Aliya Mustafina won World all-around gold in 2010 and, until this year, neither she nor her teammates were able to repeat that success. She talked about Angelina Melnikova’s victory to the media:
“I consider Angelina the absolute leader of the national team because of her experience and her preparation, We all know full well that the girls didn’t have much time after the Olympics because of the events, but they managed to prepare for the World Championships. Some prepared great, some – just quite well.”
Mustafina considered Melnikova a top contender in Kitakyushu:
“I actually didn’t doubt her even though she had little time to prepare. She still prepared well and that’s why I had confidence in here. How important is this victory? Any victory is important and she didn’t yet have this one in her career, so, of course, it’s important. Any victories are good.”
When asked whether she expected US gymnasts to dominate after her win in 2010, Mustafina replied:
“Considering the level of gymnastics, I guess you could suppose that. That was the period of Simone Biles’ era. To be frank, it was impossible to beat her. But it’s important that we took the chance as soon as we got it. I think that the significance of the victory isn’t lessened because the strongest gymnasts didn’t compete. There’s still the medal. The rest is the problem of those who didn’t come [to this competition].”
Vladislava Urazova finished fourth in the all-around final, similarly to her fourth place in the AA final at the Olympics.
Mustafina said:
“Vlada could have compete for bronze, if not for the mistake on beam. But mistakes happen and they won’t go anywhere. In the future, she has everything in order to have a good quad and prepare for the next Olympics as her final goal. Other than that, she needs to stay in shape and upgrade her difficulty. The current level of gymnastics allows her to compete with the leading gymnasts.”
Photo: Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
