Russia had a very deep field of junior talent before London and while a good gymnast, Masha didn't stand out among her internationally successful peers. Her only major success as a junior came in 2010 when she made the junior European Championships team and contributed to her team's first place finish. She also took the silver medal on vault, losing the gold to another member of the future London team, Viktoria Komova. Her first senior year was also without much success, she suffered from injuries and inconsistency and didn't make any major teams. Her only international competition was a World Cup in Belgium, where she didn't get any medals. It didn't look like London was in the cards for her.
2012 started out much the same way. Even though Masha made the silver winning European Championships team, she continued her inconsistent performances and didn't even qualify to the vault final. Her two vaults also weren't difficult enough for a specialist spot (most of her teammates were capable of the same vaults and much more on the other events) at the Olympics. But she was still working hard to raise her difficulty and when the Olympics came, she had upgraded both of her vaults. She now had the Amanar, one of the most difficult vault in women's gymnastics and a huge advantage for any team to have at the Olympics. The American team had 4 and Russia only two, so she made the team just for that vault alone.Her career after London continued as before it. She made the European Championships team in 2013, but fell on both of her vaults in the finals and didn't medal. She suffered from injuries for the most of 2014 and didn't come back into competition until 2015. She didn't make the the European Championships team in favor of her more consistent teammate, but when she got injured, Masha was called in from Moscow to fly to France only a day before the competition. She didn't even have a chance to take part in the podium training, but performed extremely well and became the European Champion on vault. Later that year she became the World Champion on vault.
Even though Masha's career has been filled with hardship, she hasn't given up and has come back time after time. Her dream is to become an Olympic Champion and she loves standing on the podium listening to the Russian national anthem. She's a very passionate competitor and you can see the emotions on her face when she's on the podium: nerves, relief, happiness and tears of both joy and disappointment. And she is now much better than she was four years ago in London. She has upgraded her second vault and significantly improved the execution on both of her vaults over the years. She still suffers from inconsistency, but has always managed to perform her best when it counts. Masha hasn't competed all around since she was a junior, but is very good on bars (2013 European bronze medalist) and decent on floor.
Masha's difficulty scores for Rio:
- VT: 6.3 and 6.4
VAULT: This is only reason she's on the team and her only apparatus in team finals. She has one of the best combined difficulty scores in the world and she's the reigning World Champion. There are only a few gymnasts who can challenge her. Her Amanar is high and long, but even though her execution has much improved, she has significant leg separation on block (especially on the Cheng) and crossed legs in the air. She usually lands her vaults very well. She's inconsistent in smaller competitions, but seems to always perform her best when it counts.
MEDAL PROSPECTS: TF, VT
She should make the vault final and has a very good chance of medaling, and could even get the gold. Her difficulty is one of the highest in the world, but her main competitor, Simone Biles, now has the same difficulty and better execution. There are also contestants with the infamous Produnova, the most difficult vault women can do, but all of them are inconsistent with it.
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