Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Valentina Rodionenko earlier today confirmed that Ivan Stretovich will take the place of Nikita Ignatyev on the main Russian gymnastics team.  19 year old Stretovich, from Novosibirsk, Siberia, is Russian Cup champion on the pommel horse and high bar.  His first major senior competition was the 2014 World Championships where he performed on pommels only.  Stretovich was originally selected as a reserve and the decision to bring him onto the main team was based on his superior performance quality compared to Ignatyev, according to Rodionenko. For the women, the news is that Angelina Melnikova is recovering well from the hamstring injury she aggravated at one of the final control competitions at Round Lake.  Valentina says that she is back to training her full routines again.   Sources - MAG - http://rsport.ru/rio2016_gymnastics/20160802/1011352078.html WAG - http://rsport.ru/rio2016_gymnastics/20160802/1011409100.html New - video of the girls training, ...

The gymnasts have posted photographs of themselves at their destination in their respective Instagram sites.  They have arrived safely, and all look happy. It is night time now in Nanning (Saturday, 3pm BST, 10pm Nanning) so I hope the gymnasts are trying to get some sleep. Udachi, Rossiya! 2 pictures via Tatiana Nabiyeva on VK.com Nikolai Kuksenkov and Ivan Stretovich, via Ivan's Instagram account. Thanks to all the gymnasts for being so friendly and generous with their pictures.  It really makes Worlds seem real to those of us who can't travel to China.

Nikita Ignatyev with the top six gymnasts at Russia Cup this year.  Left to right - Roman Suetin (6th), Ivan Stretovich (5th), David Belyavski (2nd), Nikita Ignatyev, Mikhail Kudashov (3rd), Daniil Kazachkov (4th).  Courtesy RGF Nikita, a promising all arounder who has built his strength gradually from one competition to the next, is a repeat national level champion, having won the spring Russian Championships in 2012.  His win here was earned thanks to consistent performance.  His nearest rival, the occasionally brilliant David Belyavski, made too many mistakes to take the gold.   1991 born Mikhail Kudashov from Chelyabinsk, in third place, is one of Russia's 'reserve' gymnasts, unlikely to make the final line up for Nanning thanks to the prevalence of event specialists on the team. A noteable newcomer to the all around line up is fifth placed Ivan Stretovich, 1996 born and so due to progress to the senior team in 2015 alongside such youngsters as Artur Dalolya...

Veteran Katya Kramarenko is working on an individual programme of training following her hospitalisation with pancreatitis earlier this year . Russian journalist Natalia Kalugina has visited Lake Krugloye in the last few days and has updated her Facebook page with some information on how training is going for the Russia Cup, which takes place later this month.  Unfortunately, it doesn't sound incredibly promising. Ekaterina Kramarenko is still recovering from the serious illness she suffered earlier this year.  There is still a long way to go, judging by Natalia's reaction, but she says that if every gymnast showed as much commitment as Katya, nobody would be able to beat the Russians! Tanya Nabiyeva is at camp, and Natalia had a short chat with her.  Tanya is preparing for the Russia Cup, and was invited to train at Krugloye as the team needed her.  She doesn't know if it was necessarily the right thing, but time will tell.  Tanya is very much enjoying working ...

Nico Jackson writes : Greetings, Russian fans! I hope everyone enjoyed last week’s coverage of the senior and junior women. Never a dull moment in Russian women’s gymnastics. However, this week we turn our attention to the men! Like the women’s competition, these championships will serve as a trial for the upcoming European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. The men will also be vying for five spots on the European team.   Unfortunately, the men’s competition will be without a very big star,  Emin   Garibov , who recently had surgery on his shoulder and will likely be out for most of the season. His absence will certainly leave a considerable gap on his Moscow team along with potential medals on parallel bars and high bar. Nevertheless, this should be a good opportunity for others to try to fill Garibov's  void and make a name for themselves in the competition. These championships will also mark the return of European Champion, David  Belyavskiy ,  and Unive...

You can find the results here . Valentin Starikov, floor Nile Wilson, pommel horse Link to Valentin Starikov's bronze medal winning routine on the pommel horse Nile Wilson, rings Ivan Stretovich, bronze, rings Kirill Potapov, vault Valentin Starikov, vault Ivan Stretovich, parallel bars Carlo Macchini, high bar Valentin Starikov, silver, high bar