Valentina Rodionenko told R-Sport that Aliya Mustafina was included on the nominative team for the World Championships. According to Rodionenko, at the moment, the team is supposed to be the five gymnasts that competed at the European Championships (Angelina Melnikova, Angelina Simakova, Uliana Perebinosova, Irina Alexeeva, and Liliia Akhaimova) plus Mustafina. She did not specify who would be the alternate – it will likely be decided after the verification competitions during the training camp. Daria Spiridonova is a somewhat unexpected contender for the Worlds team as well – she’s missed several training camps this year and had quite disappointing results at both Russian Championships and Russian Cup. She started training at Round Lake again last month and it seems that she’s getting back to her previous level.
It is not clear what is going on with Viktoria Komova. She originally was supposed to be on the Euros team and believed that she was a lock but ended up not making the team. Komova was not back to Round Lake for the training camp last month, and while there is still no official information, judging by her Instagram it seems that she’s not at the Worlds selection camp and isn’t seriously training right now.
In addition, Rodionenko also didn’t say anything about Anastasiia Iliankova (although Iliankova is currently at Round Lake). Last month, Rodionenko mentioned that Iliankova’s injury was aggravated and that led her to not being selected for Euros but she still has a chance to go to Worlds. It seems that Iliankova, Spiridonova, and Mustafina are likely competing for the same place on the team.
Rodionenko said to R-Sport regarding the Worlds team:
“For now, regarding the teams, the situation is as follow: the men’s team won’t change compared to the European Championships, Poliashov is the alternate. It’s more complicated regarding the girls. Mustafina and Spiridonova were added to those who competed in Glasgow, so the final team will be decided after the verifications. For now, those five [who competed at Euros] are on the nominative team plus Mustafina, but it’s too early to talk about the final team. Spiridonova needs to do “her” bars [to be in contention]”.
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