The Voronin Cup is traditionally one of the last international competitions of the year. It doesn’t normally draw the strongest field, especially on the senior side, but you can always count on seeing a few big names. For example, last year, Viktoria Komova chose this competition for her (short-lived) comeback. This year we finally saw Maria Kharenkova who’s been dealing with injuries the whole year and wasn’t in the running for Euros and Worlds because of that. Kharenkova competed only on beam and floor and won gold in the beam final.
This year also featured a surprise (for the fans, at least) appearance of Alyona Shchennikova. While there are always international participants in the competition, and there were occasional gymnasts from the US in the past year, this is not a common occurrence. Shchennikova easily won gold in the all-around with 53.825, ahead of Yeo Seojeong of South Korea and Hanna Traukova of Belarus. On the second day, she also picked up gold in the bars final and silver in the balance beam final.
Natalia Kapitonova and Varvara Zubova made an appearance as well. Kapitonova is still not back to her previous level and her comeback seems less and less likely. After Rio, she dealt with puberty and coaching changes, briefly moving to Saransk to train there but then going back to Penza. She managed to win floor and get a bronze on bars here but 13.075 and 13.275 respectively aren’t likely to get her back on the national team Varvara Zubova keeps continuing Komova’s traditions of gorgeous disasters on beam. Viktoria Trykina who, reportedly, is training an Amanar, still has trouble getting herself together at a competition and took the last place in the vault final. She probably would eventually get more consistent with a bit more experience but with Maria Paseka coming back from her injury, the vault specialist spot will be filled for a while and Trykina might never get that experience.
The main question, of course, is whether participating in this competition means that Shchennikova is considering switching nationalities. While she made the US national team in the past, her only international assignments were Jesolo Trophies back when USAG still sent about a million people there. In most other countries around the world, she’d be a top all-arounder making all the teams but the US depth means she’s not likely to get big international assignments. After Irina Alexeeva set the precedent by making the Russian national team earlier this year, perhaps, Shchennikova will try to follow her path? Both gymnasts are at a similar level and stronger than quite a few gymnasts on the current Russian team. Alexeeva fits the team a bit better with her solid beam set and reliable consistency but Schennikova has more difficulty on vault and bars. In any case, a switch would ensure she’d get at least some assignments, as generally, Russia participates in many international competitions every year, ensuring that even the B and C teams get some experience. Shchennikova has an FIG license for the US but the license expires in a month and, if not renewed, she generally would not even have to ask USAG to release her.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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