Skip to main content

Denis Ablyazin leads on two events – MAG Europeans

By
Denis Ablyazin in flight, during his vault at yesterday's qualifying.  Picture by Elena Mikhailova, courtesy of the RGF

 The Russian team sits in second place in team qualifying behind the British team after a hot and cold performance on the first day of senior competition at the European Championships in Montpelier.    Five gymnasts selected for their event finals potential provided fans with highlights and lowlights, the highlights including Denis Ablyazin’s highly acrobatic floor routine and dynamic vaulting which currently lead the scoring on these two events.  Also qualified in first place on high bar is Emin Garibov, with Alexander Balandin sitting in second place on rings.  

Gympower has caught a video of Ablyazin's floor, and of course I am sceptical.  The tumbling is impressive - such a lot of it, and well performed as far as can be seen.  But is this really gymnastics?  What do you think?  Is this the direction men's floor should take? Of the five gymnasts on the team, four have qualified to finals (Golotsutskov will appear in the vault).  Russia will not, however,  be represented on pommel horse or parallel bar finals.   A significant lowlight was indeed pommels, where Golotsutskov scored in the 11s, and Russia do not appear to have improved much on this apparatus.

No Russian appeared in the unofficial all around competition which Britain’s Daniel Purvis leads.   David Belyavski, often amongst the leaders in individual competition, was disappointing yesterday, did not compete all six apparatus and failed to make any event finals.  This leaves him with the opportunity of Saturday’s team final  to prove himself to the Olympic selectors.

Russia still have significant room for improvement in the final, but then so do all of the top four teams (including Britain, Germany and France,who have a home advantage).  Russia will have to find consistency if they are to rival for medals on Saturday; hopefully Belyavski will be able to pull out his best form and make the chase interesting.

Full results can be found at the UEG’s website, and summary images are provided below for ease of reference.  The Russian Gymnastics Federation also now has a gallery of pictures from MAG Europeans including both junior and senior competitions, and the UEG is posting highlight videos relatively rapidly on its Youtube channel.

The competition continues this afternoon at 3 pm French time (2 pm in the UK) with the junior all around competition, where Russia's Grigory Zyrianov is expected to compete for a medal.












Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous25 May 2012 at 14:20

    Oh my i can't wait for the team finals !!!!!
    And events too : )

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics

By
Svetlana Boginskaya, 15 years old, with her medals from the Seoul Olympics Nico translates the latest interview with gymnastics legend Svetlana Boginskaya, during a recent visit to her home country of Belarus. Svetlana Boginskaya: I was always a bitch* in gymnastics, so now I ask for forgiveness from everyone who came in contact with me. The National Olympic Committee of Belarus held a press conference with three-time Olympic Champion in artistic gymnastics, Svetlana Boginskaya. The meeting was devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Seoul. In South Korea the Belarussian won two gold medals in the team competition and vault. As a gift to the Olympic Hall of fame, the famous gymnast, now living in the United States, donated one of her trophies that she won at the 1990 European Championships and a pennant for Best Female Athlete of the USSR in 1989. How happy we were when we could share with such stars as Boginskaya, Scherbo, and Ivankov,...
14 comments
Read more

We are satisfied - Aliya Mustafina

By
Photo credit: RGF An Allsport interview today with Aliya Mustafina : http://www.allsportinfo.ru/index.php?id=83075 'I think that we are to be congratulated on this bronze medal, we are more satisfied than frustrated', said Aliya Mustafina. 'We were a new team, all the girls are young, and it's their first time in such a serious competition.  I think today we performed to the best of our ability.  Yes, we have had two falls today - on the uneven bars and balance beam.' 'The young girls failed  psychologically, but  the first time you compete on the senior podium - it's not very easy.  No  one is sad.  I  am very pleased with such a performance.  Everything  was fair enough, maybe not everywhere and in all things, but overall it was quite as expected, both our rivals, and the judging.' 'I began to experience more pain in the ankle - continued Aliya Mustafina. - To do the dismounts I had to muster all my strength and clench my teeth.  ...
21 comments
Read more

Mustafina Interview 2 of 2 : 'I will only perform under the Russian flag'

By
Argumentyi i Fakti interview with Aliya Mustafina Translated by Marina Vulis ‘I have no fear’, says Aliya Mustafina.   ‘My father [Farhat Mustafin, the bronze medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1976 Olympics] took me to my first gymnastics class.   In his opinion children need to do sports, and he saw gymnastics as useful for my general development.   He had no goals – just to let us practice.’ It did not end with ‘just practice’ – she became the World Champion at 16, but then had an ACL injury the next year (2011) at the Europeans.   Even just returning to gymnastics is a feat; then she came back to win four medals at the 2012 Olympics. Aliya Mustafina – That injury.   I do not know why I was ashamed – so many people were watching me and I could not even walk.   My parents!   They saw everything on TV (the coach had to carry her from the podium).   Of course I was aware that anything could happen in gymnastics, but I di...
4 comments
Read more

RRG Archive - scroll by date, from 2024 to 2010

Show more