Ivan Stretovich hasn’t had much luck since the Rio Olympics. First, he had a nagging wrist injury which eventually required a surgery. Then his recovery was slowed down by an elbow injury. He ended up not making any major teams in the past two years and only competing at national competitions. At Voronin Cup, Stretovich was able to finish 6th in the all-around and win gold on floor and high bar. He now hopes to stay healthy and keep upgrading in order to make the 2019 Euros team.
Stretovich told R-Sport:
“I hade quite difficult time: sometimes it happens, when you only start to recover from an injury, start getting back into the rhythm, remembering your elements and routines, doing a large training load and then some other issues with your body surface. I recovered from the wrist surgery, started getting into a good shape, but I kept having problems or didn’t have enough strength since I missed so much while the other guys didn’t stand still. It’s still very hard for me but I’m trying to catch up with them. For about 3 or 4 months I had an elbow injury and I’ve only recovered now. But I did well at my first competition since the health issues, I made two finals – on floor and high bar. I haven’t expected a good result in the all-around, I’m not yet in the shape I’d want to be in. I think I’ll start doing the full training load in January. I have a goal to prepare well for the Russian Championships and make the team for the European Championships. If I achieve these goals, it will be a huge leap forward for me, mentally.
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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