Russian Championships 2017: Post-Competition Round-Up

Now that the competition is over, let's take a look at what we saw. You also sent me plenty of links, so I think I'll go over some of them too. Oh, and Valentina Rodionenko has obviously announced the European Championships team that will change 1000 times before the actual competition, so we'll get to that too.

But let's start with a short interview about Aliya's impressions of the competition, because she managed to sum up my own opinion too:

Not Drawn to the Podium

Let us remind you that Aliya Mustafina is in a great position for a girl - the 22-year-old athlete is pregnant and taking a break from her sports career. At the Russian Championships in Kazan, Aliya was not only the guest of honor, but also did commentary for the competition. 

-How does it feel to be only in the role of a cheerleader and commentator? You don't feel drawn to the podium yourself?
Not yet, doesn't temp me [smiles]. I'm content with what I have. I'm very glad that during this pause in my career I still have the opportunity to be around gymnastics.  

-What kind of impression did the championships in Kazan leave?
The organization of the event was of the highest level. I liked everything, and from the athletes' point of view, I can tell that they agreed. Kazan gave a great opportunity to prepare for the upcoming international competitions. It was evident that the girls who competed at the Olympics are still getting back in shape. But those who are only aspiring to get to the national team, showed quite good results. This is just the beginning of the season, there are new rules it is too early to make any conclusions. 

-What can you say about the changes made to the rules of artistic gymnastics, the evaluation of difficulty in particular?
I cannot say if it will make the athlete's job easier or more difficult. The fact that they lowered the baseline of difficulty score 0.5 points has no effect. And as for the connections, you can get used to everything and it will all work out. [note: I have no idea if I translated this sentence anywhere near correctly, probably not]

I'm cringing at the first sentence, because it takes us right back to the 19th century. But Aliya seems very diplomatic. Everyone is still getting in shape, let's not judge this mess too fast. The new girls did pretty good and we can leave it at that. I actually agree with her. Well spoken, Queen Aliya. The peasants thank you for your time and words. However, this reminded me about when Aliya said that she doesn't want to coach, but would instead like to do publicity and promote gymnastics as a sport in Russia after retirement. Kind of like Svetlana Khorkina does right now. But can you imagine what Svetlana Khorkina would have to say after this competition? It would not be diplomatic. They're like the yin and yang or Russian gymnastics and I would love to see them battle it out in the press.

I think that the team finally has some depth in talent, but endurance and lack of conditioning is obviously the main problem at the moment. I don't think the conditioning will improve anytime soon, not until they get a new head coach who understands modern gymnastics, but endurance should get better once the competition season starts. This may sound optimistic, but at least in the previous years they have gotten to the point where they can actually execute their routines at peak shape. Not that well, but good enough. Of course they did just fire half of their coaching staff after Rio, so maybe I shouldn't compare their strategy from previous years to this quad.

As for the individual gymnasts, I was happy with Natalia Kapitonova, Elena Eremina, Lilia Akhaimova and Anastasia Ilyankova. All showed progress and big potential. Nastia has a back injury that took her out of the all around, but she has still managed to improve on bars and hit three good routines during the competition, many more than her competitors. Despite her struggles after the Olympics, Kapi hit one absolutely beautiful bars routine and showed poise and growth on everything else. She was one of the few who was actually prepared for the competition and made it through 4 days without embarrassing herself. This should be something given instead of exceptional, but the bar for having a good meet was really low this time. Lena wasn't particularly great, but at least met my expectations and didn't disappoint me. Again, the bar for a good meet was really low. She showed upgraded routines and was already capable of performing them, but needs to refine her execution and build stamina and consistency during the month leading up to Euros. I think she'll be fine. As for Lilia, she'd be great on floor if they gave her a proper routine. She was also in the best shape out of everybody in this competition and should get some sort of MVP award for that. The only problem is, that she's mediocre and unusable in major competitions on everything else than floor. Apparently she's training the DTY, so if she gets that, the situation will be a lot different.

The group who I wasn't happy with, but didn't even expect to be happy with was Seda Tutkhalyan, Daria Spiridonova and the B-team. Seda was right back to her usual unpredictable and inconsistent self, nothing surprising there, but she looked a lot more sluggish than usually. Her bars were downgraded, slow and her handstands were outright terrible close to the end of her routine. She could fit right in at a line-up of a B-grade NCAA team. And she didn't manage to hit even one beam routine. She's obviously struggling with growth and still trying to recover from the Olympics, so I forgive her for now. But if she goes to Euros and is still looking like this, no. As a positive, she managed to hit 3 DTYs. Dasha was originally in my "shame on you" -group because of her inconsistent bars (don't be inconsistent on your only usable apparatus), but I have to admit that she was actually doing better on beam and floor than usually, even if her stamina was even more dreadful than last year. And this is her 4th year as a senior, and also the post-Olympic year. If she wanted to have a bigger break after the Games and take her time getting back to training and competition shape, I completely understand and she absolutely deserves it. But in that case she should straight out aim for the Worlds, not put up some half-assed routines in hopes of an undeserved Euros spot.

And the B-team. Daria Skrypnik was just like she always is. Capable of an amazing routine on bars, but terribly inconsistent. And mediocre B-teamer on everything else with even worse stamina than Spiridoz. Anastasia Dmitrieva was just like she has been these past two years, inconsistent and sluggish. Evgenia Shelgunova was also just like always. Stellar beam and bars, and charming floor when she's on. But she's also terribly inconsistent and even when she's on, she loses too much in execution to really matter unless everyone else is injured. It's too bad, because physical ability-wise she's so good. Ironically though, her execution is judged even more harshly in Russia than abroad, no domestic bonuses for her. Elizaveta Kochetkova didn't impress me this time. She was fine, but a clear B-teamer.

And the final "shame on you" -group, consisting of Angelina Melnikova. She too is coming back from the Olympics, but I'm not quite as ready to forgive her, as I am to Spiri and Seda. First of all, she's relatively fresh, only a second year senior, and not in the middle of a growth spurt. She should be at her physical peak this year, with a lot of competition experience to support that. Second of all, she knew she's Russia's best all arounder now and that they're relying on her this year when they're still trying to build the new team. She knew that and this is how she prepared for that role? No. You can show up to a minor competition looking terrible and not even try when you're Aliya and have years of success behind you to assure everyone that when the time is right, you can hit. She isn't Aliya, so she still has to prove herself, and she didn't.

That said, I feel bad for her, I really do. And I kind of still believe that she'll be fine. She was a very level-headed junior and super reliable even as a first-year senior when there were other gymnasts that kept the spotlight off of her. But she's obviously crumbling under the pressure of being the team leader now that the 2012 quad if gone, and there's not much anyone can do about it. I hope that she can get her mental game and stamina up leading up to the Euros, because she could really be the star there this year. She's capable of a medal on every apparatus, and she's actually the front runner for the all around gold if Larisa Iordache keeps struggling with injuries. I feel like if she has successful Euros, it would do miracles for her confidence and really help her carry that pressure. If not, I'm not sure if she can mentally recover. Come on guys, light your candles for Gelya.

The team for European Championships right at this second is Angelina Melnikova, Seda Tutkhalyan, Natalia Kapitonova and Elena Eremina. V-Rod says that unless there's an injury, Kapi, Seda and Melka are locks. And they'll also take Lena for sure. I don't know if she watched the competition, but it's not like she has that many choices. Spiri has either really fallen from grace, or they'll swap her in at the last moment like always.

I think my team after the first two days was Melka, Lena, Nastia and Kapi/Seda, depending on Seda's vaulting and readiness closer to the competition. But Kapi is the better choice instead of Nastia as long as Kapi can still hit her full bars routine and Nastia can't do AA. I'm used to picking out gymnasts for team competitions, so I find it really hard to pick who has the most chance of individual medals. The scores are just easier to count for the team, and you don't have to assess the competition so closely. For example, even though Lilia only has floor, it would be justified to send her just for that floor medal if she'll most likely get it with a hit routine. But in that case we have to evaluate the competition. Will she have any chance of a floor medal against the likes of Ponor and Iordache, who are both better than Lilia even if they are in a mediocre shape? Some of the Brits too. And is Giulia Steingruber back from her break?

The next competition will be a World Cup in Stuttgart, Germany at the end of this month. Russia will send both a team for the team cup, and a gymnast for the all around competition. The team will have Lilia Akhaimova, Elena Eremina, Elizaveta Kochetkova, Daria Spiridonova and Seda Tutkhalyan. I wish they'd send Kapi instead of Kochetkova, that would give us a better idea if she's ready for Euros, or if she's going back to the B-team. Melka will be their gymnasts at the AA competition. I hope they do some serious downgrades for her there if she still looks like this at the time. Better to do downgraded routines well at this point, than implode on your difficult ones. She needs a confidence booster.

Oh, and if you want to see just how bad the conditioning is, Daria Skrypnik can't do a back tuck without someone spotting her. Seriously. You may think of her as a UB specialist, but she's still competing the all around. And she can't do a standing back tuck. Watch here if you dare.
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Links:
V-Rod's European Team announcement.
Interview with Aliya.