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 atmosphere surrounding the Russian male gymnasts at this year's European Championships was noticeably relaxed and happy as they made their way to their various medals.  This reflects not only a more stable competition performance, but also a refreshed dynamic within the team.  First, some background .  Russian sport finds itself under unprecedented pressure at present following serious doping allegations and positive tests which have led the International Athletics Federation to propose that Russia's entire track and field team be barred from the Olympics.  Other sports are implicated, and even gymnastics has not emerged unscathed, as senior team member Nikolai Kuksenkov tested positive for trace elements of meldonium in the spring.  Kuksenkov has now been given a pardon and actually competed in Bern, but it seems likely that artistic gymnastics, with its ultra-clean record internationally, has the potential to win medals for Russia at the Olympics with...

Dynamic young Seda Tutkhalyan, a leading gymnast in Penza this week, is finding her feet in senior competition Once again this week the Russian women showed themselves to be vulnerable to errors in the first day of apparatus finals, while the men excelled.  Please see the results below, as ever courtesy of the Russian Gymnastics Federation. On bars, Viktoria Komova performed hors de competition, recording a score of 15.3 - she didn't qualify officially to the final so can't be recorded as champion, but she is consistently now Russia's highest scorer on this apparatus.  Russia are already strong here, and she will need to up her game on other apparatus (Valentina mentioned beam and vault) to qualify to be part of the team in Glasgow. A key fact emerging this week in Penza is the growing strength of Nikita Ignatyev, who for a long time was the unlucky one on the team who would often fall or make unexpected errors.  Gradually Nikita has been improving, until in this...

Belyavski and Ignatyev shared the AA gold :-) Here are the results available to date for the Batumi International.  As mentioned some time ago, Aliya Mustafina is not scheduled to compete in this event, and there is no live streaming.  Let's hope for video coverage. This is only the first stage of selection for Worlds.  Russia Cup, in just over three weeks, will help the coaches make up their minds about who is in the training squads.  After that, the decision will depend on who performs well in training and in final control competitions at Round Lake.  I expect there will be more results to come from this particular competition.   If I am reading the situation accurately - and it is very early days - there could be some surprise selections to Worlds.   15 year old Angelina Melnikova won the junior all around competition.  I understand from Ksenia Semenova on VK.com that Seda Tutkhalyan fell on floor, but she recorded a score of 15.6 on beam. ...

Aliya manages a troublesome line of questioning during this Russia 2 interview A great series of short interviews with some of the main players in last week's European Games - Nikita Ignatyev, Sergei Starkin and Aliya Mustafina.  Many, many thanks to Olesya Mikheeva who did the translation.   Nikita : Right away, I got a little upset, you know, falling on one of the easier elements.  I had already done all the hardest stuff, I probably let myself go emotionally for a second and lost concentration. Nikita : "I'm very happy because it's my first me dal in the all around, usually it's even hard to qualify into it." Sergei : "New programme on bars, new programme on floor, and after this competition we'll correct form to prepare for Worlds, so I think in the fall she'll have different form and a stronger programme." Aliya : "I won't keep this music for long. I'll perform to it at Worlds but then I'm going to change it." Inter...

Aliya Mustafina won gold in the AA again today, in Baku at the European Games.  This makes her a gold medallist at all the different types of major multi sports events and gymnastics championships she has presented herself at since turning senior in 2010.  Olympics, Worlds, Europeans, Universiade and, now, European Games.   So much gold has to be more than simple coincidence. Congratulations Aliya, and Nikita Ignatyev, who won a bronze in the MAG AA!  Well done Russia!

You will find the full results at Longines Timing's website here : http://www.longinestiming.com/Sport?sport=GG There are also live results at the FIG website : http://www.fig-docs.com/live_results/5529/5529.php Russia did pretty well everywhere except pommels, where they suffered one of their magnificent disasters, carrying four falls on that one event ... Ignatyev performed disappointingly in the all around, carrying two marks in the 12s.  Newcomers to the team, Stretovich and Polyashov, both performed creditably but unremarkably.  There is still time for them to make their mark at upcoming competitions as they progress to Rio.  The results show a team that appears more robust than this time last year; despite the pommel horse tussle, the team revived and regrouped in the following apparatus and, even without Garibov and Balandin, managed to stay in touch with their closest rivals. The team is in 5th place, closely matched with Britain, and all the gymnasts wi...

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...

There is a noticeable shift in temperament in Russia's team this spring - perhaps it is just the afterglow of a good competitive performance, but the word 'teamwork' has been important in press interviews with head coaches Rodionenko and Alfosov.  Now the words of some of the gymnasts communicate an atmosphere of confidence.  Pictures are courtesy of RGF. The team ... Nikolai Kuksenkov, Nikita Ignatyev, David Belyavski, Denis Ablyazin, Alexander Balandin ... Ukraine's Igor Radivilov photo bombed :-) 'We have shown that we are the best in Europe.  Not just one of the best, the best ... After six years, we have regained our title.'  Nikolai Kuksenkov Caption suggestions, please ... :-) 'I had to fix my errors from the first day,' said Nikita Ignatyev, 'the guys supported me in every way.  Thank you, guys - we are a team'. Sport and friendship ... Russia and Ukraine are brothers on the gymnastics podium

I gnatyev, Belyavski, Lezhankin - three Siberians at the top of the tree.  Courtesy RGF I caught a very quick glimpse of today's men's team qualification and all around finals and my, do I hope there will be some video available.  Coincidentally, I tuned in at the precise moment Denis Ablyazin began his floor exercise - and it was so impressive, a blur of non stop tumbling including forward twisting tumbles from a run, forward twisting tumble into a double front and other impressive stunts that passed far too quickly for my surprised eye and somewhat addled brain to capture, especially without a pen and paper to write it all down.  As ever, there were a few steps on landing, and one very definite out of bounds, but Ablyazin is a real good old fashioned tumbler.  I don't like the fact that men's floor has reduced to a tumbling competition much, but it is exciting, a privilege to spy someone so close to the top of what is possible. Men's gymnastics is so much better t...

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

I think Nikita Ignatyev has some hidden talents ... He's much more than just a gymnast, you know ... http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mIIslqn5KSU&feature=youtu.be&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DmIIslqn5KSU%26feature%3Dyoutu.be From Nikita's personal VK site, via YouTube :-)

Thanks to the RGF who have now published competitor lists for the Russia Cup, which begins tomorrow.  My best attempt at transliterating the names, some of which are unfamiliar, is given below.  Women Anna Pavlova Yuna Nefedova Yulia Chemaryeva Marina Nekrasova Yulia Inshina Kristina Kruglikova Yulia Tipaeva Daria Elizarova Yana Popova Kristina Sidorova Anna Rodionova Polina Fyodorova Olga Bikmurzina Irina Andreeva Yelena Shcherbakova Anastasia Grishina Maria Paseka Alla Sosnitskaya Anastasia Marchuk Tatiana Nabiyeva Diana Ravdina Anastasia Cheong Ekaterina Kramarenko Lilia Akhaimova Alla Sidorenko Men Maxim Khodkin Andrei Perevoznikov Kirill Prokopyev Anton Neyudakin Mikhail Simakov Alexei Bogdanov Maxim Semagin Andrei Matucheshkin Alexander Balandin Matvei Petrov Nikita Ignatyev Grigori Zyrianov Daniil Kazachkov Andrei Lagutov Alexei Byikov Andrei Sovenko Pavel Russinyak Pavel Pavlov Sergei Stepanov Villyam Katyn Mikha...

Russia's strategy of sending its best MAG team to the Universiade in Kazan today paid off. All rounders Nikita Ignatyev, David Belyavski and Nikolai Kuksenkov put in a solid showing, supported by specialists Denis Ablyazin (floor, vault, rings) and Emin Garibov (pommels, parallel bars and high bar). Their performance must be one of the most consistent and solid by a Russia MAG team in a long time and shows the benefits of competing at home. Ukraine finished in second place, edging Japan by slightly more than two tenths.   Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev finished all around qualification in first place, followed by Japan's Ryohei Kato and Ukrainian Oleg Stepko.  David Belyavski finished in fourth place with Nikolai Kuksenkov following closely behind.  Less than 1 point separates the top five qualifiers in the all around. While the strength in depth of the MAG competition is reflected in a wider diversity of gymnasts qualifying in first place for finals (see below) than in ...