The Russian Cup Team Competition for the women concluded this evening, with the stacked Moscow group taking home the prize. It was a competition that offered few surprises, and I admittedly used to find the federation’s insistence on this particular competition a bit perplexing. It pits Olympians against gymnasts struggling through U.S. level 9 and 10 routines, creating a bit of awkwardness.
Despite the imbalance, however, tonight’s meet was actually quite enjoyable. There was a sizeable difference in energy from Wednesday’s qualifications and All-Around Final; it was a spiritedness I suppose is palpable only when team pride is on the line. The St. Petersburg women were especially endearing, ultimately losing the gold but winning the prize for fortitude and the sheer pleasure of competing. Notable performances came from national team members and St. Petersburg natives Liliya Akhaemova and Ekaterina Kramarenko on floor exercise. Both finished with a sizeable mistake each, but Akhaemova opened with a whip + whip + handspring to full-in and Kramarenko with a DLO. Needless to say, their routines lack cleanliness but they are bolder than anything attempted by the Moscow and Central athletes.
All in all, the competition might appear as no more than a scrimmage just-for-fun, especially because the Moscow-based national team members divide to compete for their home regions, but the meet gives the non-elites a chance to compete again and allows the international-bound athletes to practice their routines on the podium and under pressure once more. In a country where Artistic Gymnastics is (unfathomably?) not very popular at present, it makes sense to make up for scant fanfare, lower lights, and minimal cameras with more opportunities to compete. Spend a week at the Burtasy Sports Palace and you’ll have much more respect for a program that simply cannot simulate the kind of environment their top gymnasts will be expected to compete and deliver in abroad.
Capitalizing on their solid qualification/AA performances were Muscovites Aliya Mustafina, Maria Paseka, and Daria Spiridonova. Beyond their big-scoring potential, a second day of competition has confirmed that these are athletes who can also count consistency among their highest attributes, a mark that will be especially helpful for the aspirations of the latter two.
Maria Paseka kicked off the competition with a resounding Amanar: high, far, in-line. Making sure the Amanar counted, she ended the evening with a floor routine worthy of world championship consideration. I still think it looks like she could compete four passes (and I hope it’s in the works), but perhaps most importantly, it was comparable (not as good, but comparable) to the routine she delivered on Wednesday, confirming she can deliver it whenever the light turns green. She almost put her hands down on her first past (whip to triple), but looked very alive after that.
Daria Spiridonova delivered what have become characteristically solid routines on uneven bars and balance beam, though she looked a bit tired tonight, lunging forward as she landed her double tuck dismount, almost hitting the beam, and suffering some minor form issues and rushed inbar work on bars.
Aliya Mustafina sat out vault, no doubt trying to protect a still healing ankle, but delivered expectantly clean and high-scoring performances on uneven bars and balance beam, as well as floor exercise, where she completed her triple Y turn much to the crowd’s and her teammates’ delight and attempted a Gomez. Her only (small) miscues came on uncharacteristic landings, where she had to take a small step and bounce out of her first and third passes, perhaps because she’s accustomed to rebounding, which she hasn’t done at this competition. It’s also worth noting that in practice she’s been attempting a spin in tuck position at the end of her routine, which she completed one rotation of during Wednesday night’s competition.
Tatiana Nabieva also had a good showing this evening, at least on the two events (vault and bars) she’d be counted on in Nanning if she decides to forgo that retirement plan. She performed another solid DTY and scored 14.033on uneven bars with the only blatant mistake coming on her dismount, where she’s a bit untidy right off the top.
Quietly improving on her qualification/AA performance was Maria Kharenkova, proving her reliability on the pieces she’ll need to be a reserve for, if not more. On floor in particular, she gives the impression of being capable of more. With four tumbling passes—double Arabian, 2.5 twist to handspring + handspring + double pike (stuck), whip + whip + handspring to triple twist, to double tuck — and a lot of energy, it’s surprising when she struggles to stand up her last pass. If she’s that exhausted by the end, she certainly hides it well. In any case, she showed greater stamina tonight, so I’d count that as a win. She also delivered another lovely beam performance. I’m beginning to think she could do that BHS step-out + layout step-out + layout step-out in her sleep.
Viktoria Komova had a more difficult evening, though it wasn’t anything tragic. She went a bit flat after her second transition (Komova I) and had to muscle through her inbar stalder 1/2 to stretched jaeger, throwing off her rhythm and form a bit, leading to a 8.00 E score and a total score of 14.400, lower than Wednesday night’s effort (which was dampened especially by catching her feet in a nightmarish Olympic repeat moment).
She will most certainly be hoping for an improved execution score in the event final tomorrow, though I’ve been relieved to see the disappointment from a sub-par performance doesn’t seem to last for too long. It has to be frustrating for the road back to be so long, especially as a host of younger teammates chase her on her pet event, but for what it’s worth to fans, she appears to be happy and quite patient with herself.
Alla Sosnitskaya will also be looking forward to improved performances tomorrow and Sunday. A pretty messy bar routine (loose legged on her pak and Van Leeuwen, hit the low bar with feet), nervy beam routine, and (perhaps most importantly) lackluster floor routine after a solid DLO will likely leave her wanting.
I’m not sure what’s hampering her execution, but I’ve certainly seen Alla cleanlier than this. And she’s certainly one of the more dynamic members of the younger Russian contingent. Hopefully she’ll be able to put it all together in the next couple of days.
Vault and Uneven Bars are up next. Stay tuned!
And here are some pictures:
Article and photos by Sara Dorrien