Russia has announced the teams for the European Championships right after the nationals and, famously, Aliya Mustafina was left off the team. Since there’s not team competition at Euros this year, the federation decided to send two all-arounders and two specialists. Angelina Simakova and Angelina Melnikova who placed first and second at the nationals got the AA spots, while Maria Paseka and Anastasia Iliankova got the specialist spots for their vault and bars, respectively. Mustafina currently doesn’t exactly have a standout event because she’s still recovering but, on a good day, she could make UB and BB finals. In addition, she would likely make the all-around final and she’s probably more reliable than Simakova at the moment, since Simakova has been experiencing trouble on vault. At the nationals, the results were the sum of two days and Mustafina actually did better than both Angelinas on the day of the final. All three gymnasts competed this week in Stuttgart with Mustafina in the all-around World Cup and Simakova and Melnikova in the team challenge. Mustafina got 53.400 with a fall on beam, Melnikova got 55.432 in the team final and 54.150 in the qualificaitons, while Simakova got 51.500 in the qualifications with a fall on vault and didn’t do AA in the team final. If Mustafina competes consistently at the Birmingham World Cup, she will prove to be the second best Russian all-arounder at the moment and it will make more sense to take her to Euros, even though it would mean leaving the reigning national champion at home.
Valentina Rodionenko seems to think the same thoughts, as she said that after her performance in Stuttgart, Mustafina is being considered for the Euros team again. In addition, David Belyavskiy, who missed the nationals because he was still recovering from an injury, is thinking about trying out for the Euros now, albeit only on four events. Rodionenko told RIA Novosti:
“[The team for Euros] is not clear yet, because there’s still a question mark regarding Belyavskiy. He claims that he’s ready, the camp has started today, and he wants to do four events. And there’s a question mark regarding Mustafina. We’ve been waiting for her performance in Germany and, frankly, she competed pretty well. If she didn’t fall off the beam, she would be in the top-3. She got herself together, she looked pretty well. She has a chance to go to Euros, we’ll decide during this week.”
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mustafina as usual would be more reliable than angelina s. she got a record of winning where it matters … easy look back london 2012 not vika rio 2016 not angelina seda….