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

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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
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  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

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