Team Russia has arrived in China looking considerably different than the original picture, both named and assumed: Viktoria Komova is out, having been deemed unfit for a major competition load by doctors; the very recently “retired” Tatiana Nabieva is in; and the older-than-she-looks but not very seasoned Polina Fyodorova is making the trip as a reserve.
It goes without saying, this group will not bring the biggest scoring Russia was capable of before the Komova and Paseka verdicts. Most revealing is the fact that no matter how they swing it, they won’t have a world-class line-up on any event; each will include an athlete who has shown considerable problems in the past or an athlete who wouldn’t be called upon to compete if everyone were healthy. Bars could be the notable exception, where they’ll most likely showcase a strong line-up with Aliya Mustafina, Daria Spiridonova, and Ekaterina Kramarenko, but it’s also the event where Russia traditionally distances themselves from their rivals with three event-final worthy routines. They will still do very well here, but it won’t be the explanation point it could have been had Komova been allowed to perform as a specialist.
In light of the very real possibility that Tatiana Nabieva will only compete on vault and Maria Kharenkova only on balance beam, Viktoria Komova’s absence is especially interesting. I’ve already spilled a lot of ink speculating, so I won’t add much more here, but it does seem to me that the coaches are going to great lengths to protect her. It’s almost as if the new “no event specialist” rule were created with her in mind exclusively, putting the gymnast’s return off until she is at full strength and any serious concern about the possibility of re-injury is abated.
The gymnastics community hasn’t seen anything that would indicate a return to all-around competition for two years, but judging by her increasingly prolonged return, I think it’s clear that the coaches still see her as Russia’s most valuable gymnast. They would rather preserve her for the future than risk anything for a high bars score in Nanning.
Though her absence will be felt (along with Paseka’s), I don’t think there’s any catastrophe here in terms of team podium prospects. Much has been said of the gap left by Paseka’s vault, but I don’t see it. She landed three Amanars at the Russian Cup but incurred enough deductions that cleaner DTY’s from teammates often topped her overall score. With Sosnitskaya unveiling a Cheng just days ago and Mustafina and Nabieva performing DTY’s , they will be comparable (even dominant) to all of their rivals with the exception of the USA.
The real loss comes on floor exercise, where there is simply no obvious third choice. Polina Fyodorova has so far escaped the radar of most gymnastics fans, but I suspect her presence in Nanning has mostly to do with her ability to perform a clean, if not dynamic floor routine. It’s very unlikely that she’ll be called upon to do so, but if the team is in a pinch, she could fill the gap. Fyodorova unexpectedly won the Floor Exercise Event Final at the 2014 Russian Championships over the much more expected Alla Sosnitskaya, and while she placed outside the top three over a week of competition at the Russian Cup last August, she proved her dependability and at some point placed above the two more likely to be called upon. Tiny in stature, she doesn’t get much air so there’s a limit to what she can do, but she does crank out a triple twist and there’s something really delightful about her routine. The music and choreography suit her well; the performance is almost whimsical. Clearly, Fyodorova’s participation would mean something went very wrong for a teammate in training, as her potential floor score doesn’t top what Nabieva could do for the team on vault or Kramarenko on bars. But should a collective meltdown reminiscent of last year occur in Nanning, Fyodorova’s journey to China makes sense. She can cover for them, even stylishly, on the event that’s thinnest.
What’s more likely is that the coaches will wait until the very last minute to fill in that final floor spot with the athletes already named to the team. Common wisdom would point to Maria Kharenkova, and if endurance continues to be a problem for everyone, she’ll definitely get the call. If the week leading up to competition reveals a more exhaustion-resistant team, however, there’s good reason to suspect that Ekaterina Kramarenko will round out the effort on floor, and not just because she was a floor finalist at the 2008 Olympics. Memory and nostalgia aside, Kramarenko delivered some of the best tumbling at the Russian Cup last August, if you take each tumbling pass alone and count podium training. She was never able to put it all together in competition, but she certainly gave the impression of being more capable. I saw her complete too many double layouts and triple twists in a land of double tucks and 1.5 to full twists to count her out, and it’s quite possible that another month of preparation has been sufficient. In the words of team captain Aliya Mustafina, “You can’t be at 100 percent fitness when there’s still a month until the world championships. If we were in our best shape now, we would never be able to hold on until Worlds. Right now we’re at the level we should be.”
At 23 years old, it’s possible that Kramarenko has been very carefully pacing herself for a peak in Nanning, being even more attentive than her younger teammates.
Again, this might seem like wishful thinking, but Kramarenko’s return to competitive gymnastics has been very measured; she has improved consistently, adding events as she goes. I simply wouldn’t be surprised to learn that her selection wasn’t all about bars. Anytime a gymnast’s selection sends shockwaves through the gymternet, it’s very likely we’re not seeing a piece of the puzzle…
Source for A Mustafina quote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCGy4pnuU-g
Translation: Lauren C
Article by Sara Dorrien
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