Valeri Alfosov commented on the results of the team final at the European Championships, saying that the coaches were pleased with the Russian team’s attitude and fighting till the very end:
“The final ended up being quite nerve-wracking. The gymnasts created the problems for themselves and were slowly solving them by the end of the competition. There were mistakes, of course, but you could see that after making the mistakes, the athletes were fighting, trying to correct them. The coaching staff was pleased to see that the guys didn’t get upset and fought till the end”.
Nikita Nagornyy didn’t compete on vault in the qualification and didn’t vault at competitions for quite a while due to a leg injury. However, he was put on vault in the team final. According to Alfosov, this was done in order to test Nagornyy in the all-around before Worlds:
“Nikita is an all-arounder, but for certain reasons were allowed him not to do all-around at the Russian Cup and international competitions. However, we have the World Championships in several weeks and he’ll be doing all-around there, we just had to test him here, at least on one of the days”.
Alfosov also said that Dmitrii Lankin’s mistake on the rings dismount was a fluke:
“I was pleased with the pommel horse because we had to rehabilitate after the mistake on the floor. The pommel horse is a very hard event and the guys managed it. Lankin’s mistake on rings was unexpected, he never made mistakes on this dismount. But competition is competition”.
Valentina Rodionenko also commented on the team final results, noting that the men’s team will have to work on the mistakes before Worlds:
“Everything went like it was supposed to. Objectively, our team is stronger. Yes, we made mistakes, but what can you do, young gymnasts make mistakes. Nagornyy can’t manage to get himself together, he made a mistake. Lankin made a mistake, but it’s good that everything turned out well. But right now we’re thinking about the World Championships and that’s why we can’t make mistakes like these. Although the demonstrated ability to get themselves together, especially on the last event is valuable. But the guys saw that the British made mistakes [on the high bar], that’s why they did simpler routines, they didn’t try to wow anyone. Right now we just need to prepare for the World Championships and draw conclusions”.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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