Despite being known as one of the best gymnasts on bars currently and competing at Worlds in 2017, Anastasia Iliankova had never been to senior European Championships until this year. She missed them in both 2017 and 2018 due to injuries. This year, she had a slightly tentative routine in qualifications, finishing only fourth, but won gold in the final. Iliankova dedicated the medal to Aleksandr Zimmerman, one of the coaches in her home gym who has recently passed away.
She told the media that she went for a safer routine in order to ensure she qualifies to the final:
“In the qualification, I played it a bit safe in order to guarantee that I would make the final. That’s why one of my connections did not work out and I made a mistake on the dismount. But I came to the final ready to fight, I was not nervous and performed as if I was in practice. What I was able to do only two or three more girls in the world can do.”
“Right after I saw my score in the qualification, I thought the judges were “too stingy”. But then I watched the video of the routine, saw my mistakes and agreed with the score”.
Photo: E. Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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