But more importantly, Andrei Rodionenko announced the Olympic team (yes, again, this the 100th team probably) after the event finals, and it's currently:
- Aliya Mustafina
- Angelina Melnikova
- Maria Paseka
- Daria Spiridonova
- Seda Tutkhalyan
- Alts: Kapitonova, Afanasyeva, Akhaimova
-----
Here are the event final medalists:
 |
| Vault |
1. Maria Paseka 14.867
2. Seda Tutkhalyan 14.734
3. Tatiana Nabieva 14.234
 |
| Uneven Bars |
1. Natalia Kapitonova 15.333
2. Angelina Melnikova 15.033
3. Daria Spiridonova 14.933
 |
| Balance Beam |
1. Angelina Melnikova 15.400
2. Seda Tutkhalyan 13.967
3. Evgenia Shelgunova 13.867
 |
| Floor Exercise |
1. Lilia Akhaimova 14.367
2. Natalia Kapitonova 13.867
3. Angelina Melnikova 13.733
-----
Seda did a repeat of the nationals, hitting team, AA and first day of event finals, and then returning to her old days on day two. She hit her vaults, suffered a minor mistake on bars on day one, but combusted on day 2. She fell on beam (but hit the full in dismount) and put her hands down on floor. I honestly think it's partly both mental and physical exhaustion. These are basically the Olympic trials (like the nationals were trials for Euros) and the pressure was on for her. The other part is just her being Seda and falling off beam is as Seda as anything, really. Winning a silver medal on beam with a fall is also very Seda. Valentina was praising her maturity and discipline a few days ago, let's see what she has to say now.
Spiridoz was also unfortunately trying to get herself off the Rio team. She had a mistake on bars on a pirouette and had to settle for a bronze medal. That's not good, but I think I still trust her on bars in a team final situation. But she's super lucky that the Rods love her. They actually put her on beam during the beam final even though she didn't qualify for it, just to test her out again. And she fell, again. That's 0/4 routines at this competition, 3 of which were extra routines she had to do just to prove she could hit. Well, she proved she's consistent. Consistently bad. If Seda makes the team, she should write a thank you letter for Spiri.
Melka continued to shine. She hit bars for silver and then scored an astronomical 15.400 on beam for gold. I saw only parts of her routine, but what I saw, was near perfect. That's still obviously too high, but whatever. I didn't see anything on floor, but her score was in the 13s, so it was obviously not her best performance. Based on her difficulty score, we can blame those turn combos. She still got a bronze medal though, because Russia is Russia on floor. But that means that she collected all colors, three golds, one silver and one bronze.
Aliya skipped the finals altogether. She already on the team and since she's old (for a gymnast, okay), she needs her rest. She was apparently asked to skip the second day of AA too, but refused. Oh, Aliya...
After underwhelming first two days of competition, Kapi stepped up her game and took advantage of other people's mistakes nabbing two medals, a gold on bars and silver on floor. She hit her 6.7 UB routine for the second time in a row for an impressive 15.333. She could really be a big asset for the team during the next quad, if she keeps this up. Although if she wants to avoid being the next Spiridoz, she needs a second apparatus. Beam and vault don't seem to be working out so well, so that leaves us floor, which is exactly what Russia needs. Kapi is decent on floor, her routine is rather easy but clean, so there's potential.
Lilia Akhaimova put the national team in shame on floor, getting the gold medal and catching Valentina's eye in the process. She has a very nice floor for a Russian and she's been on the reserve team since 2013 when she turned senior, but she's has almost zero international experience and floor is the only apparatus which she can factor in on. This didn't stop Valentina, who said that they are considering taking her to Rio as an alternate. Some anon informed me on tumblr, that they actually can't do that because she doesn't even have a FIG license. I can't guarantee the reliability of that piece of information, but Valentina's incompetence is pretty hilarious if that's true. UPDATE: I checked myself and it is true. They have to apply for a license a month prior to the nominative registration date and yeah, I'm not sure how that'll work out, unless they've already applied before the Russian Cup. Nabs BTW also doesn't have a license.
Because of this Lilia situation, I'd like to have a moment of silence for Nabs. Think about it, she was openly training for Rio, came to this competition to get noticed and instead, they pick another girl from St. Petersburg who wasn't even on the map. Ouch. Don't worry Nabs, we still love you and no one can replace your facial expressions and attitude.
-----
The complete results (EF) are HERE.
More pictures HERE.
UPDATE: Some routines have shown up to YouTube. Check out Akhaimova's floor and Melka's beam and don't watch anything from Seda.
No comments:
Post a Comment