What's going on in Russian gymnastics ... May 2026

All the latest people news from Russia!  With thanks to the gymnasts and coaches whose social media posts fuel this article.

The teams from Russia are enjoying a recovery break in Antalya, Turkey, this week and last. Elizaveta Us took this selfie with Liudmilla Roschina, Milena Kaiumova, Anna Kalmykova, Viktoria Listunova, Alena Glotova ànd Zlata Osokina. Senior coach of the junior team, World and multiple Olympic Champion Aliya Mustafina is also with the team, and has her daughter with her.

Meanwhile, in his home town of Ekaterinberg, David Belyavski is training every day to prepare for his national championships. He expects to compete on parallel bars and pommel, although he admits he doesn't really know ... it depends how his training goes.
David is now 34 years old and a dedicated father to his daughter, Alyssa, 8. Alyssa too trains every day, as a tennis player, and has already taken part in her first tournament. David says that he wants her to understand that if she loves what she does, what she does will love her back in return.

Angelina Melnikova continues her gruelling schedule -  she will depart today or tomorrow for Italy, where she is participating in a Serie A competition.  Then a few days later, she departs for Chicago, where she will be taking some holiday but also leading a number of workshops for competitive gymnasts.  

This activity is sponsored by 1983 World Champion Natalia Yurchenko, who is a leading gymnastics coach in the USA who runs her own gym club in the area.

Shadows of greatness here as youngsters compete in Leninsk- Kuznetsk at the Anastasia Ilyankova competition. Here trained World ànd Olympic champion Maria Filatova, as well as many others including Tatiana Ignatova and Nastya Ilyankova, of course. In the original video which you will find on RRG's Facebook page, you can also see club Director, Olympian Evgeny Podgorny, ànd à tribute to legendary coach Innokenty Mameteyev.

Olympic Champion Vladislava Urazova competed for her University, the Southern Federal, at a regional University Games this week.  It was her first competition after a long break caused by injury.

In China, 2010 World Champion Tatiana Nabiyeva is posting pictures of herself with her gymnasts, and also enjoying exploring China with her husband. In a few days now she will be giving birth to her first child. Good luck, Tatiana!

And below are some photographs of the gymnasts at the AGF Trophy in Baku. It was podium training today. The 14th is quals and AA, 16th is EF. I’m unsure who is who, but I have a list of the names. Girls - Alexandra Andrianova, Ksenia Butorina, Polina Dmitrieva, Alexandra Iskakova. Boys - Ilya Musin, Evgeny Pollenikov, Daniil Smirnoff, Dmitri Sukhodolskii. In case you can’t read English - Девушки: • Александра Андрианова • Ксения Буторина • Полина Дмитриева • Александра Искакова Юноши: • Илья Мусин • Евгений Поленников • Даниил Смирнов • Дмитрий Суходольский There is a really warm, family feeling when the gymnasts are together these days. I think they are really happy to be back in competition, and the new head coach of them all, Dmitri Andreev, is visible and seems to be very fair and concerned for the gymnasts. It’s only a feeling, but I think this generation of boys is strong.

Finally, Yesterday was the final day of recovery training in Antalya, Turkey. The next step is for the gymnasts to collect at the National Training Centre close to Moscow, to prepare for the Russian Championships in the summer. You can see all of the athletes and coaches here, including some of the Turkish hosts. And - look closely - there is little Alisa Mustafina Zaitseva, in her blue and white leotard. The picture isn’t that clear, but you can make out the faces if you zoom in close.