Valentina Rodionenko announced to Russian MAG and WAG Worlds teams to the media today. She said that on the men’s side, all of the Tokyo Olympians, except for Vladislav Poliashov, will skip the competition. On the women’s side, Tokyo gold medalists Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova will attend, joined by two less experienced gymnasts. She did not say why the reigning European all-around champion Viktoria Listunova will not go to Worlds:
“[on the men’s side] no one from the Olympians will participate. It’s an individual World Championships and because of the celebrations, they didn’t train, so they’re not listed for the World Championships. The team will consist of Ivan Stretovich, Vladislav Poliashov, Nikita Ignatyev, Sergei Naidin, Mukhammadzhon Iakubov, Grigori Klimentev.”
She added:
“The men’s team from the Games are all resting. They’re just not ready now at the level where they’re supposed to be”.
“On the women’s team, the roster is as follows: Melnikova, Urazova, Maria Minaeva, Yana Vorona. Two young girls and two Olympic champions. Melnikova and Minaeva in the all-around and the other two on individual events.”
This will be Maria Minaeva’s senior international debut. She finished fifth in the all-around at this year’s Russian Championships and sixth at the Russian Cup. Her strongest event is bars, although she hasn’t been able to medal on bars at the national level this year. Yana Vorona was sixth and seventh in the all-around at the Russian Championships and Russian Cup respectively. She had a chance to compete internationally a bit last year – she competed at two World Cups and at the Friendship and Solidarity meet in Japan. She has a good beam routine but has been having trouble hitting it in the beam finals.
On the men’s side, it seems that Russia is focusing on sending even specialists. Even if any of the athletes on the roster compete in the all-around, they are not very likely to challenge for medals. Russia will also need to renew Iakubov’s FIG license in time, because he currently does not have one.
Rodionenko also said that Artur Dalaloyan was medically cleared to train and will come to Round Lake next week:
“The medical check-up showed that Artur is fine. I hope that on 11th of September, Artur and the rest of the Olympic winners will start training. Nothing is bothering Artur [physically], he and the rest of the guys are supposed to come to the training camp soon. The training process goes on.”
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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