Angelina Melnikova confirmed her position as Russia's leading AA gymnast today at the Russia Cup in Penza, taking gold over the two days of competition, ahead of her close colleague Seda Tutkhalyan, and Olympic champion from 2012, Aliya Mustafina. Mustafina surprised by once again falling from her best piece, uneven bars.
'Russia Cup is primarily a step in my preparations for Rio', said Mustafina. 'As a competition, it isn't that important - I needed to try out my AA as I have not competed or trained it for a long time, including trying out my vault. I met all of my goals, every apparatus went well today, apart from bars. My failure there is because we have only just begun working on a new set of bars that will be used in the Olympic Games. There hasn't been enough time for me to get used to the way they feel, the spring and the grip. In Rio they will be the same, but there is still time!' Rodionenko later added that Aliya had done more than expected and could have been given a bye at this final, but that the gymnast insisted on competing,
Coach Rodionenko was delighted to see Seda Tutkhalyan compete at her best in Penza. 'She is beginning to show the necessary accuracy', she said, 'she has made up what she previously lacked, and improved from yesterday to today. I think she is maturing into a high level gymnast.'
Russian national champion, and now Russia Cup champion Angelina Melnikova, said that she was much less nervous here than she had been in the Spring Champiinships, which had been her first senior start. She said that she still had work to do on all her apparatus.
The Russia Cup is a qualifier for the Russian team training for the Olympic Games. EF will take place on Saturday and Sunday, and the MAG AA tomorrow, after which we will be informed of who has made the final training teams for both men and women.
Melnikova interview - http://rsport.ru/artist_gym/20160630/966112941.html
Full results (cumulative of two days) - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/mnogobor-e-zhenshhtny-final-summa-2-h-dnej.pdf
What's Mustafina difficulty score on floor?
ReplyDeleteYesterday Aliya floor D was 5.7 :)
Delete5.7
DeleteTASS interview wiht Mustafina about why she falling from uneven bars tow days in a row and AA in Rio to http://tass.ru/sport/3420933
ReplyDeleteQueen Elizabeth, according to Rodionenko todays interview Tytkhalyan is on Olympic team now, she will be russia's 3 aaer in Rio. Guess who is out now Spiridonova or Afanasyeva? http://stadium.ru/news/01-07-2016-valentina-rodionenko
ReplyDeleteI can't see in the article where it says that Seda will be Russia's third AAer ...
DeleteI can't see why spiridonova should be on the team. She scores on averages .6-.7 higher on bars than tutkhalyan, but 2 points lower o beam. And since Paseka won't do beam and afanasyeva hasn't done beam in 3 years and is still injured, why would you put spiridonova on the team
DeleteQueen Elizabeth, here at the end of the first paragraph of article ;) " Эта тройка призёров как раз и будет нашей главной опорой на Олимпиаде." that means, these 3(Aliya, Angelina and Seda) will be russians main support at the Olympics
DeleteThank you very much! I so hope to see this. Xx
DeleteI can't help but feel disheartened after watching both the US nationals and Russian cup. The Russians seems so weak and unprepared. The Americans seem so ready and strong. We hear excuses and injuries from Russia.
ReplyDeleteSeda looked better but she will likely fall and cause the team a medal.
Queen, what do you think about the difference in level of readiness between the teams? Is this due to training approach?
I prefer to think that it is the USA who are currently exceptional, rather than Russia being weak. Remember, they will be competing for medals in Rio and no weak gymnast will participate in the Games. They are still amongst the best.
DeleteAmerica have a psychological, reputational and physical advantage, but the margins are still relatively small. Russia does not have the D values on floor but elsewhere isn't doing badly. It would only take a small deficit from the USA to make Russia look like a threat.
Seda has made huge strides this year and she is one of the best gymnasts in the world. They are all unpredictable but we should value these fragile young girls for what they contribute to gymnastics. Seda is just as likely to help the team perform well as she is to make errors. Which gymnast never makes mistakes? Whether we are athletes, teachers, students or whatever we do, everyone has their mistakes and moments. Let's just support the girls.
Thanks for the erudite response. I wish all the competitors well. Hopefully the Russian girls peak in Rio.
DeleteThe next quad should be even brighter for Russia. With so many promising juniors coming up.
I have a feeling Seda i going to surprise everyone at Rio. )in a good way :)
DeleteDoes anyone know what's happened to Maria Kharenkova? Did she get injured or possibly lose motivation since her Olympic chances were slim (it seemed that she had fallen out of favor with the russian coaches after her poor showing on beam at worlds)?
ReplyDeleteOn another note, why did Mustafina compete a full-in at the russian cup? Is she planning to replace her double arabian with the full-in? The only reason I think this is that she hasn't competed the double arabian since 2014.
Maria was present at the Russia Cup, helping the team, but she has a slight leg injury. This is unofficial.
DeleteDon't know the reasons for Aliya's changes. I think it is likely that even she doesn't know what she will compete in Rio at this stage. She used to perform the full in as a junior (I think there is a video of her doing it around 2007).
Thanks for the reply and the insight! Ah that's too bad for Maria- she seems to be injured pretty often. Is she definitely not in contention for Rio anymore then? That would be sad; I was really rooting for her.
DeleteJust saw your most recent post- really sad for Maria as she was one of my favorites. Hope she decides to give it another go next quad after some good recovery and rest- who knows maybe she could make Tokyo as a beam specialist?
DeleteA team of Aliya, Melnikova, Paseka, Seda and Ksenia makes so much more sense in Rio than any team with Spiri on it tbh.
ReplyDelete