European Championhips 2018: IT'S A GOLD MEDAL

Bad qualification might always be a sign of good things to come with Russia and good things came. I watched the team final during my last two hours with the hotel wifi in Cyprus and there couldn't have been a happier ending to my vacation. A gold medal for Russia! And not only a gold medal, but a major team final where Russia hit 12 routines. When was the last time this happened? It's probably better to not check. France didn't exactly falter under the pressure, but their few bigger mistakes together with Russia's incredible hit streak made sure that Russia won by a landfall. The Netherlands was third after a fight with Great Britain. I know the field at Europeans this year is very weak after pretty much every country has had their fill with injuries, but it was an exciting final where everyone genuinely fought for their medals and I really enjoyed watching it.

European Championships 2018: A disappointing start

Yesterday was the first day of competition at the European Championships and Team Russia won the subdivision lottery, but neglected to take advantage of it. I thought that the leo was pretty good, but that's unfortunately it. The rest was not. And I'm not that upset, yet. Because even Queen Aliya herself knew that qualifications are for non-important losers and putting any effort into them is unnecessary and very un-Russian. So yeah, whatever. I wished for something better and will settle for this right now. But if they continue with this shit during the team final, I'll be mad. And France will be very happy.

The European Championships is here, but I'm not!

The teams are now in Glasgow ready to compete at the 2018 European Championships in just a few days. And I'm really excited, trust me. Both teams are actually pretty young, and it seems to be the direction we've been going since the start of this quadrennium. The 2012 quad that has been backing up the team since, well, before 2012 is really struggling to keep up and the young ones are finally given the opportunity for making a name for themselves and being a team. You know, an actual team, instead of a veteran and some young headcases who don't really have to well because the veterans will make sure that a medal is placed around a Russian neck. I'm in no way against the veterans doing gymnastics as long as they want to, but this feels exciting. And scary. It could be a disaster.

I'm still weirded out by Ira in Russian gear

V-Rod Announces the European Championships Team

We all know that Valentina Rodionenko has a habit of announcing a lot of teams in a short amount of time, and she's been surprisingly quiet about the European Championships team. I've been waiting for her daily calls to R-Sport, but it hasn't happened. So this team announcement from her could actually we slightly more reliable than usually, but who knows.

According to V-Rod, the Euros team was selected after recent control training and will be Angelina Melnikova, Angelina Simakova, Ulyana Perebinosova, Lilia Akhaimova and Irina Alexeeva. I don't know what to say, this is very surprising. The most surprising thing is, that Anastasia Ilyankova was left out. I can't come up with any other explanation except that she's injured. Because I was sure she was a lock. The other person left out from my predicted team is Viktoria Komova. Apparently she failed to prove herself after an unsuccessful Russian Cup by making mistakes on both bars and beam during control training and they just can't trust her on beam. I'm not that surprised about Vika's fate, but which one of these gymnasts can you trust on beam, Valentina, really???

Vika and Ilya's spots were taken by Ira and Ulya. Ira had a minor injury so she didn't compete at the Russian Cup, but she's apparently fine now. And I might be just fine with her going, who else could they pick if Vika and Ilya are out of the question. I don't think she's necessarily medal material, but she's fit for the team competition. Ulya however... What kind of dream training did she have? We're not trusting Vika, but I would trust Ulya even less. I actually thought she was injured, because she didn't compete at the Russian Cup, but no. She could be used on vault and bars, maybe floor, but she's even more inconsistent than Vika. I guess they're hoping that she hits that wild UB routine of hers for once for a surprise medal.

I'm still a bit weirded out by Ira's sudden return to Russia. I've seen her as basically an American for years now. And now she will be an official part of the Russian team. I just tried to picture Ira wearing a national team leo (like this one), but couldn't.

The Nominative Teams for European Championships

The nominative teams for the 2018 European Championships were published a few days ago and the senior team was named Viktoria Komova, Angelina Melnikova, Angelina Simakova, Ulyana Perebinosova and Maria Kharenkova. I don't even know what to say. Maybe just laugh? Because it's not like they're even trying to name a team here. They're just throwing random names out there. Which is technically allowed, but I think most countries still make a little bit of effort into naming the nominative team.

A Look at the 2018 Russian Junior Nationals

Now that the Russian Cup is over, we can take a loot at the Russian Junior Championships that were held together with it. Together with Spartakiada, it gives us a pretty good idea of who's going to the Junior European Championships. I've had my team in mind ever since Jesolo and while this competition didn't have any huge surprises, it made me reconsider some things. The good news is, that the junior team has plenty of depth and they pretty much kicked the seniors' ass during the Russian Cup.

Russian Cup 2018: Event Finals

The event finals of the Russian Cup were pretty underwhelming, it seemed like everyone important was already over this competition and thinking about getting some rest before the European Championships next month. Melka only competed in the uneven bars final which was a good decision in my opinion.

I couldn't catch the live feed because I've spent 60 hours of this week at work, but I'm trying to write this post based on scores and any videos I can find. As of yet, no one has posted the full coverage to YouTube.

Russian Cup 2018: All Around Final

I know I'm bad, trust me, but I wasn't going to miss the Russian Cup. So even though I'm a bit late, I'm here with a recap of the all around.

The Russian Cup took place in Chelyabinsk this year, and the arena actually looked like an ice rink based on its shape.That reminded me of this dream I once had. I'm happy to say that the competition didn't turn out like in my dream. Not that I would have been surprised if it did, this is the Russian Cup.

The Russian team has been riddled with injuries as usual, and the most notable missing gymnast today was Aliya Mustafina. She's had problems with her knee ever since Nationals. Elena Eremina and Maria Paseka have both returned to training after their back injuries, but are not yet fit to compete, and probably won't be for awhile. Irina Alexeeva, who just made her return to Russia and has been licensed to compete internationally by FIG, is out with an ankle injury.

The scores from the qualifying competition and team final carried over and coming into the final, heavily taped Angelina Melnikova was less than a tenth ahead of Anastasia Ilyankova for the gold medal. Angelina Simakova was comfortably third only a point behind and I would have actually been very happy with this podium. Viktoria Komova came to the all around in fourth place and the always surprising Tatiana Nabieva was fifth. The last gymnast in the top group was another veteran, Daria Elizarova, after Lilia Akhaimova pulled out of the final due to some nagging injuries.

Bad News

The Russian Team has suffered another injury, and this time it's to their Queen, Aliya Mustafina. She has withdrawn from Osijek World Cup due to a knee injury. The injury on her meniscus is supposed to be a minor one, so probably not a tear. It's still alarming considering her history with knee injuries. The last time she was out for something other than back pain was in late 2015, when she tore the meniscus on her right knee and had a surgery. And of course we all remember her famous ACL tear in 2011. She's supposed to be back to training by the end of May, but I can't help but think that she's been back for 2 seconds and her body is already showing the wear and tear. It's almost like we're picking up right where we left off.

I wish the Queen a speedy recovery.

And just in case you've forgotten how many other injuries the team has accumulated during the past few months: Elena Eremina, Lilia Akhaimova and Aleksandra Schekoldina. Angelina Melnikova apparently has some minor knee injury too.

Freezing in Mallorca

The team is on their annual training vacation in Mallorca and unfortunately the weather as been very cold for this time of the year. Based on social media it looks like they have gotten a few days on the beach and pool, but the rest of the time has been spent shivering and training. And in case of Vika and Masha, all kinds of dangerous activities. I'll be happy if we get those two back unharmed. Queen Aliya stayed in Penza according to her individual training plan, but Lena made it to Mallorca and is training again, at least lightly.

Have fun, girls!