Marinov grabs the gold by a whisker

 MAG AA Russia Cup, April 2026

Marinov, Dukhno, Suedin, Yakubov.  

That was a tight competition with a twist at the end.  Russia’s MAG team is a good deal stronger than a year ago, and the scores at the top have come closer.

The difference between the top two deciding scores amounted to hundredths and thousandths of a mark.  In the end, at the final stage, Marinov and Dukhno were head to head and both performed exemplary high bar routines.  I must say, I thought Dukhno had grabbed the gold by a whisker.  But no, Marinov took the lead as a well deserved national champion.  

It was a controversial decision, though, and Marinov was as supportive of his jilted team mate as I have ever seen a rival in any competition arena.  At one point I thought Daniel might lodge a protest on Dukhno’s behalf.  But no.  The judges had made their decision.  To be frank, some of the earlier scores seemed to have been generous to Dukhno.  It could have gone either way.  

I was surprised to see Dukhno remonstrating with the head judge on high bar … not the usual behaviour of a medal winner.  Marinov is a great team captain and sportsman and did all he could to calm the younger man down.  He was also a great friend to Kartsev during the competition.  Remember, this was an individual AA competition, not a team.  Marinov has a heart of gold.

There had been drama earlier when Kartsev performed on rings with a painful chest or shoulder injury.  He almost collapsed with pain on the way off the podium.  After some treatment from national team physio Blyushke, Kartsev finally took the decision to withdraw - some considerable support was given to him by coaches and by Marinov.  I hope it isn’t a serious injury.

So 3rd place was between Yakubov and Suedin as the gymnasts marched to the final apparatus, and unfortunately Yakubov fell off high bar on a flight element.  Suedin is a calm, solid competitor, and produced a clean floor routine to seal the bronze.  Yakubov may be a little emotional and in need of more experience; don’t forget that all these gymnasts are young (Dukhno, eg, just turned 18) and haven’t had the international experience that many of their predecessors had.

They will all have learned from this competition, which was thoroughly gripping.  Congratulations to Marinov and Dukhno and also to Suedin and Yakubov.  May you have a good recovery, Sasha Kartsev.  Thank you for a great show, all of you.