Russian national competitions have been mostly conducted in Penza in the past years. In addition to the Russian Championships and the Russian Cup, the city hosted junior competitions and will host Voronin Cup later this year. The city is not exactly Russia’s gymnastics capital and the competition does not attract crowds of spectators but it’s relatively close to Moscow which makes it easy to reach, and its gymnastics center offers dorms in addition to the training gym and the competition arena. Gymnasts have complained in the past about the basic facilities at the dorms and the lack of crowds at competitions but it still remains the location of choice for the national federation.
Valery Starkin, the head of Penza gymnastics federation, has announced that the 2020 Russian Championships will once again take place in Penza. Since the competition traditionally serves as one of the selection stages for the European Championships, the men and women will compete a month apart, same as at Euros.
WAG nationals will take place on March 20-26 as a part of the preparation for the WAG European Championships in Paris that will be held from April 30th to May 3rd.
MAG nationals will take place on April 15-21 as a part of the preparation for the MAG European Championships in Baku that will be held from May 28th to May 31th.
The dates and the location of the next year’s Russian Cup are not yet known. Starkin said that the Cup will be held at Round Lake, however Novosibirsk applied to host the competition as well and the official decision has not been announced yet. The Russian Cup will serve as the last test before the Olympic Games and, thus, will likely take place about a month before the Olympics. It is understandable that the federation might want to spare the gymnasts training for the Olympics the extra travel and conduct the competition at the national training center. However, this would likely mean that the competition would not be open to spectators or have only a limited number of them.
Novosibirsk boasts a brand-new training center which includes a huge gym with multiple sets of equipment, a competition arena, and dorms. They are bidding to host not only the Russian Cup but also the pre-Olympic training camp. The Russian team went to Japan this summer to test a potential training camp location but were left dissatisfied and might change their plans to conduct the pre-Olympic camp in Japan. Novosibirsk is slightly closer to Tokyo than Moscow and would require a shorter flight and fewer time zone changes for the gymnasts. Vladivostok would be the best location because it’s only a two-hour flight from Tokyo but the city currently does not have modern gymnastics facilities that the national team could use for a camp.
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