The 2017 Russian Cup has concluded in Yekaterinburg, and with solid performances all around, the 2017 world championship puzzle is a bit fuzzier than anticipated.
Full results, follow by a few takeaways:
All-Around Final (Score Order: VT, UB, BB, FX) 1 Angelina Melnikova: 14.325 14.825 14.075 14.425 57.650 2 Elena Eremina: 12.850 14.700 14.300 14.250 56.100 3 Maria Kharenkova: 13.650 12.550 15.150 14.125 55.475 4 Eleonora Afanasyeva: 14.575 11.400 13.675 14.200 53.850 5 Viktoria Trykina: 14.250 12.525 13.325 13.500 53.600 6 Polina Fedorova: 13.300 13.225 13.775 12.850 53.150 7 Uliana Perebinosova: 14.125 13.350 12.175 12.650 52.300 8 Natalia Kapitonova: 13.100 13.775 12.250 12.550 51.675 9 Ksenia Artemova: 13.350 11.650 12.325 12.975 50.300 10 Viktoria Gazeeva: 13.150 12.575 12.675 11.875 50.275 11 Varvara Batalova: 12.725 12.150 12.250 12.650 49.775 12 Elizaveta Kochetkova: 13.200 12.750 10.625 12.625 49.200 13 Elena Likhodolskaya: 12.750 11.075 12.125 12.100 48.050 14 Anastasia Kuznetsova: 12.575 10.175 11.575 12.875 47.200 15 Anastasia Cheon: 12.800 10.175 11.425 12.375 46.775 16 Daria Reznik: 12.400 11.025 10.675 11.900 46.000 17 Ekaterina Boeva: 12.175 11.075 10.700 11.725 45.675 18 Ekaterina Polikarpova: — -5.700 —— —— 5.700
Vault Final 1 Eleonora Afanasyeva: 14.750/13.800/14.275 2 Viktoria Trykina: 14.525/13.800/14.162 3 Angelina Melnikova: 12.975/ 14.300/ 13.637 4 Ksenia Artemova: 13.250/ 13.075/ 13.162 5 Elizaveta Kochetkova: 13.225/ 13.050/ 13.137
Uneven Bars Final 1 Anastasia Iliankova: 15.275 2 Elena Eremina: 14.975 3 Uliana Perebinosova: 14.675 4 Angelina Melnikova: 14.650 5 Elizaveta Kochetkova: 13.575 6 Viktoria Gazeeva: 13.150 7 Natalia Kapitonova: 13.100 8 Polina Fedorova: 12.600
Balance Beam Final 1 Angelina Melnikova: 14.825 2 Maria Kharenkova: 14.800 3 Elena Eremina: 14.275 4 Anastasia Iliankova: 14.150 5 Viktoria Trykina: 14.050 6 Polina Fedorova: 13.850 7 Eleonora Afanasyeva: 13.325 8 Uliana Perebinosova: 12.475
Floor Exercise Final 1 Maria Kharenkova: 14.500 2 Elena Eremina: 14.200 3 Eleonora Afanasyeva: 13.925 4 Elizaveta Kochetkova: 13.500 5 Angelina Melnikova: 12.725 6 Varvara Batalova: 12.625 7 Viktoria Trykina: 12.550 8 Uliana Perebinosova: 11.650
Takeaways:
- Angelina Melnikova’s growing confidence: After a disappointing qualifying performance at the Olympics, Melnikova continued to struggle in the beginning of 2017. A gold medal in the Floor Final at this year’s European Championships seemed to turn the page, though, and her performance in Yekaterinburg suggests she’s in a better place mentally and physically. And she had to fight for it. With first-year senior Elena Eremina right on her heels, Melnikova had to go four-for-four in the All Around Final, which she did. Perhaps that kind of pressure was what she needed after all; someone to force the kind of consistency we knew she had in her. Cool and calm, she only placed a score below 14 once–on floor exercise during qualifications. Her vault–at least the one that counted–was solid, her bars were fluid and well-timed, her beam had some missed connections but her flight series (BHS, BHS, layout) was a thing of beauty, and on floor, she competed four, mostly clean, passes–a double Arabian, DLO, piked full-in, and double pike. Her meet wasn’t perfect, but it showed grit. She didn’t let the little mistakes turns into massive ones this time around.
- Elena Eremina’s Rising Star: Confirming her status as the federation’s newest and brightest, Eremina won the qualification round and would have put even more pressure on Melnikova had she not botched her vault in the All-Around Final. Even with Melnikova’s new found strength, Eremina is ascending quickly, and it remains to be seen which is the greater all-around threat heading into the World Championships. Eremina is a consummate all-arounder, steadily performing routines that she knows she can hit, but she also reserves an ambitious element on each apparatus: a DLO on floor, a triple twist dismount off beam, and, of course, the massive Nabieva release on bars. She’s part conservative, part dare-devil, and seems to be pacing herself well.
- Maria Kharenkova’s Case: The Russian coaching staff announced their World Team earlier this summer, before the Russian Cup and Universiade even began. Their team? Angelina Melnikova, Elena Eremina, Anastasia lliankova, and Maria Paseka: Two all-arounders, followed by two event specialists (bars and vault). In that line-up, and with those priorities, there’s no room for fourth year senior, Maria Kharenkova, who showed veteran-like poise and youth-like agility this week. Placing the second- highest score of the meet (a 15.150 on beam in the All Around Final), Maria also placed third overall in the all-around, second in the Beam Final, and first in the Floor Final. Her beam routine was almost drool-worthy–the BHS +BHS+Layout series, smooth connections, and BHS +BHS+double pike dismount being especially impressive–and her floor routine was almost equally so. She opens with a great DLO, followed by a whip + whip + BHS + 2.5 twist + punch front, and ends with a double tuck and double pike. For those who followed Kharenkova’s junior career, her performances here were shades of her former glory, with some added maturity. An ill-timed injury ultimately took her out of the Rio running, so it would be nice to see her enjoy the fruits of her perseverance. Assuming they want to take two all-around threats, Kharenkova’s inclusion would likely entail either lliankova (who earned the highest score of the meet–a 15.275–during the Bar Final) or Paseka being left at home, and it’s unclear whether the powers-that-be are open to that conversation. Time will tell.
Article: Sara Dorrien-Christians
Photo: Russian Gymnastics Federation
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