Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

The Russian team of Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Dementyeva,Sidorova and Paseka won the tri-meet this Friday relatively easily, with a total team score of 177.30, almost two points higher than they achieved at last October's World Championships, although comparison is somewhat distorted as the competition formats were different.  Aliya Mustafina, performing only a portion of her full difficulty, won the all around with a score of 58.95 ahead of Grishina with 57.7 and Dementyeva at 56.55.  Observers (Maddie at the All Around forum and Trudi at the IG Forum) noted in particular the excellence of Mustafina's double twisting Yurchenko (15.2 with an execution score of 9.4).   Komova, performing only on bars and beam, acquitted herself well with a 15.85 on bars and a 15.2 beam.   Dementyeva's contribution of a 15 on beam should also not go without note. Maddie has posted videos of every Russian routine on her Youtube channel and you can read a report at the Couch G...

    On Friday we will have a chance to see how the Russian women's team is progressing, when they compete in Switzerland (Sporthalle Lindenhof in Wil) against the British and Swiss. Relatively little is confirmed yet; all the information on the website other than the time and place of the competition is subject to change.  But the Russian women's team is planned to include : Aliya Mustafina Viktoria Komova Anastasia Grishina Anna Dementyeva Maria Paseka Anastasia Sidorova Details of the other teams can be found here .   The competition begins at 5.00 pm local time and finishes with the awards ceremony at 9.15. Good luck to all the girls competing!