Angelina Melnikova came to the 2021 World Championships as a clear favorite for the all-around title, especially after the Tokyo silver medalist Rebeca Andrade opted not to compete on all four events. Not only she topped the all-around qualification, scoring over a point higher than the second place finisher Leanne Wong, she also made all four event finals, repeating this achievement of Shannon Miller, Aliya Mustafina, and Simone Biles.
Melnikova has a chance to become the first non-US AA World Champion since Aliya Mustafina won the title in 2010 and she wants to use this opportunity. She was also extremely happy about making the beam final – she had struggles on beam at important competitions throughout her career:
“I hadn’t made the beam final for about six years and every time I tried to make the beam [final] but couldn’t manage it. And now I realized after I had finished that I’d make the beam final and I was just happy that this finally happened.”
Melnikova said in multiple post-Olympic interviews that she wanted to take a break for the rest of the season, especially because staying at the locked down training center was extremely hard for her mentally. However, she came back to Round Lake less than a month after returning from Tokyo and experienced another lockdown. This time, it was a bit easier, she says:
“It was as hard but it only lasted a month, so it was a bit easier, especially on the high after the Olympic Games. It was easier to handle, I guess, because there wasn’t such massive pressure that you have to prepare as best as you can like it was before the Olympic Games.”
After winning multiple medals at the Olympics, Melnikova had multiple events, interviews and photoshoots scheduled. She says the most memorable one was the photoshoot for Elle Girl Russia:
“The coolest event, I guess, was when I was invited to a photoshoot to Elle Girl magazine and I was very happy because I like creative things and I liked the looks, it was the kind of a creative outlet I dream of.”
The season won’t end for Melnikova with the World Championships, she is also scheduled to compete at the Artur gander Memorial and the Swiss Cup and to appear in gymnastics shows. She hopes to take it easier next year and rekindle her love for gymnastics:
“I don’t know for sure yet what I’ll do next year but I plan to take a bit of a break because I’m very tired now. I feel such pressure because I have a lot of important competitions and every time I have to show my maximum. I would like to come back a bit to the kind of gymnastics that’s more like a hobby, in order to clear my mind, for fun. Because it’s really hard to compete at the World Championships, European Championships, Olympic Games every time, to stay under this pressure that you have to go out and do your maximum.”
Once again Melnikova lead a very young team here – for all her three teammates, this is the first senior World Championships:
“Currently, the girls on our team are very young, they have little experience yet. I remember how I was this way. It’s very important for them to gain experience now, just to feel the team atmosphere, the competition atmosphere, so I’m trying to support them as much as I can.”
