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| Seda Tukhalyan |
The little Russians won everything at Four Nations Trophy, getting team gold and securing the all around podium.
Rodionenkos sent a very young team to Italy in order to let the little ones get some international experience and test their preparation. They all are on the road to Rio.
The team was composed by the seniors Seda Tukhalyan (1999), Anastasia Dmitrieva (1999), Evgenia Shelgunova (1997), Maria Bondareva (1999) and the juniors Angelina Melnikova (2000) and Ekaterina Sokova (2000), all Rio eligible.
Here's an in-depth analysis!
Seda Tukhalyan (1999) - 1° AA, 2° VT, 2° BB, 1° FX
The Youth Olympic champion has proved that she has deserved her spot for Baku Games.
Seda is extremely promising, she just needs some more experience to achieve the consistency every true champion need. I think she fits well in the team because she is not the "typical Russian gymnast". If she keeps improving like she's been doing in the last year she will definitely secure a spot on the national team on the road to Glasgow, since she can get consistent scores on every apparatus.
I hope she can become an essential element of the team!
On bars she had a solid routine, gaining 14.200 (D 5.8 - E 8.4).
On beam she presented a very difficult routine. There were many wobbles, but if she refines this routine she could definitely reach an event final. Moreover, full twisting layouts on beam are always exciting! Her score was 14.500 (D 6.5 - E 8.0). Video here..
On floor she had the highest score of the day, gaining 13.850 (D 5.9 - E 7.95). There were not major errors and I liked the coreography and interpretation. Saltos are well executed, the difficulty is there, she just needs to improve the amplitude of her leaps in my opinion.
However, floor is the event, besides her all around value, that will give her a further possibility to be on the Worlds team, since Russians have struggled on floor lately. Video here.
Angelina Melnikova (2000) - 2° AA, 1° UB
2014 European Champion Melnikova did quite well in Turin despite the young age (she's still a junior, but Rio eligible). She had some mistakes on beam and floor, but she managed to reach the all-around silver. She can definitely do much better than how she did in Turin, but she still has some time to improve.
Her best event is bars, but she is also a good all-arounder. She surely has talent and is eager to win, but I don't know if she fits in the team considering Russian depth on bars.
On vault she did a discrete double twisting yurchenko, despite the not precise landing. Her score was 14.450 (D 5.8 - E 8.75 - Penalty -0.1). Video here.
On bars she got the highest score of the day, well executing a difficult set. Her score was 14.850 (D 6.3 - E 8.55). Video here.
She's very elegant on beam, but I think she lacked amplitude on her leaps and got 13.450 (D 5.6 - E 7.85). It's a pity, she can do much better on this apparatus.
I really liked her floor: her music and coreography are catchy yet elegant and "balletic" in a perfect Russian style. She only got 13.050 (D 5.8 - E 7.25) due to some wobbles on her turns, steps on the landings and low shoulders on her last salto. The routine is promising and has a good start value, but she needs to clean it up. Video here.
Anastasia Dmitrieva (1999) - 3° AA
I fell in love with this gymnast at Russian Championships. I think she has great potential and I love her style!
She did well at this meet, reaching the AA bronze. I hope to see her again soon!
On vault she did a nice salto, despite two steps on the landing. She got 14.200 (D 5.6 - E 8.6).
On bars she had a very nice routine, obtaining 13.750 (D 5.4 - E 8.35).
I love her on beam: she is precise, elegant and determined. Her layout is beautiful. It was such a pity that she had a big wobble after her switch ring leap and fell off her double pike dismount. Without that fall she would get 14.350. Her routine scored 13.350 (D 6.0 - E 8.35). Video here.
Floor: gorgeous and stuck double layout, stuck full twisting double back, double tuck and double pike with a step on the landing. Nice leaps, nice coreography and nice interpretation. I love her. Score: 13.650 (D 5.6 - E 8.05). Video here.
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| Anastasia Dmitrieva |
Evgenia Shelgunova (1997) - 6° AA, 3° BB
I haven't figured out yet why she's Rodionenkos' favorite: she's not bad, but I don't see how she could be useful on the team right now.
On bars she had a discrete routine, but her pak is still not on point and she needs to clean the routine up. Score: 13.650 (D 5.9 - E 7.75). Video here.
She actually stood out only on beam, obtaining the third highest score of the day with 14.350 (D 6.0 - E 8.35). Video here.
I really like her floor routine, it's a pity that she fell of her second pass! She got 12.000 (D 5.7 - E 6.7 - Penalità -0.4). Video here.
Ekaterina Sokova (2000) - 1° BB
This tiny junior stood out on beam, showing a clean and difficult routine which got her the highest score of the day: 14.800 (D 6.3 - E 8.5). Her layout is beautiful. Video here.
She's very promising on floor, as she proved at March Russian Championships where she won the event final. In Turin she got 13.450 (D 5.5 - E 8.05 - Penalty -0.1). Video here.
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Maria Bondareva (1999)
She competed on two events.
On bars she executed a good routine, but she only got 13.650 (D 5.4 - E 8.25) due to the low start value. Video here.
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| Ekaterina Sokova |
If this is Russia's B team, we can definitely say they can feel securel right now. They have good depth and shouldn't have problems on the road to Rio.
What do you think about this meet and Russian situation? Which gymnast impressed you the most?
Let me know in a comment!
You can find full results here and here. You can rewatch the whole meet on the Italian Federation's youtube channel through this link.
- Disclaimer: I do not own any of the photos. All the photos belong to their legitimate owners.
- Costanza Spagnolo -