posted Sep 20th, 2011 - The NSL News goes back to the World Cup 2011 and the Russian Nationals 2011 where several Teams from Russia attended both events.

The NSL News brought the impressive performance of Sky Panthers Barkli to the attention of the audience earlier. The Black Cat lineup at the national championship also delivered the best performance of the 2011 season, as well as Gradient Alpha. SportLoto averaged two points higher than at the outdoor season opener at the end of April and was probably still further behind the top of the leaderboard than expected.

However, the situation at the end of the competition might have been even tougher to swallow for the Illusions. The 20.6 average of the Russian national team in the female 4way category was just good enough for the 5th place. It was the highest meet average for a female lineup in Russian history, and the 44-pointer in Round 3 was also a new Russian highscore for a single round.

Russia 2011		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	T	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	21,6,7	5,L,8	H,Q,P,J,E	G,13,19	1,C,18	B,16,O,14	A,D,17,M	3,15,10	9,2,4	F,22,11	T	Avg
1	Sky Panthers Barkli	22	22	54	19	21	23	34	19	22	22	258	25.8
2	Black Cat	21	19	48	19	21	22	30	17	21	18	236	23.6
3	Gradient Alpha	20	22	41	19	18	20	28	19	21	19	227	22.7
4	SportLoto	19	19	43	19	16	20	30	17	19	17	219	21.9
5	Illusions	20	19	44	13	17	20	27	13	16	17	206	20.6

A 20.6 average would have won the gold medals in the female 4way competition at the World Meet 2008 and the bronze medals last year in Menzelinsk. The same average would have won a gold medal at the World Cup this year, as well, where Aerodyne Deep Blue Defenders took the 1st place with an 18.9 average after ten slower rounds.

The NSL News explained earlier that Illusions lost too many points in the judging room to be able to threaten France. Both teams went the same pace and completed the same number of points within the 35 seconds most of the time. In fact, throughout Round 8 the Russian team won three rounds and tied the highscore in one round whenever there was a clean Russian scoresheet.

However, the total damage of 11 points in the first six rounds in Germany was just too much to get close to the French team that had a completely clean slate so far.

World Cup 2011		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9	Round 10	Total	Avg
Rank	4way Women	C,22,19	E,M,1,2	12,9,16	O,8,10	Q,14,5	P,17,K,18	21,L,J,13	3,11,B	20,G,H,4	N,F,A,7	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne DB Defenders	16	20	16	17	19	20	19	17	17	28	189	18.9
2	Illusions	12 (-2)	21	17	14 (-3)	16 (-3)	16 (-3)	19	18	15	19	167	16.7
3	Polaris	13 (-2)	19	13 (-3)	15	15	17	17	13 (-2)	16	23	161	16.1
4	Golden Knights	13 (-1)	16	14	15	14	14 (-1)	13 (-1)	15	15	24	153	15.3
5	Bodyflight Aerodyne	13 (-2)	18	12 (-1)	14	12 (-1)	16	12 (-1)	14	14	23	148	14.8

The 20.6 average a few weeks later in Russia could be even more encouraging for the Illusions. The jumps at the World Cup showed that the Russian team is not too far behind the French reigning world champions with the new lineup. The 2010 silver medalists from the United Kingdom are in a building phase, and the USA does not seem to have a new world class lineup yet.

Germany's ISB Air has lost a whole season due to an injury, and the door to the very top of the leaderboard at the Mondial 2012 might be wide open for a new strong lineup as the Illusions or a hard training team like Polaris.

Russia could have a top challenger in each of the three Formation Skydiving events next year, and the Illusions could be one of them.

The videos of Round 7 and Round 8 are showing two of the clean rounds for the Illusions. The total of Rounds 2, 3, 7 and 8 would add up to a 3-point advantage (75 - 72) for the Russian team over France.

Aerodyne Bodyflight and the Golden Knights had the only penalties in Round 7, and the UK team was probably quite surprised after losing the 8th point, the Marquis of Block 21. The judges did not approve the closing of the block due to "Camera Angle / Grip Visibility". The British girls must have been lucky with the grips of the Zig Zag at the beginning of the block according to this interpretation...

Polaris was in a similar situation in Round 8, only much earlier in the jump. It was not unusual at this meet where many points were lost due to "Camera Angle / Grip Visibility" and especially after the exit. The judges did not approve the completion of Block 3 and then did not like the following transition to the first Photon of Block 11. The on-line judges have the opportunity to take a closer look.