Illia Kovtun came to his first senior Euros only a few months after winning the all-around at the junior Euros in Mersin. In the absence of Verniaiev (suspended) and Pakhniuk (injured), Kovtun and another new senior Volodymyr Kostiuk made the all-around final but both had a hard time in qualification. Kovtun finished 11th and Kostiuk was 21st. Kovtun was also able to make pommel horse and parallel bars finals, while Kostiuk missed out on any finals except for the all-around. In the all-around final, both were able to improve significantly. Kovtun jumped from 11th to 3rd place with an improvement of over 3 points and Kostiuk gained two points and finished 7th. Irina Nadiuk, a rare example of a high-profile female MAG coach, is training this generation of Ukrainian gymnasts, including Nazar Chepurnyi who is missing Euros due to an injury. She talked to Suspilne Sport about Kovtun and Kostiuk’s first senior international competition.
Q: How unexpected was Kovtun’s bronze medal?
A: It was their first [senior] competition, both for Volodymyr and Illia. They’re all-arounders, there was only three months to prepare and adjust to senior gymnastics, despite their young age. We moved very fast, we demanded the most of them and didn’t let them rest. So, we expected them to be close to the medal podium. According to our calculations, knowing Kovtun’s difficulty, our coach figured out he could place third in the all-around. But Illia had no room for mistakes, even though he made some – he didn’t do his full difficulty on all events. In the final, he was moving more forcefully than in the qualification, more confidently, and placed third. And Volodymyr – I set the goal for him to place in the top ten and he’s seventh. I’m really happy with our all-arounders, they proved with their performances that they’re among the best in Europe.
Q: Which mistakes did Kovtun make?
A: If you watched the stream, Illia has one of his shoulders taped. It started hurting a bit because we’re preparing a new routine on bars. But Illia never complained and never rested. A mistake on the high bar in qualification? It was his first event, first ever senior competition. Unfortunately, Volodymyr Kostiuk made mistakes and that also affected Illia. Illia has a very difficult routine, he was supposed to do a 6.3 difficulty. He got a bit nervous but we shouldn’t forget that even though they look like “titans”, mature and manly, they’re still kids inside.
Q: What are the plans for the rest of the competition?
A: We want Illia to do his maximum difficulty on pommel horse and parallel bars. We went to upgrade because we have additional elements in stock. We already have a medal, so we want him to have a rehearsal before the Olympics, to go for the difficulty. We want to see what needs to be worked on. Medals are important but it’s necessary to set the goal to do the maximum.
Q: Will Kovtun go to the Olympics?
A: We have qualified a team. Illia proved that he’s one of the strongest all-arounders both at the Ukrainian Championships and the European Championships. At the moment, he’s on the team but we don’t know what will happen next. We have six candidates for the team, everyone’s working for it. The first stages of the selection for the Olympics are over but there will be more. Then, after all the stages of the selection, the head coach will decide on the team. But we’re all waiting for Oleg Verniaiev, there won’t be a team without him. We can’t fight [for medals] without him, there is no leader psychologically and morally, and only with him our youngsters Kostiuk and Kovtun can get onto the team medal podium.
Photo: Elena Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
Support Gymnovosti on Patreon from only $1 a month and help us bring to you even more awesome gymnastics coverage!
