posted Sep 4th, 2009 - Nothing happened in Prostejov on Friday. The weather system kept everybody on the ground all day long. The female 4-way teams and the 8-way teams were lucky, as they had already two nights to celebrate the conclusion of their events. That did not count for the French and German competitors with double duties, of course.

The weather looks better this morning. Saturday is the last day of the World Cup 2009, and the meet will be officially over at 2 pm. Hopefully there will be enough skies for two rounds of 4-way to avoid another incomplete FAI competition of the first category.

The cut after Round 8 will make it easier, as only ten teams continue with Round 9. In reality, this number will be 15. The event is also the European Championship 2009. Fact is that there is actually no World Cup since all teams in Prostejov are from Europe, with no exception.

The rules of the World Cup allow four teams of each nation to compete in each event. Only one team is eligible for the European Championship. Four Russian teams (Black Cat, Skylight Barkli, Crossroads, Kaktus Hunter), three French teams (Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, Aerokart Pamiers Maubeuge, Aerokart Amada Maubeuge), Hayabusa Defence, Sinapsi and FSC Eisenach-Paratec will officially compete for the World Cup medals.

Only Aerodyne Cypres Maubeuge, Black Cat, Hayabusa, Sinapsi and Eisenach compete for European medals. In addition, the national teams from Finland (Pro Team), Lithuania (Magic 4), Netherlands (NRG), Norway (Nexus) and the best team from the United Kingdom after eight rounds (Sonicnutz) will make Round 9. The next cut after Round 9 will keep only six teams for the finals. The Pro Team from Finland is holding an important spot at the moment. Magic 4 is one single point behind to make it to Round 10.

The NSL News has uploaded the NSL Talk with the Russian competitors.

Team members of three different teams, Kaktus Hunter (Katya Kharitonova and Andrei Kharitonov), Crossroads (Dmitry Fridman) and Black Cat (Alexander Kvochur) chatted live for a little while. All three teams are now getting ready for the semifinals.

The World Championship of Formation Skydiving will be hosted by Russia next year, Menzelinsk is the location, and the Russian teams still have to qualify for this event in 2010.

Officials from Russia visited Prostejov this week and officially invited CamScore and NSL News to cover the event. The NSL News will provide more details later.