The Best and Worst of 2017: The Routines

Team Russia had some great routines last year. And plenty of bad ones... But these are my picks for the best and worst routines for 2017. I didn't bother to include that many worst ones, the few I picked just happen to be close to my heart.

The National Team of 2017

VAULT

Let's face it, not a good category for the Russians, especially at the moment. Unless we're talking about the worst vaults.

Maria Paseka, World Championships 2017, Vault Event Final

She was either recovering or injured for most of the year, had a bad time at the European Championships, but delivered when it was most important and is the reigning World Champion on vault. Again. Or not again, STILL. Like her or not, she's going down as one of the most successful vaulters of 3 different quadrenniums. Thank you Beefarm. And her amanar has actually grown on me.

Angelina Simakova, Massilia Cup 2017, All Around Final (Massilia Masters)

We have a vaulter. This is a not-so-tiny-anymore as of 2018 new senior who's a very capable all arounder, but most importantly, a vaulter. She is a Russian with a rudy, a true anomaly. This is not even a new vault for her, she's been performing it for a few years now. Cross your fingers, toes, ankles (for Aliya Mustafina's helicopter legs, you know), because she needs all the luck we can give her.

Elena Eremina, World Championships 2017, All Around Event Final

This is a really, really good vault from her, and ironically, that's why I'm putting it as a "worst". She's a great gymnast and a great gymnast needs to have a solid DTY. Not a dangerous only-podium-training-worthy DTY and an inconsistent and slowly-getting-better-but-still-ugly 1.5 in competition. Work on it, please.

UNEVEN BARS

This was a great year on bars for Russia. The creative slump they had last quadrennium is gone and we have these new and innovative routines to stan over. The Russians were arguably the best bar workers in the World this year (both by quality and quantity) and I'm so proud. Now I know, these kids aren't the almost impossibly clean, dependable, poised veterans (with their shap halfs and inbars to die for) we had last quad. They still need to refine and perfect their work, but they're new seniors already at the top of their game, so I have faith. And in a few years I'll probably regret ever having had faith in them, because that's how these things tend to go.

Elena Eremina, World Championships 2017, Qualifications

My favorite uneven bars routine from Lena all year. The cleanest form she's had with this routine (at least from this angle), nice handstands, connections finally hit and consequently an uninterrupted flow, just like bars should be. And the composition is unbelievable. A nabieva, an actual live, consistent nabieva. This routine was the showstopper at every single competition it was performed at this year and it deserved it.

Anastasia Ilyankova, World Championships 2017, Qualifications

You all know I'm a sucker for good handstands, and that naturally makes me a sucker for Ilya. She's gorgeous to look at on bars and seems to have the best of everything in this routine. Straight legs and pointed toes throughout, HANDSTANDS (that I already mentioned), extension, sky high releases, non-traditional but nicely flowing transitions and precision. She has struggled with back injuries and changed her routine composition many, many times these past few years constantly learning new skills and connections, yet still she looks this good. I'm still heartbroken over her mistake in the finals, because this routine definitely deserved a World Championships medal.

Natalia Kapitonova, Russian Championships 2017, Uneven Bars Event Final

I distinctly remember back then saying, that this was one of the best routines in the World, if not the best. To think about how the world of uneven bars changed in the months after this... This is the still slightly juniorish version (the end of the routine is still a bit of a letdown for me) of the traditional Russian uneven bars routine. It's all one big connection of beautiful stalders and shaposhnikovas, and Kapi has extremely clean form and beautiful long lines to accentuate it. It even won the gold medal at Nationals, but that was peak Kapi and before peak Ilya and Lena. Peak Ilya and Lena came with their newly refined unconventional sets and set the standard for a new era of Russian bar work. By the end of the year, I almost didn't remember this routine. It didn't help that Kapi couldn't repeat this performance at the European Championships, or keep up with the rest of the A-team afterwards.

Viktoria Komova, Voronin Cup 2017, Qualifications/All Around Final

A slightly sluggish Vika is still better than no Vika. She definitely has some trouble making it through a full routine, but it's still Vika, so tiny touches of perfection are sprinkled everywhere. I swear I almost wrote here that Vika on bars is like seeing poetry in motion, but then I thought it was way too corny for my cynical soul. Then I of course remembered this post. Hmm... 

Ksenia Klimenko, Massilia Cup 2017, Uneven Bars Even Final (Top Massilia)

Okay, I have to admit that this wasn't my favorite routine from her this year. My favorite (from EYOF) just had bad quality footage. But this was good too, she even has the leotard from a lucky era. She needs to clean this up quite a bit, but the composition is great (the elements from an old school Russian routine with a few modern twists), and the potential is amazing. And most importantly, she has my beloved Russian Swing. *swoons*

A shoutout to Ulyana Perebinosova for a daring and incredible routine too.

BALANCE BEAM

Not a lot of great moments on beam this year. The Russians are usually great, but consistently fall on the "miss" side of "hit and miss". But this year they were almost forgettable. It's not that there weren't some nice routines, there just weren't any really great and memorable moments on beam.

Elena Eremina, World Championships 2017, Qualifications

Lena truly is great on beam. We've seen this year that beam is the worst scoring event of the quadrennium so it won't do her any good, but she's a joy to watch. She's steady and assured, but not too hesitant and not twitchy. Just calm and precise. Her rhythm to me is the best in the world at the moment and the flow of this routine is almost relaxing. She never quite stops, but it isn't too busy or try too hard. The choreography is almost understated, actually. Her routine from the all around final scored .800 more than this, but we still haven't even seen it. It's like the entire routine never happened and I'm not okay with that. If anyone can find it, please send it to me. I'll share my bottle of cheap wine with you and send you some of the sacred hair that keeps falling off my cat. It's sacred because he's awesome.

Varvara Zubova, European Youth Olympic Festival 2017, All Around Final

This really is peak ZubZub on beam, her best performance in maybe ever. Maybe it's the bad quality of the footage, or maybe she just managed to avoid her usual form errors? I don't know. But it's awesome and actually beautiful. Like Lena, she has plenty of charm and easy flow, but instead of understated, her routine is very showy. In a good way though. She has actual choreography and plenty of elements that she doesn't need, they're there just to make the routine look great, and they work. This is the reason people call her old school, not just because of her (former Soviet style) haircut and gainers.

Aliya Mustafina, Aleksei Nemov Show, Exhibition Routine

Yeah, she made the "best" list on beam just for showing up and having a few skills, I was that unimpressed with everyone else. Anf to be fair to her, she did give birth only few months before this. But look at that poise and tell me someone else had anything close to that. That's right, no one did. My only improvement to this routine would have been wearing an actual all black unitard. Just a plain simple one or something more like this, if she wanted to be fancy. This random leotard and chalky leggings getup just looks too amateurish for My Tsaritsa.

My shout outs on beam go to Vladislava Urazova for such difficulty for someone so young, Angelina Simakova for overall good job and Elena Gerasimova for her beauty.

FLOOR EXERCISE

For the first time since forever, the Russians were actually rather entertaining on floor. The team had some well-composed routines and many of the gymnasts didn't even look like the walking dead. How refreshing. This section still ended up having some "worst" routines included.

Angelina Melnikova, European Championships 2017, Floor Exercise Final

An obvious choice, because what a moment. Angelina Melnikova is a European Champion on floor. A Russian other than Ksenia Afanasyeva is a European Champion on floor. I still can't believe it. It was probably the crappiest year of Melka's life, but at least she had this. I think I loved this routine from the very first time I saw it, it's perfect for her. Less traditional and more mature than her previous one, but youthful and girlish enough for a gymnast her age. They've also successfully managed to work around the lack of personality in her gymnastics and expression. I don't know, I just want to scream a thank you to the universe every time I see this.

Viktoria Komova, Voronin Cup 2017, Qualifications/All Around Final

Another great moment and another routine that I loved at first sight. The return of Viktoria Komova. Or not the return, a return of Vika, she's had quite a few comebacks by now. All she really does these days is get injured and come back. But a special moment nevertheless. The music has a huge identity crisis as usual, but I don't mind because it fits Vika. One moment she's awkward as hell, the next she's the most graceful swan there is. She's half-assing this as she usually does on floor, but she can still actually dance when you give her actual choreography to work with, something rare in gymnastics. And the choreography in this routine certainly has its moments.

Elena Eremina, World Championships 2017, All Around Final

The routine that clinched Elena Eremina the World Champiohips all round bronze medal, I still get excited when I see it. Unlike the other routines, I didn't love this one at first (at all), but it slowly grew on me, mostly because it always came with impeccable performance. The gymnastic elements come and go, but Lena always maintains her personality, charm and lightness. She just has that something, and she knows it. You can see it in her smile the moment she finishes.

Ksenia Klimenko, Youth Olympic Festival 2017, Qualifications

The leaps, the spins, the extension , the twisting form, the performance, the poise this Baby Swan has, I can't name one thing in this routine that I don't like. I just can't. And yes, I'm willing to forget the identity crisis of the music again. For little Ksyusha, I'll forget anything and everything. What a gymnast.

Aleksandra Schekoldina, Massilia Cup 2017, All Around Final (Massilia Masters)

This routine is here because it's both the best and the worst. The entrance is the best. The music is the worst. The SILIVAS FROM A RUSSIAN is the best, the memmel the worst. The facial expressions are the best, the choreography the worst. Her past potential is the best, this reality of coming back from a long bout of injuries is the worst. Such a weird mess, but I'm still impressed. Yikes.

Tatiana Nabieva, Voronin Cup 2017, Qualifications/All Around Final

Another routine both the best and worst. It's good for being so bad and it's also just plain good. Nabs still has all the basics of a professional who spent her childhood refining her work at Round Lake. But she also has her "I don't care" attitude, and that makes for an entertaining and hilarious combination. One minute she's beautiful and poised and the next she stumbling and laughing at the most inappropriate moment. You do you, Nabs.

My shout outs on floor go to Maria Kharenkova for coming back and looking strong, Varvara Zubova for her consistently great and original routines and showmanship and Lilia Akhaimova for being a Russian capable of good tumbling and still upgrading.

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And that concludes my favorite routines from 2017. I left some good ones and plenty of decent ones out, but I wanted that the included routines had something special in them. Or that I personally at least saw something special int them.

Have a great weekend!