The Russian MAG and WAG teams take their preparation for World Championships in Nanning one step further this week, as key players compete in the annual Russia Cup in Penza. There will be team, all around and event finals.
The WAG teamLast year the gymnasts were rather depleted and suffering the effects of injury; this year the national squad is still short of some of its top members, but has greater diversity and experience up and coming into the ranks, so it will be an interesting time.
Last year saw St Petersburg gymnast and fan favourite Tatiana Nabiyeva lead the all around, ahead of Alla Sosnitskaya, Anna Pavlova, Anna Rodionova, Ekaterina Kramarenko and Polina Fyodorova. With the individual-only World Championships up coming in Antwerp, I remember writing that Russia might well decide to send a team of only three gymnasts, such was the paucity of available talent. The final reckoning saw Russia fare a little better than this, although performance lacked depth and relied almost totally on Aliya Mustafina, who predictably came to the rescue with a bronze medal in the all around, and gold on the beam.
This year the team is a little stronger, enriched with first year senior Maria Kharenkova, some returning veterans and a more experienced field of second year seniors including in particular Alla Sosnitskaya and Daria Spiridonova. Aliya Mustafina will be in Penza to take the opportunity to sharpen her training and competitive edge for October, though we do not know at this stage which apparatus she will be competing - I am expecting bars and beam only. We should hope to see Viktoria Komova on bars at least. Maria Paseka, Tatiana Nabiyeva and Ekaterina Kramarenko are also in the mix, although Nabiyeva has gone on record as saying that she is unsure whether she will train the full cycle; I expect her continued involvement will depend on her results in Penza.
To be selected for Worlds, a team member must be able to compete on at least two pieces of apparatus. No doubt, this is what is behind
Maria Paseka's training a floor routine. The requirement could also be instrumental in determining whether we get to see Viktoria Komova in Nanning this autumn.
The 6-5-4 (qualifying) and 6-3-3 (finals) format of this competition means that a medal contending team needs a good distribution of all arounders and event specialists to maximise qualification opportunities and fuel hopefully high scores in the team competition. As ever the technical Russians have exciting potential on bars and beam, but are relatively weak on floor and vault. At present the team will struggle to find enough top class all arounders, although this judgement is relative; WAG is at a weak point internationally and only the USA can really lay claim to deep team representation on vault and floor. The Russia Cup competition will show who is doing what. Mistakes are an inevitable part of the sport, but the D scores will demonstrate potential.
The results of this competition will determine who trains for Nanning, but remember there are always surprises and final twists in the plot. Even if Komova is brilliant on bars, she is unlikely to gain selection for the team as a one event specialist unless her scoring potential there outweighs the benefit of a gymnast who can contribute steadily across two pieces, or is matched by another gymnast who can contribute three good scores. If you are a Komova fan, therefore, you must hope that Vika presents a beam routine of at least acceptable standard here.
The selection may well be more complicated than a simple ticking off of the top six on each apparatus. We may see surprising performances in Penza, leading to surprising selections for Nanning. Members of the national team have been working quietly in Russia since this spring's European Championships, with a minimum of exposure, so we should expect change.
There is a lot of pessimism surrounding the Russian WAG team's chances in Nanning this autumn, but I don't share it - because I think there is a fairly good combination of experience and youth available to the Russians right now, and there are gymnasts who want to prove themselves. I also think we tend to judge the Russians very harshly, as if they are expected to be on winning form all the time while the rest of the world is allowed the usual ebbs and flows of performance. Yes, Russia has seemed a little demoralised at times and could do with more confidence - but this is a reflection of the global situation in world gymnastics where only one team - the USA - really seems to be thriving.
All the same, it could be a very unusual and unpredictable worlds. China are always strong at home. Around one third of the current USA national team is injured and out of contention. It would only take a minor injury to either Biles or Ross to see their team severely weakened. Romania is depleted by the unfortunate injury to Diana Bulimar, but is always spirited. If other teams make it into the mix, most likely Italy or Germany, it will be because one or more of the top teams suffer a disaster. Obviously, Britain is on a roll - but it remains to be seen whether their execution scores will hold up at World level.
Injury is not just a problem for the Russians, but has become a significant determinant of competition outcomes internationally. Russia Cup and the various national competitions will determine who enters the final phase of training for Worlds, but won't tell us who will march out into the arena on the first morning of Worlds.
2013 Champions - Tatiana Nabiyeva - All Around, Vault, Bars and Beam; Alla Sosnitskaya - Floor.
MAGI will only briefly mention the men here, although I think that MAG is far more interesting to watch than WAG at present. Last year, many of the very top men in the team didn't compete at Russia Cup (see results below).
This competition takes place in Penza, home town of Russian star Denis Ablyazin. Russia's MAG team is composed mostly, for the time being, of event specialists and much of its medal potential relies on top performance by a limited number of its competitors. Remarkably, Russia now has legitimate medal contenders on all pieces except high bar (as European Champion Emin Garibov is injured). Russia Cup will perhaps give an indication of the likely target D scores. Russia and their closest competition, Britain and USA, will likely fight for bronze as a team in Nanning. Ironically, the British team has adopted the Soviet all around style and has incredible depth and steadiness as a result. The nature of Russia's team, as specialist led, makes their potential results more volatile and hit and miss. Selection will be fraught with difficulty (forgive the pun) of balancing reliability, managing risk and exploiting the top gymnasts' potential to full effect. As with the women, next year will see the accession of fresh new team members who may add depth and reliability.
2013 Champions - Dmitri Stolyarov - All Around; Daniil Kazachkov - Floor; Mattvei Petrov - Pommels; Alexander Balandin - Rings; Mikhail Kudashov - Vault; Dmitri Gogotov - Parallel Bars; Pavel Russinyak - High Bar
Russia Cup schedule26 August Podium training MAG AND WAG
27 August MAG and WAG CI and CII (Qualification and AA final) (WAG from 9 am, men
from 2.30 pm)
28 August MAG team final
29 August WAG team final
30 August MAG and WAG event finals day one
31 August MAG and WAG event finals day two
There will be
live streaming and the Couch Gymnast will have a correspondent in the competition arena.
The full schedule in Russian, with times, and lists of competitors, are given
here.
