 8-way lineup of Evolution Pro at the World Cup in Eloy 2005.

Evolution Pro was the last Russian 8-way lineup before the break at the end of the 2006 season. One of the Evolution Pro 2005 and 2006 members, Vladimir Arutyunov, is also in the new Russian 8-way team.

The other video features the jumps of the Russian 8-way pickup team of two 4-way lineups, Crystal Contour, at the World Cup in Prostejov this year. Vladimir Arutyunov was also one of the leaders of this 8-way project for the World Cup, and he trained and competed with the 4-way team Gradient Alpha/Crystal this year.

His 2009 team mate in 4-way and 8-way, Sergey Yalpaev, is another member of the new 8-way lineup. He is one of the most experienced Russian competitors and was a member of Extreme.RU, the owner of the 4-way world record for a single round before Spaceland Force XP posted a new record this summer. The NSL News story on 27 October 2009 provided some background information of Sergey Yalpaev.

The NSL News will introduce the other members of this new Russian 8-way team very soon.