Dmitrii Lankin will have to undergo surgery on his foot shortly after the Russian Championships. According to the head coach Valeri Alfosov:
“Dima is having surgery on March 23rd. He has a growth on his heel, it needs to be removed. He will unfortunately miss the European Championships. It’s a pity but it’s impossible to prepare for competitions with such an injury.”
Lankin hoped to be in contention for Tokyo and worked hard on all six events for that – he competed in the all-around at the 2019 European Games. In November of 2020, he competed on four events at the Friendship and Solidarity Competition and was pleased with his results. However, the injury limited his training before the Russian Championships and was aggravated during this competition. He qualified to event finals on rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar. Today, he finished last on rings. It is not yet clear whether he will withdraw from any of the finals tomorrow.
Photo: Elena Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
