From April 9th to 12th, the final stage of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup was held in Croatia. Over the five stages, neutral athletes won 22 medals, nine of which were gold.
Dmitry Andreev, head coach of the national artistic gymnastics team, summarized the first half of the international season.
With thanks to the RGF
— How would you rate the gymnasts' performance at the World Cup?
— We didn't aim to qualify for the World Championships through these tournaments—the main selection will take place at the European Championships. However, each athlete had their own goals.
First and foremost, this is about regaining competitive experience on the international stage. The team lacked it: some athletes haven't competed abroad for a long time, and a new generation has emerged that needs to be introduced to international competitions now.
It was important to review the competition programs, identify weaknesses in routines, and make adjustments before the European and World Championships while this is still possible.
A separate goal is to understand how international judges evaluate our performances. This applies particularly to the women's program: the scores we saw at the World Championships in Indonesia differed significantly from those at major domestic competitions. Therefore, it was necessary to identify all the gaps in execution and address them promptly.
Another important factor is stress testing. Performing in front of a foreign audience and surrounded by Olympic champions and World Championship medalists places a significant psychological strain.
— How are our leaders compared to the world leaders?
The situation differs between the men's and women's teams.
The World Championship results, to a certain extent, reflected our level at that time. Angelina Melnikova's medals confirm her standing on the world stage.
At the same time, we have young athletes with competitive programs in both the all-around and individual events. These routines allow them to compete for medals, but they still lack experience competing at a high international level and confidence.
The main growth area for the women's team is the execution score. International judges are extremely strict in their assessment of any shortcomings. There are also questions about the choreographic component—this concerns jumps, turns, and artistry.
The situation is different for men. As the World Cup stages have shown, athletes receive high marks for execution, but lag behind in the basic difficulty of their routines.
It's important to emphasize that this doesn't indicate poor preparation. Over the last Olympic cycle, the level of men's gymnastics has not only advanced; I would even say it's made a huge leap. The routines of the world leaders are distinguished by their extreme complexity and quality of execution.
— Have any changes been made to the training process?
— Yes, we made certain adjustments based on the scores received and the mistakes made. In some cases, we replaced individual elements in the routines.
The women's team has increased its focus on developing individual components of execution. We've drawn the necessary conclusions and are continuing to work in this direction.
— How are preparations going for the Russian Cup?
— Both teams are working hard. The Russian Cup in Sirius will be a good test in a highly competitive environment.
Arseniy Dukhno again performed a 6.2-degree routine on the floor exercise during his final practice session – quite easily and freely. This level is competitive on the world stage, but there are questions about the landings. He consistently performs at this level of difficulty. Arseniy can perform difficult jumps, we know that, but everything has its time. Such routines shouldn't be practiced every day; they need to be executed at the right moment.
Daniel Marinov is showing good momentum – he restored his routines on the rings and high bar, and improved on the pommel horse. Sergey Naidin and Ilya Zaika are also performing difficult routines.
On the women's side, Anna Kalmykova and Lyudmila Roshchina are in good shape. Overall, the team is improving in terms of basic difficulty, so the Russian Cup promises to be an interesting one.
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