Poliashov: The most important thing is to get to the Olympics

Vladislav Poliashov has been an alternate for the major Russian teams for many years but he’s finally made it to his first European Championships as a proper team member and managed to win the bronze on pommel horse. Poliashov has also been to two apparatus World Cups this spring and can potentially win a nominative spot for the Tokyo Olympics via this route. He told Gymnvosti, he didn’t quite expect to medal on pommel horse, as his main focus was on parallel bars:

“We had an emphasis on parallel bars, I had quite a strong routine. We expected [a medal], but I wasn’t able to qualify because of the two-per-country rule, Nikita and Artur beat me. So, I needed to compensate for all this on pommel horse. I made the final but for now, I only have enough difficulty for the third place. I have upgrades in the making but I’m not yet ready to perform them in competitions. I hope that by the Russian Cup, I’ll have a higher difficulty.”

“I think it’s the sixth or seventh Euros for which I’ve been preparing but, every time until now, I ended up not going. Well, if something didn’t happen or didn’t go our way, it means that there is something better for us. I hope that for me, this something is the Olympic Games. Generally, I need to win one more World Cup and I can contend for a nominative spot. I don’t know if I would prefer to be on the Olympic team or to get an individual spot. The most important thing is to get to the Olympics.”

Photo: E. Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation

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