I thought I'd really quickly introduce the Russian team to those of you not as familiar with them as us gymternet regulars.
Angelina Melnikova
Who: Gelya is only a second year senior (born in 2000), but already the very young leader of the Russian team. After a very successful junior career, she made the Russian Rio Olympic team in 2016 and won a silver medal in the team competition. She's also a European Team Champion from last year.
Watch: She is a very strong all around gymnast with great gymnastics on every apparatus. She's also one of the more "traditional" Russian gymnasts of her generation with beautiful lines and execution, most apparent on balance beam. She also has a new and interesting floor routine to music from Romeo and Juliet.
Medal chances: She has difficult routines and good execution, so if she hits, she should easily make every final. She's also capable of medaling in every final with hit routines, but her best chance is probably all around. Unfortunately she's had a terrible season so far. I wouldn't even call her performances inconsistent, they are definitely consistent, just consistently bad. So she should easily come out with a few medals if she hits, but hitting is really unlikely at this point without some kind of a last minute miracle.
Natalia Kapitonova
Who: Kapi is a second year senior (born in 2000) too, and relatively untested in the international arena. She was an alternate last year in Rio Olympics and has competed in several smaller competitions, but this is her first major team. She is coming back from a growth spurt and injury, but she still had very successful Russian Championships a month ago, winning gold on all around and uneven bars.
Watch: She too is a fairly good all around gymnast capable of good scores on everything, even if her difficulty doesn't quite match Gelya. However, her best event by far is bars. She has a very difficult routine with gorgeous execution. She's also beautiful on floor with a very classical style, and clean execution.
Medal chances: If she performs her full difficulty on bars and hits her routine, there are few that could challenge her for gold. Because of her good consistency, she could also sneak in on the all around taking advantage of other people's mistakes, like she has done several times this season. Medal on floor isn't impossible either, but unlikely.
Elena Eremina
Who: Lena is a first year senior (born in 2001), the baby of the team. This is her fist major senior team, but she is the reigning Junior European All Around Champion from 2016.
Watch: Lena is a very good all around gymnast with competitive routines on every apparatus and will compete with her team mates for the two spots in the final. She's best on balance beam and floor with beautiful and charming routines, but her slightly messy uneven bars routine is also definitely worth watching for the incredibly difficult releases.
Medal chances: Her best chance to medal is probably in the all around. I guess she could surprise on beam or bars. Maybe even floor on a good day.
Maria Paseka
Who: Masha is the veteran of the team, having completed two Olympic cycles already, and made both London and Rio Olympics. She has more titles than rest of the team together, she's the 2015 European Champion and World Champion on vault, and she has 3 Olympic silvers and a bronze.
Watch: She's a vault event specialist, one of the strongest vaulters in the world with an amanar and a cheng. She's also good on uneven bars, but as of now, she won't compete on anything else than vault.
Medal chances: She has been out of competition since the Olympics because of an old injury, but if she has both of her vaults back, she would almost be guaranteed to win gold. If not and she performs easier vaults, she could still medal if she hits them.
I really want to see who is going to qualify for the AA....I find that the most interesting, given the start of the year that Melka is having.
ReplyDeleteBut I wish they all do great :)
I'm so nervous about that. I have a feeling that we're going to see a repeat of the last post-Olympic Euros when we had three Russians all desperately trying to two-per-country themselves out of the finals by falling everywhere. I definitely wish that Melka would make the final and redeem herself by doing a decent job, but it looks unlikely. Kapi has so far gotten the best AA scores all year so I think she'll probably make it (even if I can't really see her as a legit A-team AA gymnast) and the second spot is Melka's to lose.
DeleteI hope Melka makes it to the AA too....especially after not being able to compite on the AA in Rio....I think all the expectations on her being the next big thing for the Russian Federation play against her in the worst possible times, an she gets really nervous...I just hopes she eventually relaxes and just do the beautiful gymnastics that she is capable of.
DeleteI like Kapi too, a lot, and I think she is being so consistent lately because she seems a little more remove...not that she doesnt care (all this girls care about what they're doing...the way that they work at such a young age is unbeliavable), it just seems to me that Kapi is having more fun with it that Melka.
Hope Melka will do well at Euros, esp if Aliya will be doing commentary for women's part at ECh in Cluj for Russian tv ;)
ReplyDeleteGrebionkin ia so pessimistic about team Russia Euro expectations :( he also says that Melka was included in euroteam by coache's decision. P.S. He says that Paseka will do Cheng and Amanar http://stadium.ru/news/14-04-2017-evgenii-grebenkin-glavnoe-vistupit-v-svoyu-silu-i-ne-dopuskat-padenii
ReplyDelete