Skip to main content

Melnikova wins Massilia Cup

Angelina taking her gold medal AA at the Junior European Championships in 2014. Picture courtesy of UEG.

Yesterday, at the Massilia Cup, Russian junior Angelina Melnikova scored 57.5 to win the all around competition ahead of France's Marine Brevet and Romania's Diana Bulimar, both established senior competitors.  This score would have seen her finish in fifth place a few weeks ago, at the World Championships in Glasgow.  The Russian team, including fellow juniors Daria Skrypnik and Natalia Kapitonova, and senior Evgenia Shelgunova, finished second behind France, after a tight battle.  See scores below.

Angelina on bars - http://youtu.be/oeVEt8UzkHo
On beam -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIMiesOKsdw&sns=tw

Natalia Kapitonova, beam - http://youtu.be/JF1xNqiv2TU

Shelgunova, beam - http://youtu.be/D4sTTo1Fs88

Skrypnik, beam - http://youtu.be/hJ8gmM0BpLo

Angelina is from Voronezh, where she trains at the same club as Viktoria Komova.  Komova's coach, Gennady Elfimov, now assists in training Angelina, alongside her coaches since childhood.  Angelina won the Junior European AA title in 2014 and scored the highest AA this autumn at Russia Cup.  Unfortunately, as a junior she was not eligible to take the title of Russia Cup champion and had to be satisfied with a special award!  She will be patient though, and wait for her opportunity to prove herself and take her laurels at next spring's Russian Championships.  'Gelya', as she is known by her friends, will turn 16 next July - so it will be great to see if she can qualify to compete in Rio.  

Here is a video of Angelina training, four years ago, at the age of ten.  

http://youtu.be/6REkTP00bWI

Let's wish Angelina and her team mates the very best of luck as they prepare to compete for places on the Russian team at the big competitions of 2016!

Our next opportunity to see the Russian gymnasts will be the Voronin Cup in Moscow, in December.  Anastasia Dmitrieva has confirmed that she is one of the gymnasts training for this competition.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...

Mustafina Interview 2 of 2 : 'I will only perform under the Russian flag'

Argumentyi i Fakti interview with Aliya Mustafina Translated by Marina Vulis ‘I have no fear’, says Aliya Mustafina.   ‘My father [Farhat Mustafin, the bronze medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1976 Olympics] took me to my first gymnastics class.   In his opinion children need to do sports, and he saw gymnastics as useful for my general development.   He had no goals – just to let us practice.’ It did not end with ‘just practice’ – she became the World Champion at 16, but then had an ACL injury the next year (2011) at the Europeans.   Even just returning to gymnastics is a feat; then she came back to win four medals at the 2012 Olympics. Aliya Mustafina – That injury.   I do not know why I was ashamed – so many people were watching me and I could not even walk.   My parents!   They saw everything on TV (the coach had to carry her from the podium).   Of course I was aware that anything could happen in gymnastics, but I di...

I am looking forward with inspiration - Melnikova returns to international competition

Angelina Melnikova will be the first Russian WAG to compete internationally since the IOC ban in 2022 when she appears at the World Challenge Cup in Paris on September 13 and 14 this year. Travelling with her will be coach Konstantin Pluzhnikov and judge Elena Redyanova.   Angelina says she will compete AA with a relatively simple programme. I’m glad Angelina is making this start for Russia.  It’s a real tribute to this young woman that she is trusted with the first effort at coming back after such a long time, and I hope people welcome her back warmly.  Angelina will be competing as a neutral athlete, of course.  She was awarded this status after a fair and rigorous process of evaluation by the FIG.   Here is what Angelina said today to Match TV: Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics Angelina Melnikova told Match TV how she reacted to being admitted to the FIG World Challenge Cup tournament in France. ❓What emotions did you experience from the fact that you w...

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more