Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Dynamic young Seda Tutkhalyan, a leading gymnast in Penza this week, is finding her feet in senior competition Once again this week the Russian women showed themselves to be vulnerable to errors in the first day of apparatus finals, while the men excelled.  Please see the results below, as ever courtesy of the Russian Gymnastics Federation. On bars, Viktoria Komova performed hors de competition, recording a score of 15.3 - she didn't qualify officially to the final so can't be recorded as champion, but she is consistently now Russia's highest scorer on this apparatus.  Russia are already strong here, and she will need to up her game on other apparatus (Valentina mentioned beam and vault) to qualify to be part of the team in Glasgow. A key fact emerging this week in Penza is the growing strength of Nikita Ignatyev, who for a long time was the unlucky one on the team who would often fall or make unexpected errors.  Gradually Nikita has been improving, until in this...

Moscow's Alla Sosnitskaya gives us the latest information on her preparations for Worlds this autumn.   Doctors have now cleared Alla to train at full capacity after her mid-April foot injury, but she is still training in pain. Alla withdrew from the European Championships, which was held April 14-19 in Montpellier, right before the competition because of leg pain. She was diagnosed with a ligament tear and put in plaster. "I have just got back to tumbling.  Up to this point I have been taking treatment, doing special exercises. Doctors have now said that I can begin to tumble and train at full force. I'd like to work, but my foot aches a little" "Sometimes I have to be cautious, but I still try to do everything, even through pain ..." Alla added that she expects to be ready to compete at the Russia Cup  in September,  and to have restored all of her difficulty by then. Get well soon, Alla!!

Picture of Ksenia Afanasyeva courtesy of Daria Skrypnik on Tumblr WAG qualifications, European #Gymnastics, begin in just over an hour at 10.30 Montpellier time.  Follow live scoring at http://www.longinestiming.com/Sport?sport=GG Alla Sosnitskaya has an ankle injury and has returned to Moscow for a check up.  Maria Paseka will replace her on vault and uneven bars while Daria Spiridinova has been scheduled to do all around. Paseka and Afanasyeva will go in the first subdivision.  Spiridinova, and Maria Kharenkova, appear in sub 3, which starts at 4.30 local (Montpelier) time (1 hr ahead of BST).  Link to the start lists is here - http://www.longinestiming.com/File/Download?id=00000E0000000100FFFFFFFFFFFFFF00 Good luck to all the gymnasts!  We will be supporting you! Alla, get well soon!

Head WAG coach Evgeny Grebyonkin has confirmed further details of the Russian team for April's European Championships, reports Allsport. On the basis of their performance at the Russian Championships, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Maria Kharenkova and Daria Spiridinova have been confirmed for the team.  Fighting for the final place will be Alla Sosnitskaya, Viktoria Komova, Maria Paseka and first year senior Seda Tutkhalyan. The Russian coaches face some tough selection decisions as they attempt to balance a relative paucity of all around talent this year with the diverse specialisms of such gymnasts as Spiridinova, Afanasyeva and Komova.  Both Sosnitskaya and Tutkhalyan (whose D score AA of 23.7 ranks third in the international ranks so far this year, behind Simone Biles and Evgeniya Shelgunova) offer potential at both specialist (respectively vault (Sosnitskaya) and beam (Tutkhakyan)) and AA level.  Much will depend on the nerve of the coaches and the way these gymnasts respond in...

A rich and diverse Russian Championships has seen the crowing of a new national champion, European beam champion Maria Kharenkova.  Alongside her on the podium, Alla Sosnitskaya and first year senior, Youth Olympics champion Seda Tutkhalyan.  CONGRATULATIONS to all the girls - and good luck as you progress towards qualification for the European Championships! AA : 1 Maria Kharenkova 58.033 2 Alla Sosnitskaya 56.6 3 Seda Tutkhalyan 56.334 4 Daria Spiridinova 55.867 5 Evgeniya Shelgunova 55.833 6 Ekaterina Kramarenko 55.201 Full results - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-conte…/uploads/2015/…/c1_mogo_f.pdf Leading VT - Paseka, Sosnitskaya, Tutkhalyan, Afanasyeva UB - Spiridinova, Paseka, Komova, Bondareva BB - Kharenkova, Komova, Sosnitskaya, Tutkhalyan FX - Afanasyeva, Paseka, Dmitrieva, Kramarenko, Kharenkova Full event results : http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/c1_pers_f.pdf Team results are available at :  http://sportgymrus.ru/wp...

Well, they seem to be all over the place ... First of all, at Lake Krugloye, in the deep winter snow Sosnitskaya, Spiridinova, Shelgunova, Fyodorova, Kharenkova, Bondareva, Tutkhalyan and Kramarenko get some much needed daylight in this picture shared by Ekaterina Kramarenko.  Incidentally, you will be pleased to hear that Aliya Mustafina is also there.  Aliya will travel to Munich later this month for a check up on her back, after which coach Sergei Starkin will take some decisions about when she can resume full training. But where is Tatiana Nabiyeva? In this Instagram from her Pushkin (St Petersburg) home, Tatiana says that, 'better late than never', she is beginning her personalised 'Nabyiki' training programme for the upcoming (February) Russian Championships. She will compete there for her home team alongside such gymnasts as Nastia Cheong. Finally, Pottsville Gymnastics have posted a lovely, short video of a happy Nastia Grishina to their Facebook page.  Let us k...

The event finals will take place on Saturday and Sunday.  Thank you to the Gymnastics group on VK.com, where I obtained these screen captures. Vault : Paseka, Sosnitskaya, Akhaimova, Nabiyeva, Cheong, Kruglikova, Bikmurzina, Vanyushkina, Scherbakova, Elizarova Uneven bars : Mustafina, Spiridonova, Komova, Kramarenko, Nabieva, Rodionova, Kharenkova, Sosnitskaya, Elizarova, Sidorenko Beam : Kharenkova, Mustafina, Fyodorova, Spiridonova, Sosnitskaya, Bikmurzina, Cheong, Elizarova, Kramarenko, Rodionova   Floor : Elizarova, Mustafina, Paseka, Fydorova, Sosnitskaya, Akhaimova, Spiridonova, Bikmurzina, Kharenkova, Cheong  

I am still waiting for the publication of full results (for some reason the RGF files are missing names, at least when viewed on my IPad) but some of us were awake very early this morning to see Aliya Mustafina confound predictions of her future specialist status, overcome her recent recovery, and win the all around at Russia Cup.  Highlights were her uneven bars routine and a beam where she presented her best combinations with vigour, recording a good mark despite a fall, but she also leads the vault, floor and bars scoring amongst the all arounders eligible for inclusion on the team for Nanning.  (Elizarova scored higher on floor, but is unlikely to be selected as she does not train with the team at Lake Krugloye and has only one strong piece.) Second placed Kharenkova was absolutely outstanding on beam. 1 Aliya Mustafina 14.833/15.4/14.6/14.3 = 59.133 2. Maria Kharenkova  14.1/13.867/16.2/13.667 = 57.834 3  Daria Spiridonova 13.833/15.033/14.233/13.7 = 56.799 4. A...

Senior team members Daria Spirodonova, Tatiana Nabiyeva, Ekaterina Kramarenko, Viktoria Komova and Maria Paseka enjoy some Sunday fun in Moscow.  Picture courtesy of Viktoria Komova on Instagram The women are at training camp at present, preparing for the upcoming, late August, Russia Cup.  The outcome of this competition will determine who is selected for October's World Championships.  There will be six team members competing in qualifications (6-5-4 format) and the usual 6-3-3 in team finals. The faces that I can spot missing from these photographs (see below for a fuller group shot)  are Aliya Mustafina (the only lock to this autumn's team, assuming she recovers well from her surgery, and remains in good health) and Anastasia Grishina, about whom there has been an ominous silence since this spring.  As a reminder, Nastia has had an operation to her knee, as a consequence of an injury sustained on the floor in the Russian Championships.  The Munich clini...

Summary of a Sports Express interview with Andrei Rodionenko, by Aleksandra Vladimirova Russia's head gymnastics coach Andrei Rodionenko tells "Sports Express" who will represent Russia at the European Championships in Bulgaria and why  most of the leaders of the women's team will  not be able to perform  at this tournament (which will be held in Sofia from 12 to 18 May). - Andrei Fedorovich, is it true that silver medallist  of the London Games, Viktoria Komova, is still listed among the injured gymnasts? - This is true, but I would add that this relates to the ankle joint, which has been an issue for some time.  Vika has been treated, recovered, operated, but maybe the last treatment was not entirely successful.  Perhaps the fact is that Viktoria is still going through puberty, and therefore everything that is connected with joints is extremely problematic. Now we will have a deeper examination, a final diagnosis. - Where will the inves...

Viktoria Komova performs on bars in the team event earlier this week An announcement, made by Valentina Rodionenko earlier: Mustafina, Komova, Sosnitskaya, Spiridonova and Kharenkova will perform at the European Championships in artistic gymnastics.   According to the results of the Russian Championships in Penza, a decision has been made as to who will compete May 12-18 in Sofia (Bulgaria). "As a result of the Russian championship, we finally decided on the composition of the national team at the European Championships" - said Valentina Rodionenko.   "We decided not to ask Ksenia Afanasyeva to perform there.   In addition, Anastasia Grishina has an injury - a suspected partial cruciate ligament rupture. The rest are available to compete."  "At the European Championships the athletes who compete will have proven themselves in the championships of Russia.   Aliya Mustafina is certainly number one.   Viktoria Komova, did not compete on ...

Beam medalists today in Penza ... Daria Spiridinova, Maria Kharenkova, Aliya Mustafina Not everything went to plan today for the 'big' stars of Russian gymnastics.  There were signs of some strain and tiredness as the weakened ranks of former Olympians stepped aside and made room for three newcomers to the medal rostrum ... the interesting Daria Spiridinova (coached by Tatiana Fomkina, who formerly coached 1996 Olympian, Elena Dolgopolova), the feisty Maria Kharenkova (who  needs no introduction) and Polina Fyodorova from Cheboksary (highly touted by Sergei Zelikson back in 2013).  Winning on vault was Alla Sosnitskaya, who last year won gold in floor at the Russia Cup. Today's stand out performance was by Maria Kharenkova on beam.  She didn't quite match her strongest performance of the team final, but her beam was on another planet to the others as she zipped through her skills with speed and confidence, minimising a very off balance landing in a layout as if she w...

Courtesy of the RGF Aliya Mustafina successfully defended her national title today with a convincing, if not totally faultless, display, showing herself to be preparing well for the coming internationals.  She also led her Moscow team to a strong first position in the qualifying for team final, later this week. Aliya has now matched the illustrious Svetlana Khorkina for the number of national all around titles she has won (previously 2009, 2012 and 2013) although Khorkina's career wins were accured over a longer period of time - 1993, 1995, 1997, and 2002.  Looking fit and more energetic than at any period of last year, Mustafina shows much promise for the coming year if she can build on her early year training and continue to develop.  She looked especially strong on beam and floor, but suffered a deduction on bars, where she competed her 2011 routine but suffered a deduction when she hit a landing mat with her feet.  Mustafina's Moscow team mates Alla Sosn...