Angelina Melnikova and Arseny Dukhno - Results from Serie A competitions in Italy

 

Russia's neutral gymnasts have been performing very well in competition recently, not least at the Cottbus Cup last week where a fairly inexperienced group of young women took medals on every piece - and their men did well, too.

The team is still in the position where its veterans, or at least its established performers, are the leaders.  For the women, this means that Melnikova is assumed to be the top, while for the men, Marinov is the one whose name is most likely to be spoken.  But he is still recovering from multiple injuries and not expecting to be ready for competition until later in the year.  In fact the leadership of the men's team has skipped a couple of generations: first year senior, Arseny Dukhno, is taking the lead for the team.

So while the youngsters head off to the World Cup competitions to make a name for themselves there, the leaders are competing in the Serie A league in Italy - and they aren't doing too shabbily there.  Both Melnikova and Dukhno's teams won the first round of competition, and they headed the AA tables too.  I tend not to compare results between competitions, but it's worth setting the context - at last year's World Championships in Jakarta, Dukhno would have finished in bronze medal position overall.  Melnikova would have repeated her gold medal by a wider margin than in Indonesia, even though she competed watered-down routines.  

Angelina said :

'I really like the Italian's floor routines, music and choreography.  I also love that the competitions are super fast and each meal is super long.  They've got their priorities straight.

The equipment is good, everything is very soft.  I prefer harder equipment, but I think I can handle the soft ones, too.  It's additional experience.

This is my first time travelling without a coach, completely alone, and there are no Russian speakers around me.  It's unusual, especially the communication with the Italian coach.  We speak English.'

Scores:

Angelina Melnikova, ASD Libertas Ginnastica Vercelli

Vault - 14.05  D 5   E 9.05

Uneven bars - 14.3  D 6   E8.3

Beam - 13.65  D5.2  E8.45

Floor - 13.9  D 5.3  E8.4

AA total - 55.9

Arseny Dukhno, Pro Carate

Floor - 14.7  D 5.9  E8.8

Pommel - 14.1  D  5.3  E 8.8

Rings -  12.95  D  3.9  E9.05

Vault - 14  D5.2  E8.9  .1 Penalty

Parallel Bars  13.45  D5.3  E8.15

High Bar 13.75  D5  E8.65  .1 Bonus

AA total - 82.95