Euros 2016: Senior Podium Training with Team Hot Mess

Today was the senior podium training. Italian Gymnastics Federation (Federazione Ginnastica d'Italia
who have provided excellent coverage of pretty much every meet this year, thank you very much) streamed some of it on Periscope. UEG had a slightly better stream on their Facebook page. The top teams were all in the last session of the day and it looked like Marta's wonderland with at least 3 teams (including Russia and Romania) wearing the same obnoxious shade of pink.

Russia is never the one to put much effort into podium training, but don't worry, bad podium training and qualification promise good results (just remember Glasgow when the qualification went without falls). Aliya was the MVP on beam with 4 falls, round off single back tuck as a dismount, and she even managed to land it crooked and bounce right off the mats to the hard surface of the podium, like Vika in London. Amazing. Spiridoz was surprisingly the one to stay on with Seda and Melka falling too.

Where things got weird was floor. Melka put her hands down on a double pike, Seda was great and Spiridoz did a dance through with layouts. Afan was a no show and it was Aliya, who anchored on floor, with downgraded tumbling, but otherwise okay routine (for a podium training). The style reminded me of her routine last year. I don't know what the fuck was going on with Afan, she was standing on the sidelines with her clothes on. Aliya also managed to take a bad fall on a mustafina-turn (ironically) and seemed to hurt her ankle a bit, but she walked off afterwards without issues. Meanwhile Melka and Seda were trying to get their wolf turns in order.

I didn't get to see much of vault, the camera was focusing on beam and floor, only a bunch of timers and some blurry DTYs from Melka, Aliya and Seda. No falls. Spiridoz vaulted too, still no Afan.

No one did a full bar routine, only parts. Aliya had her inbars back, but battled with her pak (maybe on purpose, maybe not), Melka face-planted a jaeger and Spiridoz just looked sloppy. You'd never guess how brilliant they are on this apparatus based on their training.

Romania looked solid, especially Catalina Ponor. They actually take podium training seriously. The home team also looked good on floor with Giulia Steingruber as their star and Ilaria Kaeslin having a weird mistake with finishing her routine out of bonds (her ending pose).

Valentina Rodionenko announced on R-sport that Aliya is testing her readiness in AA. Seda and Melka will also most likely do AA. I'll update this post when I know more about what's going on with Afan.

UPDATE:

Afan will only do vault, a minor injury apparently. That means Aliya will have to do floor, I'm not really happy about this. They really should have taken Kapi or Masha K. as a traveling alternate to avoid a situation like this...

Here are the startlists for tomorrow:

For Russia it's

• BB: Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Mustafina 
• FX: Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Mustafina
• VT: Melnikova, Tutkhalyan, Afanaseyva
• UB: Melnikova, Spiridonova, Mustafina

I don't really agree with this but who cares what I think. I'll tell you anyway... I think Melka should anchor balance beam. Aliya will set the right tone at the start and hopefully not fall, Seda is good in the middle (less nerves) and Melka should make a nice finish. They should also let Spiridoz anchor bars, milk that score to the lasts tenths, they are going to need everything they can get because of floor. Yeah, floor... Aliya probably needs all the time she can get to tape herself together, so let her go last. It's going to get scary no matter what.

A collection of interviews with Valentina Rodionenko

Valentina Rodionenko gave several interviews concerning the Russian Championships and the team selection for European Championships and the Olympics. She actually made more sense than usual. Here's a recap of what she said:

Russian Nationals 2016 - Event Finals (Welcome back Seda and Afan)

I really have nothing to say. Most gymnasts performed just as well or bad as before, except for my dear Seda, of course. And Afan who returned from the dead to show everyone that she still has it when she bothers to care.

Russian Nationals 2016 - Melka is The Chosen One

It is official, Angelina Melnikova is The Chosen One, the one Queen Aliya has chosen as her successor.

The team and all around events finished today and Melka continued her near perfect performances to grab the top spot on the podium. She actually dominated the competition with her two-day score points ahead the silver and bronze medalists, Seda Tutkhalyan (yay!) and Maria Kharenkova respectively. Her vault was the usual, off to the side, but beam and bars were as great as day one. On floor she didn't quite make all of her turns and connections and had to settle for lower difficulty (down to 5.8), but there were no other notable issues. Like Melka, Masha also had an amazing competition, 8 routines with no big errors. And this is Russians we are talking about! What is going on?

Russian Nationals 2016 - 15 is the magical number of Day 1

Just a quick post because I have school tomorrow morning and it's already 1 am. I just took my sleeping pills and I'm going to finish this post before they kick in. If I get too crazy towards the end, you know it's because I'm overly medicated. And I'm pretending that the juniors don't exist right now. It's time for them later.
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It wasn't a disaster. I always like to expect that the Russian meets are a disaster, because it's easier that way. Keep you expectations really low and you won't be disappointed. So I wasn't disappointed. Who can be disappointed when there are 15s flying in every direction, people staying on the beam and Aliya competing?

Our top 3 in AA from today.

My Official Predictions for Russian Championships

I tend to make predictions before important competitions.

Here are the ones for Russian Nationals:

Aliya wins the AA while performing only on balance beam and uneven bars.

On beam she lacks most of the required elements and her “dismount” is falling on her double turn, and not getting back up because she made it look half legit and the judges decided that perhaps it was a new element.

On uneven bars she performs half of a routine and scores 17 because she’s that good.

Dasha hits beam, but it’s Seda who gets second on bars after Aliya. What can I say, people fell a lot and there was some sketchy scoring.

Vika wins second on AA based on a video she posted on vk with her watching the championships.

Beefarm has a beam routine. And it’s good.

Beefarm also sticks an amanar and debuts a new vault, “Paseka”. It’s yurchenko half on 2 twists off in a layout starfish position.

Melka and Kapi fight it to the death. By death I mean a wolf turn.

Masha K. performs well, hits her routines and looks solid but gets forgotten by everyone. Alla has the same fate.

The Guinness World Record for most turns on floor in a single competition is broken.

So is the record for most falls on double tucks.

Andrei Rodionenko files a petition for FIG to remove balance beam from artistic gymnastics.

Pavs makes a return to competition and Russia, and is one of the few ones who makes it out alive and makes the team for Euros. Unfortunately someone forgets to file for a visa and she gets left home.

Afan is back with the weirdest and flashiest floor routine ever seen. She wasn’t supposed compete, but got tired of watching the boring routines and improvised one on the spot. It ended with a sat down wolf turn, because just stopped caring in the middle of it. And was appalled about doing a wolf turn.

Valentina runs around looking crazy. People think it’s because there is some shit going on on the beam, but it’s really because she’s looking for her bottle of vodka. It was Melka who stole it. She watched Grishy’s Olympics and it was just too much pressure.

The FIG denies Andrei’s petition and he sets off to fabricate a new birth certificate for Varvara Zubova as a last resort.

Khorkina gets tired of it all and makes a comeback. By the time Olympics come, it’s only her against Cata in an empty arena because everyone else is injured. Both are in a full body cast, but they get shit done anyway.

Meanwhile in Penza

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Meanwhile in Penza...
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Melka is bravely facing her destiny as the savior of Russia...

...aaand word from the Queen herself, she will compete at nationals!

...barring any further changes, that is...
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After the 100 different announcements about Aliya Mustafina and Russian Championships, we finally have some information straight from Aliya herself via VK (and trusted gymternet source who actually knows her).

My Tsaritsa has informed the peasants, that she will grace us with her presence at the Russian Championships. She just finished her last round of treatments 2 weeks ago and is not yet ready for competition, so she will perform simplified routines on balance beam and uneven bars. This is just to get her competitive spirit back after such a long break and to keep up with the rest of the team in preparation for European Championships and the Olympics.

All hail Queen Aliya!