posted Sep 28th, 2010 - There are not even a handful of 4-way competitors who have competed at each of the last four World Championships of Formation Skydiving. In fact, the number is exactly four, and they are not of the same lineup or even country. However, three of them are still training and competing together: NMP-PCH Hayabusa members Roy Janssen, David and Andy Grauwels.

The fourth 4-way competitor is from Russia. He is the Center Inside for the Sky Panthers, Michail Kuznetsov, and he is now the 4-way competitor who competed at all four world meets between 2004 and 2010 and won the most medals. The Hayabusa members won one bronze medal in 2008, while Michail Kuznetsov just added his second bronze medal to the first one of 2004.

Michail Kuznetsov also holds the new 4-way world record for a single round, together with his other three Sky Panthers of the current lineup, Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin and Sergej Shenin, with Andrey Seliverstov on camera, and also together with Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, the new 4-way world champions. Both teams scored the 56-pointer in Round 3 of the World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2010.

World Meet 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	Open Class	10,7,12	3,11,5	J,M,Q,P,L	19,1,13	N,18,20	K,17,8	2,15,H	4,D,6	O,E,9,G	22,B,16	Total	Avg
1	France	21	22	56	20	22	24	22	24	40	26	277	27.7
2	USA	22	21	53	23	20	24	23	25	40	23	274	27.4
3	Russia	19	21	56	21	19	21	23	22	41	21	264	26.4
4	Belgium	21	21	55	20	17	20	23	22	36	18	253	25.3

Sky Panthers at the World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk: All 10 Rounds

Michail Kuznetsov does not make his achievements a big deal and keeps behind the scenes at the meets. He is a politician and a family man in his other life. The NSL News was very fortunate when he agreed to a live interview with the NSL News during the Malevsky Cup 2006 where the Sky Panthers did not compete.

He had just returned from the World Meet 2006 in Germany where the Sky Panthers missed another bronze medal by one single point. The meet was cut short to only five rounds due to bad weather, and Sinapsi was ahead at that time.

Michail Kuznetsov explained in the interview what had happened in Germany, and he also speaks about his very busy life trying to joggle the combination of 4-way competition, a growing family and his job as a governor in Russia.

World Meet 2006		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Total	Avg
Rank	Open Class	N-20-16	K-J-C-G-3	D-19-B-6	L-14-10	F-17-M-2	Total	Avg
1	USA DeLand Fire	20	27	25	17	28	117	23.4
2	France Gap Nice Icarius Autrement	17	25	23	21	25	111	22.2
3	Italy Sinapsi PD	19	26	22	19	24	110	22.0
4	Russia Sky Panthers Barkli	21	23	23	17	25	109	21.8

Live NSL News interview with Michail Kuznetsov at the Malevsky Cup 2006

The story of Michail Kuznetsov and the Sky Panthers actually began in 2002. The members of the Russian 8-way world champion team of 2001 began to join several 4-way lineups, as well. Vasili Korotkov, Alexei Minaev and Yevgeni Stashenko joined Michail Kuznetzov's first Sky Panthers lineup, with Vadim Niyzov on camera, and finished with a 17.3 average at the World Cup 2002 in Spain.

The Sky Panthers were on a hold when the Russian 8-way team re-joined to defend the gold medals successfully at the World Meet 2003 in France. The same Sky Panthers lineup of 2002 then resumed the training for the 2004 season.

The 3rd place at the Malevsky Cup 2004 in July indicated that the Sky Panthers might be a medal contender at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia in September, Michail Kuznetsov's first World Championship of Formation Skydiving. The Sky Panthers finished five points ahead of Sinapsi in Stupino.

Malevsky Cup 2004		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	Open Class	C-15-3	O-B-Q-J-14	7-16-H	10-D-21	12-A-2	M-17-G-N	13-K-E-11	19-P-6	8-1-4	5-9-20	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Majik	22	29	24	20	18	28	20	24	18	25	228	22.8
2	Maubeuge	23	30	24	20	20	25	22	23	17	23	227	22.7
3	Sky Panthers	19	25	22	18	17	25	20	20	14	21	201	20.1
4	Sinapsi PD	17	21	22	19	16	25	17	21	16	22	196	19.6
5	Kolomna Quick Blue	17	21	20	16	16	15	17	18	15	16	171	17.1

An interesting aspect of the Malevsky Cup 2004 was the fact that three other former 8-way members and future Sky Panthers (Vlaimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamikhin, Sergei Shenin) had joined Leonid Kazinets' lineup, which competed under Kolomna Quick Blue (5th, 17.1) by then.

Michail Kuznetsov's first world meet was also the first one in 4-way for the other three Sky Panthers of 2004, and they confirmed what the scores at the Malevsky Cup had promised. Russia won her first 4-way medals in Croatia.

The competition with Sinapsi was a real thriller and even more exciting than the battle for the gold medals between DeLand Majik and France Maubeuge. This time, the Sky Panthers won by one single point, and the NSL News found the Sky Panthers video of Round 7 in the archives.

Sky Panthers at the World Meet 2004 in Croatia: Round 7

World Meet 2004		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Round9	Round10	Total	Avg
Rank	Open Class	B-P-C-18	9-15-16	K-11-19	E-F-7-5	A-J-21-12	6-4-10	17-Q-L-1	H-14-3	13-22-O	N-M-D-2	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Majik	29	23	17	30	18	19	27	21	19	24	227	22.7
2	Maubeuge	28	22	18	30	17	19	23	20	18	24	219	21.9
3	Sky Panthers	24	21	19	25	22	15	28	19	16	22	211	21.1
4	Sinapsi PD	22	21	20	28	21	18	23	19	16	22	210	21.0

Michail Kuznetsov needed a break in 2005 and planned to come back in 2006. However, Vasili Korotkov, Alexei Minaev and Yevgeni Stashenko wanted to continue and formed Black Cat with young Alexandr Kvochur and Vadim Niyzov still on camera. Black Cat started with a 19.5 average at the Malevsky Cup 2005 and finished 3rd at the World Cup with a 21.2 average.

In the meantime, Leonid Kazinets had continued with Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalomikhin and Sergey Shenin. Skylight Barkli posted an 18.3 average at the Malevsky Cup and a 17.9 average at the World Cup in Eloy.

Michail Kuznetsov came back as planned in 2006 and joined forces with Leonid Kazinets. Both were now training and competing with Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalamykhin and Sergej Shenin, as the Sky Panthers with Michail Kuznetsov and for Skylight Barkli with Leonid Kazinets.

Michail Kuznetsov took his turn in 2006, won the Russian Nationals (24.1) over Black Cat with his three former team mates (23.4) and then competed for Russia at the World Meet 2006 in Germany. He continued in 2007 when the World Cup would be held on Russian turf in Stupino and attended his first World Challenge (24.3) at Bodyflight Bedford.

The Sky Panthers followed up with a 3rd place at the Malevsky Cup 2007 (23.8) and bronze medals at the World Cup 2007, both after great battles with Black Cat.

Leonid Kazinets now took his turn with Skylight Barkli at the World Challenge 2008 and matched Michail Kuznetsov's results of 2007 almost exactly with a 24.2 average in Bedford. However, Michail Kuznetsov competed with the Sky Panthers at the Russian Nationals 2008 (24.3), beat Black Cat (23.9) by four points and qualified for the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge.

World Meet 2008		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Round7	Round8	Total	Avg
Rank	Open Class	B,17,7	H,N,13,A	10,J,C,6	18,12,2	E,3,9	19,O,4	D,M,5,16	14,20,21	Total	Avg
1	USA Airspeed Odyssey	30	32	24	16	29	21	28	15	195	24.4
2	France Maubeuge	28	30	23	17	27	23	28	18	194	24.3
3	Belgium HayaBusa Defence	27	33	23	17	27	22	25	17	191	23.9
4	Russia Sky Panthers	28	30	22	16	28	20	27	17	188	23.5

Hayabusa, still with the three original members of 2004, was the main competition for the bronze medals, and they beat the Sky Panthers by three points to win their first set of medals. Both teams were very close to the gold and silver medal positions in Maubeuge, as well.

The rest of the story is recent history of the past two years. Michail Kuznetsov took a break after the 2nd place at the World Games 2009 in Taiwan (25.0) and made room for Leonid Kazinets who competed with Vladimir Pavlenko, Oleg Shalomikhin and Sergey Shenin at the Russian Nationals 2009 and the World Cup 2009.

Then Michail Kuznetsov came back to win the Russian Nationals 2010 with the Sky Panthers and his second bronze medal at the World Meet in Menzelinsk. This time, the Sky Panthers pushed Hayabusa into the 4th place. Leonid Kazinets won his own bronze medal in 8-way, together with his and Michail Kuznetsov's three 4-way team mates.