Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Potapov, Starikov, Nagorny.  Courtesy of the RGF Nico Jackson writes Happy Friday, dear readers! Today was an exciting competition of twists and turns in the junior men’s all-around final in the Master of Sport category. The competition was particularly eventful where the rankings changed quite a bit from qualification. The only thing that didn’t change was  Valentin   Starikov’s  dominance where he was the top qualifier and managed to maintain his lead for the win today. He showed great steadiness and consistency across all six pieces  for an easy victory. A standout from last year’s European Youth Olympic Festival in Utrecht,  Starikov  will be the top new senior to watch for  on next year’s squad. After a rough qualification day in sixth place, Tomsk’s  Kirill   Potapov  rallied  through  to second place in today’s final where he also showed great consistency. He also received one of the highest pommel horse scores of t...

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...

Nikolai Kuksenkov trains at the famous Nikolai Tolkachev School of Gymnastics in Vladimir Nico has just confirmed that Emin Garibov will need a second surgery on his shoulder.  The European high bar champion, team captain of Russia at the 2012 Olympics, has been nursing a shoulder injury since before last year's World Championships and was announced out of the European Championships earlier this year.  Now he needs an operation on his other shoulder.  We guess that he now looks likely to be out of competition for the rest of the year. Nikolai Kuksenkov has sprained his ankle and will not compete floor or vault this week. Ablyazin is, however, reported to be on good form! http://itar-tass.com/sport/1106032

   Moscow, the winning team at today's Championships.  Artur Dalolyan, who is second in the all around qualifying, is at the left. Full results are available at http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=44534 1  Moscow.  408.828 2. Volga       404.960 3. Siberia.    393.161 In the all around qualification for the Master of Sport all around, standings are 1.  Valentin Starikov.   84.799 2.  Artur Dalolyan.      84.632 3.  Nikita Nagornyi.     84.565 4.   Viktor Britan.        83.699 5.   Ilya Kibartas.         82.566 Floor Artur Dalolyan.      14.6 Valentin Starikov.   14.5 Dmitri Lankin.         14.5 Ilya Kibartas.          14.333 Pommel horse Sergei Eltsov.           14.533 Nikita Nagornyi.       14.5 Rings   Artu...

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...

Tatiana Nabiyeva with her St Petersburg team mate Elena Eremina.  Like Tanya, Lena is best on bars and vault and is coached by Alexander and Vera Kiryashev.  Alexander is a former national coach who consistently produces some of the best, most enduring and happiest gymnasts on the Russian team Find the full results here : http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=44107 Or risk damaging your eyesight for life: Senior team member Daria Spiridinova with tiny Ekaterina Sokova, who won four medals today  Eremina with Kramarenko and Nabiyeva  Floor champion Elena Likhodolskaya trains with the same coaches as Ksenia Afanasyeva

Daria Skrypnik could compete only bars and beam this week, but won a gold medal on the bars Full results are available at http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=44108 Or, for those with a magnifying glass - Tutkhalyan and senior Sosnitskaya with their coach, Maria Ulyankina Gold and silver medalists on bars share a grin :-) Angelina Melnikova has taken up a leadership position this week.  Here she is with Anastasia Dmitrieva, who took medals on three pieces.

Beam medalists today in Penza ... Daria Spiridinova, Maria Kharenkova, Aliya Mustafina Not everything went to plan today for the 'big' stars of Russian gymnastics.  There were signs of some strain and tiredness as the weakened ranks of former Olympians stepped aside and made room for three newcomers to the medal rostrum ... the interesting Daria Spiridinova (coached by Tatiana Fomkina, who formerly coached 1996 Olympian, Elena Dolgopolova), the feisty Maria Kharenkova (who  needs no introduction) and Polina Fyodorova from Cheboksary (highly touted by Sergei Zelikson back in 2013).  Winning on vault was Alla Sosnitskaya, who last year won gold in floor at the Russia Cup. Today's stand out performance was by Maria Kharenkova on beam.  She didn't quite match her strongest performance of the team final, but her beam was on another planet to the others as she zipped through her skills with speed and confidence, minimising a very off balance landing in a layout as if she w...

Today's winning Central team - Back row - Gannochenko, Elizarova, Kharenkova.  Front row - Afanasyeva, Kruglikova, Komova The Central Federal District won today's team competition, only narrowly over the powerful Moscow who had to take a score of 3.2 for Grishina's fateful floor exercise (for those of you who have missed the loop, Anastasia has suffered a possibly serious knee injury, landing a triple twist).  The Central team benefitted from standout performances from Komova on bars (15.333) and Kharenkova on beam (15.6), but of course all team members contributed including Afanasyeva who looks to be recovering well from her injury.  Kharenkova's score was higher than that of the World Beam Champion, Mustafina, who also managed an impressive 15.333 there.  Mustafina was the single best competitor overall, almost matching Komova on bars (15.033), taking the top score on vault (15.067) and only faltering on floor after Grishina's crushing fall, which had visibly upse...

Seda Tutkhalyan, Angelina Melnikova, Daria Mikhailova Angelina Melnikova confirmed her status at the top of the junior Russian tree today with an outstanding performance in the junior championships (Master of Sports category), scoring a total of 58.3.  She was followed by Seda Tutkhalyan and Daria Mikhailova, both Muscovites. Mikhailova trains with Anastasia Grishina under Viktor Razumovsky.  Melnikova with coach Denisovich, from Voronezh In the Candidate Master of Sports category, Elena Eremina came first (55.1), ahead of Gymnix 'veteran' Ekaterina Sokova and the relatively unknown Viktoria Trykina.  Eremina is a team mate of Tatiana Nabiyeva in St Petersburg, and is coached by Alexander Kiryashev.  All of the medallists in today's competition, with the exception of Trykina, who comes from Moscow, are listed as national team members on the RGF website - I publish some of their details below.  Full results of the competition are availa...

Tatiana Nabieva, defending Russia Cup champion, is competing all around today Start lists : subdivision 1, begins 12 pm Moscow time Kharenkova (bars, beam) Komova (vault, bars, beam) Afanasyeva (vault) http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=43140 Subdivision 2, begins 2 pm Rodionova (vault, bars, beam), Fyodorova (all around), Grishina (all around), Mustafina (all around), Sosnitskaya (all around), Paseka (vault, bars), Kramarenko (all around), Nabieva (all around) http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=43141 List of competitors http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=43139 Link to live streaming (please make it work!) http://www.sportgymrus.ru/contest/11003/11033/default.aspx

Young gymnasts line up prior to the first major Championships of the year In an interview with Itar-Tass national head coach Evgeny Grebyonkin has given us some clues as to the competitors in Penza this week. 'All of the strongest gymnasts will take part in Penza, with the exception of Afanasyeva, who has only just begun full training again after a foot operation', he says.  'Komova, Grishina and Mustafina will compete for the top places.  Tatiana Nabiyeva has been unable to decide about the future continuation of her career, and this competition will help her draw a conclusion.' The Antwerp World Championships, back in October, was the women's last major competition.  Since then, Viktoria Komova has recovered from a foot injury she suffered at New Year.  Earlier this year, Aliya Mustafina took a two month break, and she is now working towards achieving optimum form at the European Championships.  She has recovered from her break, but won't be doing anything new...

RGF has announced there will be live streaming of the national championships from the 3rd to 6th (WAG) and 10th to 13th (MAG) of this month. You can find the link highlighted in red at www .sportgymrus.ru Competition times (WAG). Thursday 3 April 
 Senior AA Final and Team Qualification 12:00 - 13:50 Subdivision 1 (Southern, Northwestern, Central I, Central II, Siberian) 14:00 - 15:50 Subdivision 2 (Volga, Ural, Moscow, Far Eastern, Saint Petersburg) Friday 4 April 12:00 - 13:50 Junior AA Final Saturday 5 April 11:00 - 13:00 Senior Team Final Sunday 6 April 11:00 - 13:00 Junior & Senior Event Finals Names of junior competitors : link  http://sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=43133 MOC = Moscow team Daria Mikhailiva, Seda Tutkhalyan , Elizaveta Kochetkova, Viktoria Trykina, Viktoria Gazeeva, Olga Khamidulina,  Moscow 2 Anastasia Fadeeva, Anastasia Kuznetsova ПФО = Privolzhky/Volga General District Ilsya Amenova, Daria Lopatina, Maria Pavlova, Anastasia Grekova,...

Picture credit : Aliya Mustafina group on VK.com Russian Championships begin tomorrow and the gymnasts' Instagram accounts have so far given visual evidence that Viktoria Komova and Aliya Mustafina have at least travelled to Penza.  You can click on the following link to find a summary of who else is planning to appear.  http://www.rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.co.uk/#!http://rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com/2014/03/russian-national-wag-championships.html Lake Krugloye on Tumblr has kindly translated the full schedule for the women's competition.  I haven't heard anything about live streaming, but will publish any information I do find as soon as I can. Tuesday 1 April 10:00 - 14:05 Junior podium training 15:30 - 19:35 Senior podium training Wednesday 2 April 
 Junior AA Qualification and Team Final 12:00 - 13:50 Subdivision 1 (Northwestern, Siberian, Southern, Moscow I, Volga) 14:00 - 15:50 Subdivision 2 (Ural, Central, Far Eastern, Saint Petersburg, Moscow ...

Flashback to London 2012: Viktoria Komova The Russian Championships for women gymnasts - junior and senior - begin on the first of April (yes) in Penza, finishing on the 6th.  You can see the schedule here : http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=43065 It is a full competition where the regional teams participate and individuals get a chance to test themselves and their early preparation for the coming competitive season.  This year the top women will be competing for places on the European Championships teams (junior and senior) for Sofia, Bulgaria, later in the spring.  It is expected that we will see Viktoria Komova for the first time in many months - which must be the most anticipated comeback for years.  Aliya Mustafina is also hoped to make a show, as well as Anastasia Grishina and Maria Paseka.  There has been an announcement that Ksenia Afanasyeva will compete vault, and I would also be surprised if we didn't see Maria Kharenkova ...

Anastasia Grishina with coach Viktor Razumovsky Partial translation of the 9th March interview with Valentina Rodionenko, by Albert Starobutsev 'All of our strongest gymnasts will compete in the Russian Championships, except Afanasyeva' Russian WAG team leaders Aliya Mustafina, Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina will not compete at Cottbus next week, but will remain at Lake Krugloye to prepare for the forthcoming Russian Championships in Penza. A shoulder injury has ruled Emin Garibov out of the Cottbus competition. 'The Russian Championships will be a major step in the selection for the May European Championships in Bulgaria', said Valentina, 'in Penza all of our strongest gymnasts will compete, except Ksenia Afanasyeva.  We decided to send some young athletes to Germany so that we could evaluate them on a senior stage, and consider them for a place on the Europeans team.  Anna Rodionova, Daria Spiridonova, Polina Fyodorova and Maria Kharenkova will all compete...