Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Russian Championships came to an end on Saturday with event finals in both the senior and junior categories.  As usual, the juniors competed in two separate classifications, Master of Sport and Candidate Master of Sport.  We saw the emergence of a very young new star, Ivan Stretovich, who turns 16 in October and trains in Novosibirsk with coach B Konvissar.  Ivan won either gold or silver on every apparatus except vault, for which he did not present (the first day's results can be found here ).  Stretovich's success further underlines the growing dominance of Siberia as a force in Russian men's gymnastics with strength in depth throughout the ranks. Left : Ivan Stretovich picks up one of his silver awards last week.  Identity of the other two gymnasts to be confirmed as soon as possible!  Picture courtesy of the RGF In the Master of Sport category Grigory Zyrianov took gold on both parallel bars and high bar. Full results are given below. Master of...

Sergei Khorokhodin, David Belyavski and Alexander Balandin receive their awards on the parallel bars.  By kind permission of the RGF The Russian Championships 2012 closed on Saturday as Denis Ablyazin confirmed his status as the outstanding individual apparatus gymnast of the competition with his second gold, this time on vault.  David Belyavski, who according to an interview in IG  is struggling at present with a neck injury, asserted his class with gold on parallel bars.  Konstantin Pluzhnikov, took the gold on his specialist piece, rings. In the immediate aftermath of the competition Andrei Rodionenko confirmed the twelve strong membership of the training squad who will continue to the Europeans and beyond to the Olympics.  The names of the gymnasts are : Emin Garibov Nikita Ignatyev Sergey Khorokhordin Andrei Cherkasov Igor Pakhomenko Denis Ablyazin Maxim Devyatovsky David Belyavsky Alexander Balandin Konstantin Pluzhnikov Anton Golotsutskov...

Full results of the Junior men's event finals are given below, first for the Master of Sport category, then for the Candidate Master of Sport.  The musically named Kirill Prokofiev fared well today in the Master of Sport competitions, winning gold on floor and pommels, and bronze on rings where National Junior Champion Sergei Stepanov came first.  Ivan Stretovich won floor and pommels in the Candidate Master of Sport events, with Viktor Britan taking gold on vault. Master of Sport competitions Candidate Master of Sport competitions

High Bar champion Emin Garibov The first day of event finals took place today, embracing an unusual performance order for the senior men of floor, pommels and high bar.  Denis Ablyazin secured floor gold with his SV of 7.1, while Andrei Perevoznikov took the pommel horse title.  Emin Garibov took his first gold of a relatively disappointing competition for him so far, achieving an SV of 7.2.  Albert has kindly captured many of the videos from the live feed and made them available on his Youtube channel .

Golotsutskov, Pluzhnikov, Devyatovski, Pakhomenko, Cherkasov, Ignatiev The men from Siberia won Thursday's team final over Moscow and the Central Federal District.  Results can be found here .  It was a closely run battle for gold with only 1.6 points between places 1 and 2. Moscow's Denis Ablyazin performed strongly on floor (7.1 SV), vault and rings, with Siberia's Konstantin Pluzhnikov achieving a 15.968 on rings.

L to R : Emin Garibov, Nikita Ignatyev, Igor Pakhomenko took the honours at today's Russian Championships Siberia showed their strength at today's Russian Championships as two of their gymnasts finished in the top three in the all around competition.  Nikita Ignatyev, born 21st June 1992, trains at the Dynamo team in Leninsk Kuznetsk alongside training mate and bronze medallist Igor Pakhomenko (10th June 1992).  Both share the same personal coach: Dmitriy Chunosov.  Silver medalist Emin Garibov (8th September 1990) trains at the Dynamo Moscow club. Ignatyev is rarely to be seen without a smile on his face and seems to be the life and soul of the party whenever the cameras are turned on him.  In a recent interview (Antonova, 2011) he commented : I'm a happy person, loving life.  I just have that feeling inside me.  Sometimes I'm in a bad mood, of course, when it's grey outside for example, but overall I have a positive outlook on life.  I c...

The Championships begin today, with the following schedule : 4 April Juniors CI 9 am - 3 pm Seniors CI & CII 3:30 - 9:30 pm 5 April Seniors CIV 4 - 9 pm 6 April Juniors CII & CIV 1-7 pm 7 April Jr & Sr EF day 1 11 am - 2 pm 8 April Jr & Sr EF day 2 11 am - 2 pm There will be a live feed here . Thanks to Nora Schuler for the translation of the schedule.

Thanks to Alar, Kyan, Albert and all at the All Around Forum who keep us all up to date with translations and links. Vladimirova, Alexandr (2012) We have ten gymnasts trying for London - Alexander Alexandrov, rsport.ru 25th March 2012 English language translation via Russian.Gymnasts.Net.  Russian language version available at http://rsport.ru/interview/20120325/587639713.html accessed 3rd April 2012 Russian TV (unknown channel) Aliya Mustafina : the hardest thing is working day in and day out late March 2012 complete with English language translation of Aliya's interview Gallery of video of the Russian gymnasts at the Jesolo Cup , via Russian Gymnasts.net Vladimirova, Alexandr (2012) Grishina: I need more competitive experience rsport.ru 25th March 2012 English language translation via Russian.Gymnasts.Net.  Russian language version available at http://sport.mail.ru/news/qymnastics/8444717/ accessed 3rd April 2012 Russia, Ukraine win at Zakharova Cup - via The A...

Some of the medallists from this weekend's Russian National Championships The Russian National Championships drew to a close this weekend with gold medals for three of the best Russian gymnasts of the past five years, and one up and coming star, including 2008 Olympian Anna Pavlova (vault), 2010 World Champion Aliya Mustafina (bars), 2008 Olympian and 2011 World Floor Champion Ksenia Afanasyeva (beam) and first year senior Anastasia Grishina (floor).  Full results are available in Russian here .  All members of the 2011 World Championships team competing here (Komova and Nabieva were not) managed to secure a medal in these national championships. Vault results were noticeably flat this week with only one national team member (Grishina) competing (Maria Paseka is in the reserve squad) in the final.  National team coach Alexander Alexandrov has commented on his team's performance on this apparatus as trailing that of their main rivals, the USA (thanks to Gymnastics Co...

Gold is standard for a gymnast whose name is appearing regularly now in the headlines of this blog.  Over the last two days, tiny Maria Bondareva took three golds in the Candidate Master of Sport event finals at this year's Russian Nationals.  Whether Bondareva is old enough to compete at the forthcoming Junior European Championships - I don't know.  But I hope she is!!  The full results in Russian are here . Vault Evgeniya Korolkova 13.76 Yulia Starchenko      13.59 Maria Bondareva      13.59 Uneven Bars Maria Bondareva      13.92 Viktoria Kuzmina      13.9 Evgeniya Korolkova  13.42 Beam Maria Bondareva       14.92 Kristina Levshina       14.04 Viktoria Kuzmina       13.96 Floor Maria Bondareva      13.9 Viktoria Kuzmina  ...

Maria Bondareva, Maria Nazarova, Kristina Levshina 12 year old Maria Bondareva proved herself once again in competition on Friday, taking the All Around gold in the Candidate Master of Sport category with a score of 56.867 including a 15.2 on beam.  Bondareva's nearest rivals were (second placed) Polina Spirina  (52.933), who turns 13 in April and comes from Novosibirsk; and bronze medallist Kristina Levshina (52.9), 13 years old, who trains alongside Ksenia Afanasyeva with coach Maria Nazarova in the town of Tula.  Full results are available here . National team member Polina Spirina, who first shone in the 2010 Olympic Hopefuls competition The Master of Sport category competition was won by Polina Fyodorova but with a score almost four points short of Bondareva's total (53.133).  Following on her heels were Yuna Nefedova (52.4) and Irina Yashina (51.533) The junior competitions this year are marked by the absence of key team members who have until very re...

EF at the Russian Nationals this morning - beam and floor, rather than the advertised vault and a-bars. Mustafina did not compete on floor - rather wisely, I think. I will post results as soon as they become available. Update : Medallists have been confirmed from sight of the ceremony on streaming video as : Beam - 1 Afanasyeva; 2 Grishina; 3 Goryunova Floor - 1 Grishina; 2 Afanasyeva; 3 Belokobylskaya But the wonderful DanyZ2012 is already posting video grabs of the live coverage this morning. I thoroughly recommend Grishina's floor to you - I think it must be her best routine since the Junior Euros two years ago. I think she is getting her confidence back ... Afanasyeva floor Belokobylskaya floor Inshina floor Pavlova floor Mustafina beam In my book, Mustafina is allowed a fall. Rodionova beam Inshina beam Afanasyeva beam Oh glory be to the Goddess Afanasyeva who is even beginning to land vault like Boginskaya. Belokobylskaya beam We ar...

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has a translation of a short Allsport interview with national team coach Andrei Rodionenko, all about Russian Championships so far, the condition of Mustafina and other team members : The Russian Senior and Junior Championships in Artistic Gymnastics are under way in Penza. 2010 World All-Around Champion Aliya Mustafina became the 2012 Russia All-Around Champion with a score of 59.533 across the discipline's four events (vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise). Kseniya Afanasyeva won the silver medal (58.387) and Anastasia Grishina won the bronze (57.699). Combined men's and women's national gymnastics teams Andrey Rodionenko shared comments on the results with AllSport. "All the main results are on the score board", Rodionenko said smiling, "Mustafina is first, Afanasyeva is second and Grishina is third. It's all very clear and easy to understand." — Has Aliya Mustafina completely recovered fro...

The winning Moscow team at this year's Russian Championships.  L to R : Anastasia Grishina, Maria Syrnikova, Anna Myzdrikova, Maria Paseka, Maria Chibiskova, Aliya Mustafina Moscow completed a convincing win ( see results ) in the national team championships yesterday, taking the title by more than four points over their rivals from the Central District.  Moscow came first on all apparatus except beam, where Central headed the field with strong performances from Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anna Pavlova, and Yulia Inshina. There is an excellent report on The All Around , who have transcribed the results seen below: In the unofficial all around, 2008 Olympics veteran Ksenia Afanasyeva came first with an impressive 59.733, ahead of Anastasia Grishina who managed a score of 59.1 despite a fall from beam. Third placed Yulia Belokobylskaya redeemed herself somewhat from the previous day's competition, improving her performance by almost three points to score 56.967 including a 14.6 ...

This morning we saw the Junior competitions take place - qualifications for the all around finals, which will take place on Friday, and also the team competitions. The junior gymnasts compete in two categories - Master of Sport; and Candidate Master of Sport. One big surprise is the omission of leading junior Evgeniya Shelgunova. Shelgunova, 15 this year, is training alongside the seniors in preparation for her maiden year at senior level in 2013. It is unclear whether she competed hors de concours as her colleagues Anastasia Grishina and Sidorova did last year, or if she was missing from the field altogether. This competition could be said to give the impression that the generation below Shelgunova lacks depth, but then again Maria Kharenkova and her other Pacific Rim team mates did not perform here. However, at Candidate Master of Sport level we see Maria Bondaryeva confirmed as the leading junior gymnast at this competition, outscoring her elders in the Master of Sport categ...

Please find the live feed on the Russian Gymnastics Federation site here http://www.sportgymrus.ru/press/news/7338/default.aspx A timetable of events is available here . The times are currently 3 hours ahead of Western Europe, 4 if you are in London (thank you Alar). Enjoy!!!

 Aliya Mustafina, World All Around Champion, 2010  Valentina Rodionenko today announced that 2011 European Champion and defending Russian national champion Anna Dementieva will miss this week's Russian National Championships with tonsilitis.  Anna is not alone in missing the Championships as (confirmed yesterday by Andrei Rodionenko) 2011 World Vice-Champion Viktoria Komova is also out with a leg injury which will need a couple more weeks' therapy. 2010 World Champion Aliya Mustafina, recovering from a serious injury incurred at last year's European Championships, will participate in the championships, although Rodionenko said she will not compete all around.  The Russian Championships, coming early in the season, have traditionally seen an incomplete field as gymnasts prepare at different paces.  With Russia's three leading all around gymnasts - Dementieva, Mustafina and Komova - out of the picture, it will be interesting to see who emerges as a leade...

Andrei Rodionenko today confirmed that Viktoria Komova will miss Russian nationals thanks to a leg injury which will need two to three weeks of therapy. The competition will follow exactly the same format as Europeans and the Olympics to support the gymnasts in their mental and physical preparation for the Games. Read the full article here . Good luck to all the girls, and wishing a rapid recovery to Viktoria Komova.

Official poster for this year's Russian Championships, courtesy of the RGF  The Russian Championships for women will take place in Penza over the coming days.  The competition will give some indication of who might be going to the forthcoming European Championships in Brussels.  So far the RGF has mentioned that Mustafina, Afanasyeva, Dementieva, Belokobylskaya and Inshina are competing, although we have no news of Viktoria Komova.  Tatiana Nabieva will almost certainly be there. Details and media links can be found on the Russian Gymnastics Federation site, along with a competition schedule which Nora kindly translated for the All Around Forum: 19 March arrival 20 March podium training (10 am - 2:30 pm juniors; 3 -7:30 pm seniors) 21 March CI & CIV juniors 10 am - 2:30 pm; CI & CII seniors 4 - 8:30 pm 22 March C IV seniors 4-6 pm 23 March C II juniors 2:30 - 4 pm Candidates; 4 - 5:30 pm Masters 24 March CIII (V & UB ) juniors & seniors 1...