The Russian men in Antwerp - highlights, lowlights and promise for the future

The Russian men suffered some unlucky performances - and untimely injuries - at this month's World Championships.  Here, Nico writes about their competition, and reflects on the future for Russian men's gymnastics.

Team captain Emin Garibov on high bar.  RGF

I’ve been a great admirer of the Russian men’s programme since getting my start in gymnastics in 1994.  I got into the sport during the era of Aleksei Nemov, who was and still is a fantastic role model for me. He embodied everything I enjoyed about the sport: power, form, style, poise, humility, and even a bit of sex appeal. Since Nemov, I found it a little difficult to remain inspired by the Russian team because his absence left a great void in the programme. That is, until recently.

Around mid-2011, I found a renewed interest in the men’s team when I noticed the talents of David Belyavskiy, Emin Garibov, and Denis Ablyazin. I saw in them some of the qualities Nemov had when he began his senior career. Each of them has different strengths and weaknesses, but what I see in them is the potential for star quality, something I’ve not seen from a Russian male gymnast since Nemov. It also doesn’t hurt that they’re easy on the eyes just like Sexy Aleksei was.

The trio were new seniors in the last quad, so I expected them to be a little rough around the edges and inconsistent. I wasn’t too bothered by their early mistakes because it’s the normal progression of young gymnasts. I had a feeling after team and all around disappointments at last year’s Olympics that the men would come back with a vengeance to accomplish wonderful things in this new Olympic cycle.

Earlier this year, the Russian men’s team seemed to be on track for great success heading to this year’s World Championships. The European Championships and Universiade, both held on home turf, produced buckets of medals for the men’s programme; Belyavskiy, Garibov, Kuksenkov, and Ablyazin quickly established themselves as Russia’s best and the ones to watch in the future. I was beginning to see them show what they were capable of, and I became quite excited about their prospects for Worlds.

 Alas, things did not turn out as I had (or they had) wished.

Let’s take a moment to review the Russian men’s performances in Antwerp. First the highlights:

Balandin was Russia's only MAG medallist at these Championships

Aleksandr Balandin – Russia’s only medal winner from these championships. A fine job he did in an incredibly competitive still rings final. It was terrific to see him on the world stage again in his speciality. He even debuted a new strength element that received his name (his third in the Code of Points). He is proving to be a master of impressive strengths lifted from a regular hang.

Matvei Petrov – A new face to the international stage, but a regular presence on the national scene for his specialty on pommel horse. He performed well as one of the top qualifiers, but gave away a few too many minor errors in the final. Despite missing out on a medal, he managed to do quite well at his first World Championships. It never hurts to have a pommel horse specialist on your team, so if he keeps doing what he does, his future with the Russian team looks promising. Although I’d like to see him add another decent event or two to his repertoire.

And now the lowlights, which, unfortunately, were many:

Denis Ablyazin – Perhaps he had the most disappointing championships out of everyone. He failed to qualify to any of his events. He was a legitimate contender for medals, even gold, on vault and floor exercise.

Emin Garibov – A similar result as Ablyazin. European Champion on high bar and Universiade Champion on parallel bars and high bar, he also failed to qualified to any event finals. I was hoping he might debut his new layout Kovacs in the high bar final.

 

David Belyavski waits to begin his pommel exercise

David Belyavskiy and Nikolai Kuksenkov – Russia’s top all-arounders showed wonderful balance and consistency with Belyavskiy’s win at the European Championships and Kuksenkov’s win at Universiade. Unfortunately both arrived in Antwerp with injuries, with Kuksenkov dislocating his finger and Belyavskiy injuring his ankle at verification just before Worlds. Kuksenkov was only able to perform on high bar and didn’t have a great showing in qualification. I found it interesting he chose to compete on high bar instead of floor with his finger injury. Meanwhile, Belyavskiy’s confidence seemed visibly shaken as he made major mistakes on both days in the all-around. He later admitted his ankle really bothered him and he found it gruelling to get through all six routines in his condition.

So what all went wrong for these guys?

Like most things in life, there usually isn’t one single cause of one’s troubles; it’s a multitude of factors. In the case of the Russian men’s team, I’d say the injuries to Kuksenkov and Belyavskiy didn’t help with their overall confidence heading to the championships, not only for Kuksenkov and Belyavskiy themselves but also for the other team members. Additionally, I speculate the men (and likely the women) might have peaked too early in the year. The European Championships were held in Moscow and Universiade in Kazan, and the Russian Gymnastics Federation was looking to show their best on home soil. The men competed brilliantly at both competitions, so perhaps they didn’t have as much energy as they needed for these World Championships. Finally, we must take into account that we are in the year after the Olympics, which is always a strange year in gymnastics. Everyone has to adjust to the changes in the Code of Points, some gymnasts retire or take a break, new gymnasts emerge, and most of the major competitions are individual.

Denis Ablyazin - an unlucky autumn after a busy year

Fortunately, this is the least important year of the new Olympic cycle. I wouldn’t make much of the results of these World Championships even though they weren’t what the men had hoped for. It’ll be interesting to see how the gymnasts and coaches return to the gym to re-evaluate their routines for next year. The next European and World Championships will have a team competition, so there will be more incentive for the gymnasts to fix things in their routines and compete better.

On a final note, I’ve come to realize that Russian gymnasts tend to excel when they have a very visible and strong leader. Russia in its hey-day usually performed well with the likes of Nemov and Khorkina as the backbone of their respective teams. Currently the Russian women have Aliya Mustafina who proved to be the glue of the team at last year’s Olympics and this year’s World Championships. Right now the men don’t have a clear leader, and I think that hinders some of their performances as a team. Both Belyavskiy and Kuksenkov show potential to become leaders of the team, but perhaps their time hasn’t come yet. When they do, the Russian men will be able to contend with the best in future World and Olympic team competitions.

Давай мужики! Россия вперёд!

Nico C. J. 

Pictures courtesy of the Russian Gymnastics Federation