The Russian Cup will take place from Friday 23rd of August till Tuesday 27th of August in Penza. Most top national team gymnasts are expected to compete as it will be one of the stages of the Worlds team selection. Notably absent are Aliya Mustafina who said she is not quite ready to compete at the moment and Tatiana Nabieva who opted to compete at the Aurora Games in the US instead. Artur Dalaloyan is expected to compete despite the fact that his daughter was born just last week.
The competition will also make an appearance in the new series by the Olympic channel, All-Around, as Angelina Melnikova’s performance at the Russian Cup will be a part of the upcoming episode.
Maria Paseka who has been competing just on vault for a long time due to injuries has announced that she plans to compete on bars and, possibly, floor, at the Russian Cup. While Paseka might be able to qualify a nominative spot to the Olympics through Apparatus World Cups, she said in the past that she wants to be on the Olympic team and not just to compete as an individual, and hopes that having three events can make it possible as a four-person team cannot afford to bring an event specialist.
Daria Spiridonova missed the first half of the season due to a broken foot and plans to return on just two events for now:
“I’m happy with how the verification went because I had a long recovery after my injury and I’ll do two events at the Russian Cup, bars and beam. Generally, I’ve restored all my routines and I’m really happy about it. The most important thing is to show it at the competition and not just at the verification. I need to add a bit of difficulty on bars and then I’ll have the same difficulty as I had before the injury. On beam, generally, I’m now doing what I was doing before, but I’ve got some new connections added. In order to make the Worlds team, I need to be consistent on bars and beam, do them well, with good difficulty and good scores.”
Nikita Nagornyy, the reigning European champion, says he is gradually getting ready and hopes to peak in time for Worlds:
“It’s been two weeks since our camp in Japan. When we came back, the first week had been really hard, during the second week, we recovered a bit, and now we got into our normal state. Regarding the verification today – I wasn’t able to do some events well, some were not so clean and on some, I didn’t do my full difficulty. But, generally, I did well at the verification and I think that by the Russian Cup, I’ll be 70% ready and from then, I’ll be improving for the World Championships”.
Ivan Stretovich was finally able to make a major international team this year after a long break but was the only Russian MAG to finish Euros without a medal. He had a better competition at the Universiade and now hopes he’ll be able to go to Worlds:
“The verification generally went well. I was more or less able to do everything and I upgraded on some event. For instance, at the Universiade, I did a 6.1 routine but now I’ve added 0.2 in difficulty. Generally, I’m very happy with it and I’ll continue improving. I’ve also upgraded on pommel horse and floor. Everything’s fine, we’re ready to compete. My biggest goal after the Russian Cup is to male the team for the World Championships. I’ll be doing everything to go to Stuttgart.”
Unlike the Russian Championships, the competition does not have a team final and does not include a junior division. Sometimes, a few top juniors are allowed to compete at the Russian Cup to gain experience, so we might potentially see Vlada Urazova or Elena Gerasimova.
The finals will be streamed on the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation’s VK.com page and can be accessed worldwide without an account.
Schedule (local time, ET, PT)
23/08 Friday
12:00-14:00 (5 am – 7 am ET; 2 am – 4 am PT) – WAG Qualification
15:00-17:00 (8 am – 10 am ET; 5 am – 7 am PT) – MAG Qualification, subdivision 1
17:00-19:00 (10 am – 12 am ET; 7 am – 9 am PT ) – MAG Qualification, subdivision 2
24/08 Saturday
17:00-18:30 (10 am – 11:30 am ET; 7 am – 8:30 am PT) – WAG All-Around final
25/08 Sunday
15:00-17:00 (8 am – 10 am ET; 5 am – 7 am PT) – MAG All-Around final
26/08 Monday
12:00-15:00 (5 am – 8 am ET; 2 am – 5 am PT) – MAG, WAG Event finals
27/08 Tuesday
11:00-14:00 (4 am – 7 am ET; 1 am – 4 am PT ) – MAG, WAG Event finals
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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I still don’t understand why Paseka doesn’t at least train a 4.0-D beam routine. Just as backup. I feel like that would be really helpful for her case on a Russian four-person team.
She had a heel injury that makes beam painful for her
What is up with Elena Eramina? I’m starting to worry about her chances of making Tokyo
She could never recover from back surgery properly. She finished 12th. I think her chances at this point are extremely low.