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| Dynamic young Seda Tutkhalyan, a leading gymnast in Penza this week, is finding her feet in senior competition |
Once again this week the Russian women showed themselves to be vulnerable to errors in the first day of apparatus finals, while the men excelled. Please see the results below, as ever courtesy of the Russian Gymnastics Federation.
On bars, Viktoria Komova performed hors de competition, recording a score of 15.3 - she didn't qualify officially to the final so can't be recorded as champion, but she is consistently now Russia's highest scorer on this apparatus. Russia are already strong here, and she will need to up her game on other apparatus (Valentina mentioned beam and vault) to qualify to be part of the team in Glasgow.
A key fact emerging this week in Penza is the growing strength of Nikita Ignatyev, who for a long time was the unlucky one on the team who would often fall or make unexpected errors. Gradually Nikita has been improving, until in this competition he has won the all around - and today won medals on all three apparatus. It will be interesting to see how he does tomorrow, but I think that the friendly rivallry that this has produced will be good for the team. The strength of Ablyazin as a specialist - he won gold here on floor and rings, and looks set to take vault tomorrow - is well known, but Russia's medal possibilities will always be vulnerable while they rest so heavily on the shoulders of one individual. That is why it's especially good to see all arounders consolidating their position on Russia's team - it gives them more depth.
Yes, I have used a picture of Seda Tutkhalyan on beam to illustrate results on floor, pommel, rings, vault and bars. That isn't very logical of me, but I like Seda and I like this picture; the Federation's photographer, Elena Mikhailova, has a talent for capturing impressive perspectives and backgrounds. The use of the RGF logo lends a strong narrative here. I would personally also add that in the absence of Mustafina, Seda is Russia's fiery, driven talent. She is not as inconsistent as many people say, and has plenty of time to find her consistency anyway. Falls are part of gymnastics and you won't find a good gymnast who has never fallen. It's just good to see a Russian gymnast who, like Mustafina - and junior Melnikova - has fire in her belly. Look at those eyes as she lines up to vault - Seda really wants her successes, and a silver medal in the bars today, not one of her best pieces, really shows her determination. She also secured silver on vault.
Alla Sosnitskaya also today showed significant courage in taking fourth place on vault and gold on bars, not her best piece. Alla had a difficult day in the AA final yesterday and is gradually coming back from a painful injury. Once again, the Russian girls had many falls, especially on bars, but I think that measuring their progress by consistency only is a bit pointless. Surely best to get your falls 'out of the way' here, rather than in Glasgow! I can see many improvements in the girls' work all around, and perhaps at Worlds they will find their confidence and show more reliability. This is the type of systematic, steady improvement that Russian coaching is showing these days. We can always hope ...
Maria Paseka's vaulting is going from strength to strength - she scored 15.634 (15.467/15.8) to finish in first place. Both she and Dasha Spiridonova had errors on bars, but there is still time to patch up any problems. My pessimism of yesterday has been replaced with optimism today - it might be the sunshine, but I can see the positives in the girls' performances today.
It has been an especially good day for coach Maria Ulyankina, who coaches both gold medallists in the women's competition today, as well as the silver medallist on both pieces - for the avoidance of doubt, that is Maria Paseka, Alla Sosnitskaya and Seda Tutkhalyan!
Congratulations to all of the gymnasts and their coaches!
MAG
Floor
1 Denis Ablyazin 15.767
2 David Belyavski 15.1
3 Nikita Ignatyev 15.0
4 Nikita Lezhankin 14.7
5 Dmitri Lankin 14.633
6 Mikhail Kudashov 14.533
7 Daniil Kazachkov 14.3
8 Viktor Britan 13.3
Pommel Horse
1 Nikolai Kuksenkov 14.733
2 Ivan Stretovich 14.7
3 Nikita Ignatyev 14.5
4 Sergei Eltsov 13.867
5 Matvei Petrov 13.7
6 Andrei Perevonikov 13.2
7 Nikolai Kovinov 12.5
8 Grigori Zyrianov 11.033
Rings
1 Denis Ablyazin 15.267
2 Nikita Ignatyev 15.133
3 Daniil Kazachkov 15.1
4 David Belyavski 14.867
5 Nikolai Kuksenkov 14.8
6 Mikhail Kudashov 14.733
7 Ilya Kubartas 14.167
8 Matvei Petrov 13.867
WAG
Vault
1 Maria Paseka 15.634
2 Seda Tutkhalyan 14.4
3 Ksenia Afanasyeva 14.334
4 Alla Sosnitskaya 13.634
5 Anastasia Dmitrieva 13.5
6 Evgeniya Menovschikova 13.434
7 Anastasia Sidorova 12.817
8 Lilia Akhaimova 12.783
Uneven Bars
1 Alla Sosnitksaya 14.733
2 Seda Tutkhalyan 14.5
3 Daria Spiridonova 14.433
4 Evgeniya Shelgunova 13.8
5 Maria Paseka 13.767
6 Maria Kharenkova 12.7
7 Viktoria Kuzmina 11.667
8 Yulia Biryulya 11.5
You can find the results in full, with both vault scores, here.