Skip to main content

Komova will compete two pieces in Sofia



2012 Olympian Viktoria Komova will compete on bars and beam at May's Europeans, says Russian Head Coach Valentina Rodionenko.  'Viktoria still isn't ready to vault', said Valentina, adding that they were protecting the 18 year old, but expected her to be fully ready for the World Championships in October.  She added that Anna Rodionova and Ksenia Afanasyeva were in reserve, but that Afanasyeva still hadn't recovered fully from her operation of last autumn. After participating in this competition she had decided not to try for Europeans, and was targeting the World Championships.

'Mustafina is almost fully recovered, but it wasn't quite enough in the fourth day', Rodionenko said, adding that the 2010 World Champion had performed well in the all around.

In other news, an unofficial but trustworthy source has said that Anastasia Grishina, who suffered a partial ACL tear, broken knee bone and cartilage damage in Saturday's team final, will be travelling to Germany in the 14th April for surgery with the same doctor who has treated Mustafina and other leading Russian stars.  We wish Nastia a good recovery.

Interview with Valentina Rodionenko - http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20140407/741509466.html




Comments

  1. So they'll take two DTYs and an FTY then? Hmmmm. :\ Unless Kharenkova or Spiridonova suddenly do a DTY (I doubt it.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's not like Russia needs three DTY's to win Euros.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know - Great Britain WAG looks very strong and Romania can field three good routines on their typical pieces. A mistake here or there and it's anyone's competition.

      Delete
    2. Yeah I actually think GB is the stronger threat than Romania. They should be able to field 3 DTYs and have literally 3 EF podium worthy bars routines (Downie, Harrold and Tunney).. their weak spot is floor but it's not like Russia's is great now either!

      Delete
  3. Their floor rotation will be a little sad in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Queen E, thanks for the update on Grishina. I'm going to miss her this season, I hope she intends to come back.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That picture is hilarious. I mean I knew she'd grown but there was a second there where I thought she'd never be able to do giants again ...

    ReplyDelete
  6. hmmm, they should take someone over spiridonova then with a DTY. They have Vika, Musty and Kharenkova for beam, and Musty and Vika are both so great on bars that they could make do with one average bar set. I think that would improve their score more. However, Spiridonova would gain experience it could be good in the long run. I see the title as theirs though as long as they don't have a classic Russian meltdown. Then again it always seems that we underestimate Romania.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you only if (1) Vika really doesn't do vault - I don't trust Valentina and this sounds like her usual 'spreading false information to the media before a big comp' trick, and (2) only if the DTY is Afan's. Paseka's DTY is so dreadful now and will have so many deductions that Russia might be better off score-wise with a very clean FTY and a 6+ D clean bars set from Spiridonova than Paseka's DTY. And I'm not really that sure they will sub Afan in.

      Delete
  7. If that's correct then VT Mustafina/Sosnitskaya/Spiridonova or Kharenkova UB Mustafina/Komova/Spriridonova BB Komova/Kharenkova/Mustafina FX Mustafina/Sosnitskaya/Kharenkova or Spiridonova.

    Spiridonova was given a 15.1 on uneven bars during the all around and would only be on UB. They could go with Paseka instead and use either Kharenkova/Sosnitskaya/Paseka on UB.

    I feel like Valentina likes to drop small lies before the big competitions to throw off the competition. I see changes being made to the Euro line up - maybe.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Euros are only 4 weeks from now!
    Some of the girls have little international experience.
    Will Mustafina be able to recover her Antwerp level?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't trust Valentina. I'll see it when I believe it, but I absolutely do not believe Russia will field a FTY at Euros. My guess is that there's still the chance Vika might have her DTY in time for Euros, but if not then I wouldn't count on the team staying as it is currently announced.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I doubt it too, Russia must have something up their sleeves. At the last Olympics the USA and Russia were the vaulting powerhouses of the world. It be sad for them to debut a FTY at such a major competiton like the Euro's.

      Delete
  10. I don't get Spiridonova. Her bars will should not hit 15's at Europeans or at any international competition. I can see way too many execution deductions. Rodionova's Cottbus bars was better than Spiridonova's 15+ hit Russian national routine. Just saying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree with you that Rodionova's routine was so clean and that she has improved a lot on UB ...
      On the other hand I disagree with you about Spiridinova, I do think she was so clean too and her 6.4 D-score is higher than Rodionova's by 0.1 and she can easily obtain 8.6 E-score in any international stage, for instance Raisman got 8.433 E-score for her bars routine in the AA final in London!!) I mean if the judges granted Rasiman 8.433 then Spiridinova and Rodionova must earn not less than 8.8 ...

      Delete
  11. Russia hasn't good vaulters right now.
    The new girls look rather frail to throw DTY.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Head MAG Coach Alfosov on Russian gymnastics prospects in 2026

"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...

Artistry versus acrobatics???

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...

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

  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...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more