Rewriting Russian Gymnastics

Nikolai Kuksenkov trains at the famous Nikolai Tolkachev School of Gymnastics in Vladimir Nico has just confirmed that Emin Garibov will need a second surgery on his shoulder.  The European high bar champion, team captain of Russia at the 2012 Olympics, has been nursing a shoulder injury since before last year's World Championships and was announced out of the European Championships earlier this year.  Now he needs an operation on his other shoulder.  We guess that he now looks likely to be out of competition for the rest of the year. Nikolai Kuksenkov has sprained his ankle and will not compete floor or vault this week. Ablyazin is, however, reported to be on good form! http://itar-tass.com/sport/1106032

2012 Olympian Viktoria Komova will compete on bars and beam at May's Europeans, says Russian Head Coach Valentina Rodionenko.  'Viktoria still isn't ready to vault', said Valentina, adding that they were protecting the 18 year old, but expected her to be fully ready for the World Championships in October.  She added that Anna Rodionova and Ksenia Afanasyeva were in reserve, but that Afanasyeva still hadn't recovered fully from her operation of last autumn. After participating in this competition she had decided not to try for Europeans, and was targeting the World Championships. 'Mustafina is almost fully recovered, but it wasn't quite enough in the fourth day', Rodionenko said, adding that the 2010 World Champion had performed well in the all around. In other news, an unofficial but trustworthy source has said that Anastasia Grishina, who suffered a partial ACL tear, broken knee bone and cartilage damage in Saturday's team final, will be travelling ...

   Moscow, the winning team at today's Championships.  Artur Dalolyan, who is second in the all around qualifying, is at the left. Full results are available at http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=44534 1  Moscow.  408.828 2. Volga       404.960 3. Siberia.    393.161 In the all around qualification for the Master of Sport all around, standings are 1.  Valentin Starikov.   84.799 2.  Artur Dalolyan.      84.632 3.  Nikita Nagornyi.     84.565 4.   Viktor Britan.        83.699 5.   Ilya Kibartas.         82.566 Floor Artur Dalolyan.      14.6 Valentin Starikov.   14.5 Dmitri Lankin.         14.5 Ilya Kibartas.          14.333 Pommel horse Sergei Eltsov.           14.533 Nikita Nagornyi.       14.5 Rings   Artu...

Nico Jackson writes Here is a detailed schedule of the men’s championships this week. Unfortunately a full roster of participants doesn’t seem to be available, but as far as I know all the major names plan to compete with the exception of  Emin   Garibov . If anyone has additional information on the competitors, please feel free to leave a comment. All times are local Penza/Moscow time (GMT/UTC +04:00) Wednesday - April 9, 2014 - Junior Qualification & Team Final 12:00-14:00 - Session I FX: Southern Federal District PH: Central Federal District-I SR: Northern Caucasian Federal District VT: Ural Federal District PB: Northwestern Federal District HB: mixed group 14:10-16:10 - Session II FX: Moscow PH: Volga Federal District-II SR: Volga Federal District-I VT: Far Eastern Federal District PB: St. Petersburg HB: Siberian Federal District Thursday - April 10, 2014 - Senior Qualification & All-Around Final 12:00-14:00 - Session I FX: Northwestern Federal District PH: Far Eas...

Nico Jackson writes : Greetings, Russian fans! I hope everyone enjoyed last week’s coverage of the senior and junior women. Never a dull moment in Russian women’s gymnastics. However, this week we turn our attention to the men! Like the women’s competition, these championships will serve as a trial for the upcoming European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. The men will also be vying for five spots on the European team.   Unfortunately, the men’s competition will be without a very big star,  Emin   Garibov , who recently had surgery on his shoulder and will likely be out for most of the season. His absence will certainly leave a considerable gap on his Moscow team along with potential medals on parallel bars and high bar. Nevertheless, this should be a good opportunity for others to try to fill Garibov's  void and make a name for themselves in the competition. These championships will also mark the return of European Champion, David  Belyavskiy ,  and Unive...

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 ...

Tatiana Nabiyeva with her St Petersburg team mate Elena Eremina.  Like Tanya, Lena is best on bars and vault and is coached by Alexander and Vera Kiryashev.  Alexander is a former national coach who consistently produces some of the best, most enduring and happiest gymnasts on the Russian team Find the full results here : http://www.sportgymrus.ru/Admin/GetFile.ashx?get=1&id=44107 Or risk damaging your eyesight for life: Senior team member Daria Spiridinova with tiny Ekaterina Sokova, who won four medals today  Eremina with Kramarenko and Nabiyeva  Floor champion Elena Likhodolskaya trains with the same coaches as Ksenia Afanasyeva