Alexei Nemov talked to News.ru about the current Russian national team and their chances at the upcoming World Championships.
Q: What do you think about our chances at the World Championships?
A: The best ones. The guys had a really good showing at the European Championships that recently took place in Glasgow. Now there will also be a national competition*. But they’re aimed more at testing the routines while the World Championships will be less predictable because of the new Olympic qualification rules.
Q: Why?
A: There are a lot of unclear things for me. But I hope that our guys will deal with everything. The men’s routines are good enough to fight for a place in top-3.
Q: Can you comment on the performance of Irina Alexeeva who moved from the USA to Russia? Perhaps, you’ve watched her routines?
A: Honestly, I haven’t. So, I can’t say anything about it.
Q: And can you single out anyone on the men’s or women’s teams?
A: Of course, the leaders are Artur Dalaloyan, Nikita Nagornyy, David Beliavskiy, and Dmitrii Lankin. These are the guys that realistically can make the top-3 on their events. And out of the girls, I was really surprised by Aliya Mustafina.
Q: Why? She’s an experienced athlete.
A: She really wants to go forward, she’s preparing for the next Olympics. And she’ll compete at Worlds, as far as I understand.
Q: And what about Angelina Melnikova?
A: Clearly. But it’ll be a bit hard for Angelina. The Europeans aren’t the strongest competitors, the strongest are the Americans and the Chinese. And in general, there are a lot of other people competing for the medals. But Melnikova is doing a good job and she already has, for instance, the experience of winning. I think she can show herself at the World Championships. But again, the most important thing is to do the routines from start to finish. Because the hardest thing is to overcome your own fears, to calmly go out and do your job. And then let the judges decide. But I think everything is going to be ok.
*Nemov likely extrapolated from the previous years when the Russian Cup was traditionally held before Worlds. However, this year it was in June-July because the European Championships was moved to August. There won’t be any national competition before Worlds although the team will have verifications at Round Lake (not open to the public).
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