Skip to main content

Eremina, Skrypnik, Melnikova, Sokova - four young champions for Russia in 2015

By


The Russian Junior Championships closed today with event finals in beam and floor, and the young Russians in the Master of Sport category demonstrated their fighting spirit, recording some good results and demonstrating that this generation has relative strength in depth - even though there is still a clear weakness on vault.

The four event champions are - 

Vault - Elena Eremina, coached by Alexander Kiryashov in St Petersburg (5.3/4.6 : 14.134)
Uneven Bars -  Daria Skrypnik, who resides in Krasnodar (6.6 : 15.567)


Beam - Angelina Melnikova, from Voronezh (14.767) http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/MS.compressed.pdf
Floor -  Ekaterina Sokova from Vladimir (14.633) http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2-list-MS.pdf

Melnikova, who had scored 15.6 on uneven bars in the team competition, but who fell on her layout Jaeger here, took silver on floor, showing her potential as an all arounder.  Skrypnik took a bronze medal on floor. With Eremina taking bronze on bars and silver on beam, and Sokova bronze on beam, these four gymnasts have established themselves at the top of their generation, although it remains to be seen if they can make the perilous transition to senior level.

2001 born Eremina, age eligible for selection to the 2017 World Championships, will just miss out on the Rio Olympics but Melnikova, Skrypnik and Sokova (just squeezes in with a 12th December birthday) all have a chance to make the Games.  The past record, however, shows that at most one first year senior will make the cut - in London, it was Anastasia Grishina.  Given the increasingly conservative Russian team selections that focus on reliability and a proven track record long term, it is likely to be extremely difficult for any 2000-born gymnast to make the Russian team.  Next year's Russia Cup, and the European Championships in spring, will doubtless be the testing grounds.  I hope these girls all work hard and put up a strong fight - they will likely be the foundations of Russia's progress post-2016.

Angelina Simakova - three gold medals as a Cand. MS - AA, vault and floor!

In the Candidate Master of Sport competitions the following gymnasts won : 

Vault - Angelina Simakova - 14.767 (Yaroslavl)
Uneven Bars - Yuliana Perebinosova - 13.967 (Penza)
Floor - tied between Viktoria Gorbatova and Angelina Simakova - 14.267 (both Yaroslavl) - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/KMS-2-list.compressed.pdf
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous4 April 2015 at 17:45

    I think that Melnikova will make the Games next year if she stays healthy, she is exactly what the Russian team needs.
    John

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anna Pavlova interview - YOU ask the questions

By
Anna with her team mate Maria Nekrasova today.   Maria competed in this spring's Russia Cup and will join Anna on the Azerbaijan national gymnastics team.  Picture courtesy of the Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation on Facebook. As Anna prepares to compete at this week's Voronin Cup, representing Azerbaijan for the first time, RRG, in collaboration with Anna's authorised website Anna Pavlova Online, would like to invite readers to submit their questions for an interview with Anna.  What have you always wanted to ask one of Russia's best gymnasts of the last decade? Each reader may submit up to three questions.  We will collate and if necessary edit the questions and Anna will answer the ones she finds most interesting.  Please add your questions as comments to this blog, or you may email them to me at rewriterussiagym@btinternet.com.  We hope to publish the final interview on both websites by Christmas. Many of you must dream of having a conversation with Anna...
24 comments
Read more

Simone and the others - results and reflections

By
In the end, it was as predicted : Simone and the others, with Simone's teammate, Alexandra Raisman, providing the back up.  I do not need to point out that, by definition, the Americans are scoring significantly higher marks than the rest of the field.  Congratulations to them! Aliya Mustafina finished in third place.  The 2012 bronze medalist led the competition after vault and uneven bars, but had a very nervous outing on beam that might have taken a less experienced gymnast out of the medals.  A bravura performance on floor brought Aliya back though to confirm her third place all around.  From her senior debut in 2010 to today, Mustafina has continuously set high standards of grace.    It is the first time since 2000 that a gymnast (Amanar) has medalled in the all around at two consecutive Olympics, and  if Aliya can medal on Saturday's uneven bars final, she will once again be Russia's biggest medal winner of the women's gymnastics.  Russ...
56 comments
Read more

Olga Mostepanova - from beautiful daydream to World Champion

By
Young Olga in her white leotard and orange hair bows, at her first international competition in Wembley, 1980 I had only been in the Olympiski Stadium, Moscow, for a few moments when it happened: I found myself surrounded by a little army of tiny children, excitedly chattering away in Russian, a language I don't speak.   I strained my ears and heard the names : Aliya, Nastia, Ksenia; I was swept along by this blizzard of pigtails, giggles and pretty eyes; and suddenly I lost myself, and started looking for Olga Mostepanova amongst them.  She might have been there, but (now in her forties) it is more likely that she was hard at work in her own gym, helping a young gymnast learn how to do a walkover on beam. Mostepanova was always like that, even as a child: her gymnastics appeared like a beautiful daydream, but the reality was infinitely more prosaic.  The exquisite plasticity that made her a Champion, the beautiful line for which she is famous, were the product ...
5 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more