The 2016 Russian Championships began on Wednesday in Penza. The senior women competed to qualify for the All Around and Event Finals (to be held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and as members of their respective geographic regions in a Team Final.
Notably present was Aliya Mustafina, whose participation was questionable just a week ago. She competed on bars and beam only, posting competitive scores on each. (On beam, she took out the standing Arabian but added a new acro series: split jump to front aerial to free cartwheel–ever exploring.)
Notably absent was Viktoria Komova, who was recently discharged from the hospital after seeking evaluation and treatment for back pain. In addition, Ksenia Afanasyeva was present but scratched balance beam and performed a very watered down floor exercise routine (4.9 D value).
Notably awesome were a handful of hit balance beam sets. Seda Thutkhalyan was especially impressive- nailing her round off to layout and round off to layout full, and an ambitious full-in dismount to end.
Notably over scored were all of the floor exercise routines, though even without music, they were some of the best we’ve seen in a while. Kapitonova opened with a full-in; Melnikova had seemingly boundless energy, opening with a DLO followed by a full-in; Kharenkova got her whip + whip + bhs + triple around; and Thutkhalyan delivered another solid performance, making up for a mistake on bars. These were not tired floor routines.
Notably weird was a comparably messy bar rotation (comparable to usual Russian bars) after the hit routines from Mustafina and Kapitonova. (First-year senior Kapitonova earned a 15.567.) Seda Thutkhalyan fell on her Bhardwah transition and Spiridonova on her full-twisting double dismount.
Top All-Around Scores:
Angelina Melnikova–60.067
Maria Kharenkova–58.266
Seda Thutkhalyan–58.266
Natalya Kapitonova–57.634
Evgenia Shelgunova–57.499
Daria Skrypnik–56.933
Tatiana Nabieva–55.667
Anastasia Dimitrieva–55.233
Top Vault Scores (note: doesn’t necessarily denote a spot in the Vault Final)
Tatiana Nabieva–14.800
Seda Thutkhalyan–14.700
Angelina Melnikova–14.666
Evgenia Shelgunova–14.333
Anastasia Dimitrieva–14.233
Anastasia Sidorova–14.200
Ksenia Afanasyeva–14.200
Natalya Kapitonova–14.100
Top Uneven Bars:
Natalya Kapitonova–15.567
Aliya Mustafina–15.333
Daria Skrypnik–15.200
Angelina Melnikova–15.100
Tatiana Nabieva–14.633
Maria Paseka–14.600
Evgenia Shelgunova–14.533
Maria Kharenkova–14.233
Top Balance Beam:
Seda Thutkhalyan–15.333
Angelina Melnikova–15.100
Maria Kharenkova–15.133
Aliya Mustafina–14.400
Evgenia Shelgunova–14.200
Daria Spiridonova–14.133
Polina Federova–14.100
Daria Skrypnik–13.833
Top Floor Exercise:
Angelina Melnikova–15.200
Seda Thutkhalyan–15.000
Maria Kharenkova–14.900
Natalya Kapitonova–14.667
Evgenia Shelgunova–14.433
Anastasia Dimitrieva–14.333
Daria Skrypnik–13.867
Check back for Team Final Results.
The competition continues on Friday with the All Around Final.
Article: Sara Dorrien-Christians
Photo: www.sportgymrus.ru