Viktoria Listunova came to Tokyo as one of the favorites for an all-around medal – she is the reigning European all-around champion and won the all-around over her teammates Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova at the nationals and Russian Cup this year. However, the three Russian gymnasts are quite comparable in their scores and on this day, Melnikova and Urazova outscored Listunova. She might make the floor final. Listunova said that she of course hoped for the all-around and bars finals:
“I wanted to make the bars final but wasn’t able to. Overall, of course, I would have liked to make all the finals. I’m a bit upset about the all-around, I really wanted to try [competing in the final]. On the other hand, I hope that I’ll do well in beam and floor finals. Although I still need to make them – let’s see how the other subdivisions will do. I’d really love to compete in the beam final, it would be amazing.”
Listunova was originally training with the 2024 Olympics in mind as she only turned senior this year. But the postponement allowed her to compete in Tokyo:
“The important thing was not to think about how these are the Olympics and I need to try especially hard… No, it’s a regular competition, but one that takes place once every four years. Although, it was after five years now, and will be after three years next time, for the first time in history. There aren’t spectators here, so I feel calmer than usual. I actually thought that I’d feel jumpier that usual. I wasn’t able to do everything [I wanted] but I still managed to get myself together and do [my job].”
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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