Voronin Cup 2016: The Nabz is back!

The Cup of Mikhail Voronin ended the competition season for our team a week ago in Moscow. It was a nice get together with most of the team present in some form or another. Everyone seemed to be extra tired and sloppy, but in good spirits nevertheless. There was even a live stream, but the competition was such a splatfest (as usual) that I wasn't sure whether to giggle or cry while watching.

Elena Eremina and Lilia Akhaimova easily won the team competition and took home a huge trophy for their efforts. Interestingly enough, while Lena won the junior AA, Lilia didn't even place. I know she's pretty much a one-eventer, but since we're supposed to take her seriously as a national team member now (I'm really struggling with it), she could have snuck in with the weak field they had in this competition. Senior AA went to Daria Elizarova instead, with Polina Fedorova as the runner up.

My favorite competitor (rather surprisingly) was Elizaveta Kochetkova. She didn't look nearly as worn out as the rest and managed to stand out because of that. She has a pretty lovely floor routine, despite her music's identity crisis. She can actually move and the whip to triple is a nice change, it could look great if she learns to control it a bit better. For some reason she reminds me of Shelgunova, but Liza is a tiny bit more polished. She won the junior title on floor with a 13.634.

She also won gold on her best apparatus, uneven bars. It wasn't her best set, it had plenty of form breaks and an extremely close catch on a jaeger, but I love love love her bhardwaj. It's very flighty and looks easy, definitely one of the best out there at the moment.

She actually looked pretty nice on beam too, but fell twice, because it would have been way too good of a competition for her otherwise. She finished second in AA with a 53.966. 

Elena Eremina won the junior all around (56.433) and was finally ready to bring out the Nabieva and I'm so proud of her. It didn't look as good as in training yet, but she caught it every time, which is quite an achievement. She had an empty swing after it during the finals and finished second to Liza, but managed a better routine during AA/TF.

She had upgrades on beam as well, mounting with an impressive RO+LOSO and then struggling through the rest of her routine. She's clearly following Nabs' lead, so maybe one day we'll see a barani too. On floor she was looking more comfortable with the new routine, but it was as much of a struggle as beam.

Varvara Zubova managed to stay on beam for once and took junior gold for that alone.

Her new floor routine was just as cutesy as all of her previous ones, and she added a memmel to illusion turn.

Daria Elizarova was easily the best senior of the competition, simply because she had energy. That alone made her stand out compared to the washed out girls from the national team. She took gold on beam and AA, and bronze on floor and looked like a ray of sunshine, as usual.

Lilia Akhaimova took senior gold on vault and floor. She's way past her peak season just like the rest of the team, but managed some decent routines. She had an interesting solution to the new front tumbling requirement on floor and started a tumbling pass with front tuck. It reminds me of cheerleading, but it's something different. Oh, and I think her dancing is getting a tiny bit better, finally.

Oh, and Evgenia Shelgunova competed too, but she was, well, herself. I think she probably managed to beat Seda's record for most falls this year because of this meet.

Watching these routines really made me miss the good old days when Voronin Cup was filled with angelic Russian juniors in a death match over the future rulership of Round Lake. Looking regal was mandatory even if you fell 100 times and everyone went for broke, presenting their newest and most difficult skills just because they wanted to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies.

The 2009 Voronin Cup had a 14-year-old Viktoria Komova bringing out routines like this.

And let's not forget this routine from a 13-year-old Anastasia Grishina. And while we're at it, a 13-year-old Aliya in 2007 with a standing arabian and a triple twist (or double ?) dismount. *sigh* 

Vika and Aliya were both in attendance this year, but just as spectators and officials. I sometimes wonder if they look at the juniors and see the difference. Probably. They just decide not to be so obnoxious about it as Khorkina. And me right now.

*sigh*

But here's a picture from this year's Voronin Cup to cheer you up: Ksenia Semenova hopefully carrying a future Russian all around champion in her belly. Auntie Aliya is giving her royal blessing to the baby (how could it not be a champion after that?) and Sergei Starkin (the coach of Semy's husband, David Ablyazin) sure looks excited about it.

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LINKS:

The complete results are HERE.

Pictures can be found HERE.

More videos HERE and HERE.