The European Championships is here, but I'm not!

The teams are now in Glasgow ready to compete at the 2018 European Championships in just a few days. And I'm really excited, trust me. Both teams are actually pretty young, and it seems to be the direction we've been going since the start of this quadrennium. The 2012 quad that has been backing up the team since, well, before 2012 is really struggling to keep up and the young ones are finally given the opportunity for making a name for themselves and being a team. You know, an actual team, instead of a veteran and some young headcases who don't really have to well because the veterans will make sure that a medal is placed around a Russian neck. I'm in no way against the veterans doing gymnastics as long as they want to, but this feels exciting. And scary. It could be a disaster.

I'm still weirded out by Ira in Russian gear

As I said, the junior team is young too (four gymnasts born in 2004), and we finally found out who they actually are: Ksenia Klimenko, Vladislava Urazova, Irina Komnova, Olga Astafyeva and Yana Vorona.

I can't really make a proper "Meet the Team" post, because I'm currently in Cyprus, sitting at a cafe looking over the Mediterranean with a Mojito in hand and only my cellphone to write on, so we'll have keep this short.

The Seniors:

They will contend for team gold, but a huge meltdown is just as possible as a gold medal. This spring I thought that nothing could stop the Russians from dominating the team competition at European Championships this year, they were that strong, but I was wrong. Now Russia has slowly fallen apart as usual and even thought injuries have piled up in other teams as well, they're still strong. So the fight for the medals will be real. The timing of this year's Euros really worked against Russia.

Angelina Melnikova: Expect anything, everything and nothing. She seems to really have gotten her stride back and could medal on literally everything. She's that good when she's on. But she has knee problems and luck is not always on her side, so she could also get nothing. But I hope for a few medals and my expectations are highest on floor. Beam is a precarious thing as always, but she has the routine and skills to win on a good day. Bars win is not really possible with her current routine, unless it's a disastrous final, but a medal is still technically possible. And something like vault bronze wouldn't be too big of a surprise either.

Ulyana Perebinosova: I'm still confused over her excellent verification results, but good for her. It was about time she started hitting. I only expect a medal on bars and I don't even expect that, because even though her routine is awesome, she more often misses than hits. And she doesn't really score well internationally on anything. And yeah, I'm terrified of putting her up on anything during team final. But she's more than welcome to prove my ass wrong. I'd be really happy to be wrong about her.

Angelina Simakova: Melka can be a team captain for all she cares, but I'm going to need this Gelya to be the rock she can be during team final. She's young, but even though she makes nervous mistakes, she's not as prone to complete meltdowns as the others. I don't think I've ever seen a complete meltdown from her. A fall on beam at most. And I'd actually put her on bars with Melka and Ira over Ulya, because she's always clean and rock solid. There, I said it. Her best shot at a medal is obviously on vault, if she manages to find her Rudi (that's a big if). Floor and beam wouldn't be out of the question either. She always hits floor and the way beam finals usually turn out to be at Euros, she could easily get gold just for hitting. And I would be fine with that, she's nice and clean on beam.

Irina Alexeeva: I'm not expecting any personal medals from her, but she could easily be an event finalist and her best shots are on beam and bars. I'm actually half expecting her to surprise me. And I hope that Valentina is right about her "American mentality". It will be needed during the team final. Save us, Ira.

Lilia Akhaimova: She could contend on vault and floor, as usual. The results depend on the ankle tape on her.

The Juniors:

The team gold is obviously expected. I don't think Russia has lost since it became Russia. And this team is amazing. They'll get plenty of individual medals too, barring a huge meltdown. I'm actually expecting to see a tiny Russian on every podium except for vault. How weird is that? Hopefully I haven't cursed them now.

Ksenia Klimenko: She will fight for death over that all around gold with Vlada. Only some very Russian behaviour and steady competitors will stand between them and the gold. Too bad Ksyusha has been very prone to that type of Russian behaviour of late. Ugh. Gold on floor, beam and bars is also possible for her. The bars gold is basically hers to lose, but she has been inconsistent with her gorgeous routine, so yeah. She's incredibly beautiful on beam, but could just as easily have a meltdown. Floor is where I most expect a medal, she's pretty consistent there and tends to score really well.

Vladislava Urazova: As I said, the all around gold will most likely be fought between her and Klimenko, and Vlada is the more consistent one so far. So I expect great things from her during that final. She could also get gold on beam and floor and even grab a medal on vault. The beam gold is pretty much hers to lose at this point, I don't think anyone else has a shot if she hits. And she's almost just as great on floor. She only has a Yurchenko 1.5 on vault, but it's good so depending on the amount of hit DTY's she could possibly medal there.

Olga Astafyeva: I expect her to be the third all arounder and I expect her to get 2-per-countried out of that podium by her teammates, if she even gets there. I'm not too optimistic about her chances, but to be honest, she could easily contend for beam or bars medals on a good day. She, Ksyusha and Ira will fight over those two spots in the bars final and whoever hits beam, will make the beam final with Vlada. Vlada needs to hit and I refuse to believe she won't. I refuse!

Yana Vorona: She isn't as accomplished internationally as Vlada and Ksyusha, so she is a bit of a question mark for me right now. She could do really well, or not. She's pretty inconsistent though. But I think she will try to 2-per-country Vlada and Ksyusha out of the floor finals, and could actually make it on a good day. And if she makes it, she will fight for medals. Beam is the same, really, and we know how beam finals work. I guess she could even surprise on vault. 

Irina Komnova: She'll probably only compete bars, maybe beam. And on bars she could fight for gold if she hits. She's definitely more consistent than Ksyusha, even though my vote is still on Ksyusha.  If she competes beam, she could maybe contend. Always expect the unexpected from beam.

Okay, this wasn't short at all :D I'm just incapable of being short when writing about my dear team Russia. Sorry about any mistakes, typos and structural issues. You have no idea how difficult editing this post was on mobile... I'll fix the layout issues when I return home and have an actual computer.

And greetings from the Aphrodite's island! Send me your address to tsarinamustafina@gmail.com, and you'll get a postcard. I dare you! I'm actually going to die if one if you does it.