Valentina Rodionenko has announced partial teams for the upcoming European Championships, saying that the last spots will be decided during the training camp that will start in a week.
For women, not surprisingly, Rodionenko named the top-3 from the Russian Championships AA competition – Viktoriia Listunova, Vladislava Urazova, and Angelina Melnikova. These three together also won 9 of the 12 EF medals. Melnikova won gold on vault and floor and bronze on bars. Listunova won gold on beam and silver on vault, bars, and floor. Urazova won gold on bars and bronze on floor.
Rodionenko told TASS that the fourth spot on the Euros roster is being decided between Elena Gerasimova, Lilia Akhaimova, and Yana Vorona. Gerasimova finished fourth after two days of the all-around and won silver on beam, hitting her beam routines in all three days of competition. Vorona was third in the all-around during the qualification but ended up sixth after two days of competition. Akhaimova was fifth in AA in the qualifications and finished seventh overall. She came to the competition with nagging ankle pain and injured her ankle further during the all-around final which forced her to withdraw from the event finals. However, she hopes the issue is minor and she can return to training in a week. Rodionenko said that Akhaimova is the most likely candidate for the team out of the three:
“Her leg hurts but she will get it treated now. She’s an experienced gymnast and will still come to the training camp. She has the highest chances to get the fourth spot”.
Almost all top gymnasts had issues on beam, with Urazova falling in all three of her routines and Melnikova falling in QF and AA final, and Listunova and Vorona – in AA final and EF. Rodionenko said the mistakes were due to lack of competitions:
“I am happy [with the results of the championships] because there were no competitions for a year and we expected many more mistakes. But everyone managed and did a good job. Only beam let them down – the event that requires perfect preparation from the girls. Because a long break in competitions affects this event the most. But the rest is fine. Young ones are going for it, everything’s fine.”
For men, Rodionenko predictably named Nikita Nagornyy, Artur Dalaloyan, David Belyavskiy, and Aleksandr Kartsev. Kartsev won AA over Dalaloyan and Belyavskiy who both had some trouble, but over all these two and Nagornyy are still the strongest gymnasts on the team. These European Championships are an individual competition, so countries are eligible to send six gymnasts and Russia will be looking to maximize medal experience. Rodionenko said that the other two spots are still being discussed.
