The Russian men’s and women’s teams are flying to Stuttgart for the World Championships tomorrow. While the men’s team was announced last week, the women’s team had another verification before the announcement and the big news was the addition of Maria Paseka instead of injured Angelina Simakova who was on the nominative team.
The head coach of the Russian national team Andrei Rodionenko told the Russian Olympic Committee that the training is going well:
A: The training at Round Lake is going as planned. There are still some small issues that only the eye of a coach can see. On the other hand, if the preparation runs too smoothly, I always get worried.
Q: Can you comment on the women’s team?
A: The final team is made of Olympic medalists Angelina Melnikova, Daria Spiridonova, and Maria Paseka, and also Anastasia Agafonova, Lilia Akhaimova, and Aleksandra Shchekoldina. Angelina Simakova was on the original team, but because of an injury, we had to replace her with Maria Paseka. Five people will compete on the team, we’ll decide in Stuttgart who will be the alternate, based on the results of the final practices.
Q: A silver Olympic medalist Angelina Melnikova is having a good season, she won the all-around at the European Games in Minsk.
A: With all due respect for the European Games and the European Championships, neither of these competitions can be compared with the World Championships, which is modeled after the Olympics: qualification, team final, all-around final, and even finals. In Minsk, the format was simplified. You could say that everyone will start from scratch in Stuttgart and the competition floor will show who’s the leader.
Q: Let’s talk about men now.
A: Russia will be represented by David Belyavskiy, Artur Dalaloyan, Nikita Nagornyy, Denis Abliazin, Ivan Stretovich and Vladislav Poliashov. It’s a strong team but that doesn’t mean it will be easy for them. In Suttgart, nine Olympic team spots are on the line. We already have a spot but some of our competitors still don’t, so the competition is expected to be very serious.
Q: Who are the main favorites of the competition?
A: As usual. For men, the main ones are gymnasts from China and Japan. It would be interesting to see the Swiss gymnasts who have been showing decent results recently. For women, Americans are used to their position as one of the strongest teams in the world.
Artur Dalaloyan became the all-around champion last year and will try to defend the title:
“Of course, I’d like to repeat my last year’s success, but right now we are all focused on winning the team competition. We have a strong and united team which is capable of beating the Chinese team this year.”
Dalaloyan said he’s been working hard on getting even better than last year:
“I’ve upgraded on a lot of events and prepared new routines. I’ve done a huge amount of work which, I hope, will bring results.”
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