Russian Nationals 2024 Part 1 : MAG Team final and qualifications

There are two main domestic gymnastics competitions in Russia.  The first one, Russian national championships, takes place in the spring, and is for regional teams, All Around, and Event Finals.  As the first major competition of the year, nationals have often traditionally been qualifiers for places on the national team training for Europeans Championships.  The Russia Cup, in July, is an individual AA and EF competition and is far more important in that it qualifies gymnasts for the major competitions such as Worlds, and Olympics.  Gymnasts are often less ready for nationals than they are for Russia Cup.  The standard and difficulty of work is lower here than it will be later in the year.

This article is the first of a series where I will briefly look at the results of Russian nationals.  As a reminder, Russia will not be competing in any FIG or IOC competitions this year.  This means we will only see the gymnasts in domestic competitions, and in locally arranged, 'Friendship' meets with other countries who are willing to travel to Russia.  China, for example, has already competed in a junior competition with Russia, and the Russians hope that they will be able to compete against the senior Chinese team after the Olympics.  In the summer, there will be a multi sport 'Friendship Games' in Kazan.  This will replace the Olympic Games for the Russian team, and is where we should expect to see the best performances from the top and emerging gymnasts.  It will be up to you to observe these competitions, and to try to judge whether the standards between the Olympics and the Friendship Games are at all comparable.  Looking at the scores won't give a clear indication.

I don't know when the 'ban' placed on Russian participation in international competition will end; probably not before Russia stops fighting in Ukraine.  Sadly, a cessation of hostilities doesn't seem very likely in the near future, so we are going to have to get used to the fact that gymnastics is now presenting a 'split' operation.  Of course, Russia's aggression against Ukraine is wholly unacceptable.  Ukrainian gymnasts have to train away from home, or not at all, and the horrors their families face at home are unacceptable.  Ukraine will have a team in Paris and I hope they do well.

Meanwhile, Russian gymnasts are probably struggling somewhat with motivating themselves to train and keep on top form, knowing that they will miss out on the strongest competition.  They will miss the Olympics, and they will also be missed, as they are part of the meat of any gymnastics competition.  But life is life.  If their country weren't bombing another country, the gymnasts would be allowed to compete.  

Very little is without some form of political nuance at present.  The national championships were held in the Sirius Arena, built on commission from President Putin as part of a massive development for sport, youth and culture in the area, just west of Sochi and close to Krasnodar.  

The men's team has only changed a little since the 2020 (2021) Olympics.  Daniil Marinov is now the leading MAG individually, and he confirmed his position as number 1 all around here.  Artur Dalaloyan had trained for this competition, and it showed.  Nikita Nagorny had probably trained more than he let on and was able to achieve some wins on individual apparatus here, although he didn't have the stamina for AA.  David Belyavski looked to be on good form, but wasn't up to his Olympic peak.  He is still the team captain.  

Apart from Marinov, none of the up and coming young gymnasts are really making much impact AA.  Sergei Naidin had an injury so withdrew from AA, but did well on HB.  Stretovich has retired.  There is a host of youngsters who are showing promise as individual event specialists, and some veterans doing the same : Polyashov and Rostov for example.  We will look at them in EF.

I've transcribed the results of the top three teams for you:

	Team/gymnast	Team total	Floor	PH	Rings	Vault	PB	HB
1.	MOSCOW	246.100	42.05	39.55	40.15	42.75	42.55	39.05
	Ablyazin, Denis					13.5
	Nagorny, Nikita		14.6	11.8	12.65	14.55	14.05	13.2
	Kisel, Evgeny			13.2	13.3		14.25	12.45
	Zavrichko, Ivan		13.05	13.35	12.75	13.15	14.25	13.4
	Dalaloyan, Artur		14.4	13.0	14.1	14.7	13.65	12.35
2.	VLADIMIR OBLAST	245.85	41.45	42.25	40.45	41.1	39.9	40.7
	Prokopyev, Kirill		14.3	13.9	13.5	13.65	13.4	13.3
	Rostov, Alexei		13.5	14.15	13.2	13.8	12.1	13.65
	Suedin, Saveylii		13.55	14.2	13.05	13.65	13.75	13.75
	Usachev, Alexei				13.75	13.00
	Kartsev, Alexander		13.6	13.3			12.75	12.95
3.	Tatarstan Republic	245.550	40.9	40.6	39.8	41.6	41.5	41.15
	Marinov, Daniil		14.05	12.65	13.85	14.55	14.3	14.15
	Novikov, Daniil		13.4	12.35	13.3	13.8	14.3	14.05
	Antonikhin, Ivan		12.9	14.05	12.45	13.25	12.75	12.85
	Isaev, Stanislav		13.45			12.95
	Saifulin, Ranel			13.9	12.65		12.9	12.95
4.	St Petersburg	232.45	39.8	37.4	39.4	40.95	37.45	37.45
5.	Penza Oblast	230.05	38.85	38.15	39.8	40	37.75	35.5

You will be able to watch a full broadcast of the competition here,

There are some routines available here, thanks to one of the coaches on the national team.

Leading qualifiers in the MAG AA were : Marinov, Dalaloyan, Prokopyev, Belyavski, Suedin, Novikov, Nagorny. Rostov, Zhiganov, Zavrichko.  It was close between Marinov and Dalaloyan - 83.55 to 82.2.  Dalaloyan still isn't up to muster on High Bar in particular.  

EF qualifiers included : FX : Nagorny, Dalaloyan, Prokopyev, Marinov, Khudchenko (St Petersburg), Belyavski, Kartsev.

PH : Polyashov, Andronov, Suedin, Rostov, Antonikhin, Belyavaski

SR : Klimentyev, Dalaloyan, Kalyuzhin, Khudchenko, Zaika, Marinov

V : Marinov, Dalaloyan, Nagorny, Tsarev, Dubinin, Zavrichko, Ablyazin

PB : Novikov, Marinov, Kisel, Zavrichko, Nagorny, Polyashov, Eltsov, Belyavski

HB : Naidin, Marinov, Novikov, Suedin, Rostov, Zhiganov, Belyavski, Zavrichko

You can find full results of the first day of competition, in Russian, here -https://rewritingrussiangymnastics.blogspot.com/2024/03/russian-nationals-2024-part-1a-mag-team.html