Mustafina, Grishina, Paseka, Afanasyeva - four for Moscow

Anastasia Grishina at the Russian Championships in Penza earlier this month.  Picture courtesy of RGF

Nominative registrations are now out for the upcoming European Championships in Moscow.

Women : Aliya Mustafina, Anastasia Grishina, Maria Paseka, Ksenia Afanasyeva

I'm delighted to see Afanasyeva on the team - to me, she is the natural selection over the still developing Evgeniya Shelgunova, whose selection could really only be justified on developmental grounds - and perhaps this could be seen as rather indulgent given the current competitive climate in world gymnastics.  Afanasyeva really adds clout to what is a mature and classy Russian team.  She was also looking on good acrobatic form at the French International recently - perhaps less focussed on her dance, but then since when did this really matter to the scores?

Aliya Mustafina is reportedly competing at the Stella Zakharova Cup in Ukraine this weekend so we shall have a chance to see how her preparations are going.  Both Anastasia Grishina and Ksenia Afanasyeva have put in convincing showings at recent competitions, with Grishina looking much stronger and more confident than in London, in my opinion a legitimate contender for the all around gold, and Afanasyeva hopefully able to fight for a European floor gold to add to her World medal from 2011.

But remember what happened last time Europeans were staged in Moscow - 1987?  There the graceful young Daniela Silivas came in and stole the all around title from young pretender, Alleftina Priakhina, leaving veteran Elena Shushunova with a bronze medal.  I would love to see Romanian Larissa Iordache make a similar impact at this competition and compete closely for a medal in the all around.  European gymnastics needs and deserves a higher profile than it gets and a beautiful podium of Grishina, Mustafina and Iordache would really emphasise the classical artistry that is still so much a characteristic of the sport in these parts of the world.

The Russian men's team includes Denis Ablyazin, David Belyavski, Alexander Balandin, Emin Garibov, newcomer Matvei Petrov and Nikita Ignatyev.    Belyavski and Ignatyeva are going for the all around.

Enjoy Anastasia Grishina's gold medal winning beam routine from last weekend's Cottbus Cup.



Appreciate Ksenia Afanasyeva's floor routine from the French International of two weeks ago: