Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Russian gymnasts in Cottbus last weekend - from left to right - back row - Polina Fedorova, Maria Kharenkova, Daria Spiridinova; front row - Yulia Inshina (Azerbaijan), Anna Rodionova, Marina Nekrasova (Azerbaijan) In her first senior international, Maria Kharenkova secured two medals last Sunday, taking a silver on beam, and a bronze on floor.  Not a bad result considering the jitters she suffered in the early part of the competition, and one that underlines the worth of a strategy that favours the selection of young gymnasts for these smaller competitions.  Russia now enters the pre-Europeans preparation with two more tried and tested medalists on its roster (Rodionova, remember, gained a silver on bars on Saturday), and this can only add to an impression of strength in depth, greatly needed in the run up to the major competitions this year and beyond.   Kharenkova's performance was not as confident as she had presented during her medal winning routines at the 2012 Juni...

  Russia continued strongly today at the Cottbus competition, with Denis Ablyazin establishing himself as Russia's leading competitor.  Ukrainian Oleg Verniaiev also performed some outstanding gymnastics on this second day of qualifying.  In the women's competition, Romanian Andrea Munteanu easily leads both beam and floor, but in her first senior international competition the promising Maria Kharenkova qualified to both her finals, despite a crunching fall on beam.  We look forward to seeing her fight back on Sunday. Photo of Katya Kourbatova and Tamara Chachua, courtesy of Sportivnaya Gymnastika on VK.com In other news, Russia's 2010 world team champion Ekaterina Kourbatova is present in Germany this week as personal coach to Georgian competitor Tamara Chachua.   The competition continues tomorrow from 2 pm.  There is some doubt as to whether the live streaming promised by DTB can be provided internationally, for legal reasons.  Live updates will be ...

Some nice results from the Russia men and women :-).  You will be able to follow the second day of qualis on the DTB live ticker tomorrow, Friday, from 4 pm Germany time at http://cottbus-2014.dtb-liveticker.de.   Gymnastike has videos  http://www.gymnastike.org/coverage/251491-2014-Cottbus-World-Cup . On Saturday and Sunday only (finals), both days at 2 pm Germany time, there should be live streaming available here  http://www.schawa.tv/dtb-tv#&panel1-1&panel2-1 It is a strong field, especially the men (see my earlier post for details of the Russians competing, or you can check out the full working order here http://www.turnier-der-meister.de/news/home.php). I'm looking forward to seeing all the Russians this weekend, but especially young Maria Kharenkova, who to me has the uncluttered look of a fighter.  But we'll just have to wait and see.

Photo of Anna Rodionova and Maria Kharenkova, from Anna's official group on VK.com Valentina Rodionenko has given further details of the MAG and WAG participants at Cottbus:  Denis Ablyazin - rings, vault and floor Alexander Balandin - rings and parallel bars Dmitry Stolyarov - floor and vault Matvey Petrov - pommels Nikolai Kuksenkov - pommels and high bar Nikita Ignatyev - high bar and parallel bars Anna Rodionova - bars and beam, though she may miss beam as she has ankle pain Maria Kharenkova - beam and floor Polina Fyodorova - floor and vault Daria Spridinova - beam http://itar-tass.com/sport/1032766