Skip to main content

Russian gymnastics competitors at the Cottbus Turnier der Meister, 13th to 16th March 2014

By
First year senior Maria Kharenkova is being considered for this year's European Championships


The provisional roster for March's Cottbus Turnier der Meister has now been published, including significant teams for both MAG and WAG from the Russian Federation.

For the women, it is an opportunity to give the developing gymnasts some competition practice before the big events of the year - Europeans, and World Championships.  Of particular interest is the inclusion of first year senior Maria Kharenkova, who is expected to fight for a place on the European Championships team.  Kharenkova has particular talents on beam and on floor and is considered by many to be an exciting prospect.  This year will prove whether she has the potential to become an 'A' lister for the Russian national team.

The Russians have slated teams 'in force' for this competition, including some of the top tried and tested gymnasts on the men's side.  As ever, it remains to be seen who will finally compete.  The names of the contingents from Romania, Germany and the USA have yet to be confirmed, but of further interest is the selection of former Russian national Yulia Inshina, now competing for Azerbaijan.

This competition takes place just prior to the Russian national championships, which are scheduled from the 31st March..  These early small competitions will provide part of the pathway for qualification for the first major competition of this year, the European Championships, which begin in early May.

The provisional listings of the Russian team are as follows:

WAG

Anna Rodionova
Daria Spiridinova
Maria Kharenkova
Polina Fyodorova

MAG

Alexander Balandin
Denis Ablyazin
Dmitri Stolyarov
Matvei Petrov
Nikita Ignatyev
Nikolai Kuksenkov
Labels:

Comments

  1. Mahesh19 February 2014 at 15:18

    Are all those girls seniors now? Is Bondareva still a Junior? Looking forward to see how they perform on floor with all the new rules. Is Shelgunova a contender for euros?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lauren C19 February 2014 at 19:55

      Bondareva will turn senior in 2015 (b. 1999). Shelgunova's chances for Euros, as ever, depend on the health and preparedness of pretty much everyone else. I can't see her making the team over any of the following: Mustafina, Komova, Afanasyeva, Grishina, Kharenkova, Paseka, Kuzmina, Kramarenko, Rodionova. I would probably even send Spiridonova before Shelgunova. But if the team is having serious health problems like last year, who knows?

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Head MAG Coach Alfosov on Russian gymnastics prospects in 2026

By
"A Really Good International Level": Alfosov on the Return of Russian Gymnasts, Belyavsky's Videos, and the Games Qualification Alfosov: Belyavsky's presence on the team was a big plus Interview by Elena Vaitsekhovskaya  Google translate Russian gymnasts competing under neutral status will be able to take their first step toward qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics as early as October, Valery Alfosov, head coach of the Russian men's team, told RT. He believes that qualifying for not only the individual but also the team competition at the World Championships is one of the season's greatest achievements. He also explained the criteria he uses to compare his players with their competitors and described David Belyavsky's decision last year as hard-won. The current season began with good news for the gymnasts: almost all of the leading Russian team members are participating in international competitions. Does this mean the suspension situation is a thing of...
Post a Comment
Read more

Artistry versus acrobatics???

By
Watching videos of this weekend's competitions - the qualification and all around rounds of the Russian championships, medal winners from the American Cup - I am struck, more and more, by the huge difference between the American and Russian schools of gymnastics. It led me to ask the question : do artistry and acrobatics have to be mutually exclusive? (I am afraid that I think naming 'American' gymnastics a 'school' is perhaps lending an undeserved dignity to work which has become excessively obsessed with the difficult and the consistent, but I am using the word here so as not to label unfairly those individual gymnasts who are blameless in the direction of their training.) The FIG's vision for gymnastics is said to embrace more artistry; at least the publicity it has put about on the subject of its new Code makes that fairly plain.  So perhaps the Russians, with their inconsistent brilliance and superior body carriage (Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afanasy...
39 comments
Read more

Angelina Melnikova and Arseny Dukhno - Results from Serie A competitions in Italy

By
  Russia's neutral gymnasts have been performing very well in competition recently, not least at the Cottbus Cup last week where a fairly inexperienced group of young women took medals on every piece - and their men did well, too. The team is still in the position where its veterans, or at least its established performers, are the leaders.  For the women, this means that Melnikova is assumed to be the top, while for the men, Marinov is the one whose name is most likely to be spoken.  But he is still recovering from multiple injuries and not expecting to be ready for competition until later in the year.  In fact the leadership of the men's team has skipped a couple of generations: first year senior, Arseny Dukhno, is taking the lead for the team. So while the youngsters head off to the World Cup competitions to make a name for themselves there, the leaders are competing in the Serie A league in Italy - and they aren't doing too shabbily there.  Both Melnikova and...
Post a Comment
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more