Russian Youth Championships

2015-06-08

6 min read

After two already, you probably thought Russian nationals were over, right? As it turns out, this year’s Russian nationals were split into three competitions – the first for seniors in the Master of Sport and Candidate for Master of Sport divisions, a second for juniors in the same divisions, and a third, which happened 25-30 May, for the even younger crowd. In Russia these are called Levels 1 and 2, for girls born 2003-2004 (Level 1) and those born 2005-2006 (Level 2). Gymnasts in these divisions compete both compulsory routines and optional ones, with the all-around determined by the total; the event finals operate under new life rules. A team final is conducted between the Federal Okrugs – Central, Southern, Volga, Urals, Northwestern, Far Eastern – and the two independent cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

In Level 1, Olga Astafyeva (2004), recently recovered from a knee injury, won the all-around, with Ksenia Klimenko (2003), who has already achieved some notoriety thanks to a video of her on balance beam that circulated late last year, winning silver. Both are strong bars workers – in that final, Klimenko finished first, Astafyeva second. Astafyeva also picked up a bronze on floor. Anastasia Agafonova (2003), a strong tumbler with a difficult beam routine and beautiful bars basics, finished third all-around, but medaled on every event in finals, including winning gold on vault, beam, and floor. She scored over 14 on each of those three at some point during the championship. All three of these 11-year-olds had optionals scores (54.225, 54.125, 53.625) that could have put them in the top 10 not only in higher junior divisions, but in the senior all-around this year.

Nelli Audi (2005), who will not turn 10 until the first of July, won gold all-around in Level 2 by nearly two points. In event finals she won gold on floor, silver on vault, bronze on bars, and was fourth on beam. In second was Ksenia Cheban (2005), a teammate of Olga Astafyeva’s who, like Olga, is strongest on bars and beam (she took silver and bronze on those events, respectively). Viktoria Listunova (2005) finished third all-around and first on vault.

As a longtime Russian fan, perhaps the most encouraging thing to me was to see talented gymnasts coming from many different regions throughout the country. Since the 2004 Olympics, the vast majority of national team gymnasts have been pulled from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and a few well-established gyms in central or central-southern European Russia (Rostov-on-Don, Vladimir, Voronezh). While there were some gymnasts from these traditionally strong regions – Anastasia Agafonova’s Vladimir coach, Anna Kulikova, also trains Yekaterina Sokova; Nelli Audi, Viktoria Listunova, and sisters Yelizaveta (5th AA Level 1) and Sofya (12th AA, 2nd BB Level 2) Sokolova are all from Moscow. Central Federal Okrug and Moscow finished first and second in the team competition. But the Urals Federal Okrug, which boasts no senior members of the women’s team, was third here. Their star is Ksenia Klimenko, from a previously unknown gym in Surgut which put two other gymnasts, Polina Borzykh (2001) and Alexandra Shekoldina (2002), on the junior team earlier this year. Arina Strukova (2004), who was fourth all-around in Level 1, is from the same region as Klimenko, but from a different gym in an entirely different city (Kogalym). Olga Astafyeva and Ksenia Cheban live in the Moscow Region, but their gym in Malakhovka is new to the national scene, and their success wasn’t limited to those two athletes – Polina Vavilova (4th AA, 1st UB Level 2, 2006) and Maria Beletskaya (6th AA, UB Level 2, 2005) train in the same group under Oksana Andreyeva. Darya Belousova (5th AA Level 1, nat’l team member) represents Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic.

After nearly a decade of stagnation, during which all but the most well-placed or well-connected gyms were forced to close their doors, the sudden appearance of so many regions in the national standings could be the sign of recovery Russian fans have been waiting for. Among the last Olympic team, three of five members – Aliya Mustafina, Maria Paseka, Anastasia Grishina – hailed not only from the same city – Moscow – but began their gymnastics careers in the same training group, in the same gym, under the same coach. As talented and successful as that team was, what might it have been like if the talent pool it drew from were not so absurdly limited, but instead stretched across even a few more regions of Russia?

Results

Level 1 AA: