Mustafina is back! She did her thing at this year's Voronin Cup in Moscow and delivered great bars and descent performances elsewhere. I am still concerned about her beam, and beam for the Russian team as a whole, but for Musty, returning from an injury and with the eyes of the world all on her, it was a great job.
Komova continues to improve her stamina. Her floor this time around was better, although, I think she still needs to be stronger on those landings, put her feet down and the chest up without hesitation. In the FX finals she showed she can do that, but still is falling out of her turns a little earlier for my taste.
Pavlova showed we should not count her out, with some consistent performances and I, for one, was impressed by her and hope she can consistently improve and make a run for this team because I just appreciate all she brings to the table. Nabieva is out with back pain and Afanasyeva was just back from Acapulco where she won the AA at the Abierto de Mexico.
 |
| The queen of the Abierto de Mexico |
These were the results in Moscow:
AA:
1-Viktoria Komova RUS - 59.650
2-Yulia Belokobylskya RUS- 56.550
3-Valeria Maksyuta ISR - 54.300
4-Yulia Inshina RUS - 56.150
5-Anna Pavlova RUS - 56.000
6-Aliya Mustafina RUS - 55.850
7-Anastasia Sidorova RUS - 54.550
8-Kristina Sankova UKR - 54.100
VT:
1-Valeria Maksyuta ISR - 14.787
2-Nastassia Marachkouskaya BLR - 13.813
3-Anna Pavlova RUS - 13.450
UB:
1-Viktoria Komova RUS - 15.850
2-Alia Mustafina RUS - 15.475
3-Irina Shankova UKR - 13.625
BB:
1-Viktoria Komova RUS - 14.700
2-Valeria Maksyuta ISR - 13.700
3-Anna Pavlova RUS - 13.525
FX:
1-Viktoria Komova RUS - 14.800
2-Anastasia Sidorova RUS - 14.225
3-Valeria Maksyuta ISR - 13.750
In a rather uneven Russian beam team if Pavlova can up her difficulty just a tad and nail this routine, she could quickly become a asset:
Komova's beam was just shaky and lacked confidence. I don't know what needs to be done, but Rodionenko has to figure this out because beam is going to be this girl's undoing.
Mustafina's beam was unstable and she buckled the dismount which clearly did not make her happy. The fall on the aerial I thought happened because she chose not to fight for it since she was twisted on her bad knee and I believe she is wise to do so. This beam needs a lot of work, but for her first time out it was not too bad.
On bars the Russians are really on fire. Komova and Musty together can do some serious damage on this event and Musty is not even at full speed, she still needs to get her dismount back. I think Musty has better handstands in this event than Komova, but Komova has great swing and amplitude on her releases and dismount. If they fine tune their routines they might break 16.000 which would be amazing and hurt weaker UB teams like the US considerably in next year's head to head at the Olympics.
Floor routines:
I am not loving this floor routine by Musty, she seems scattered, and maybe it is just because she is worried about the tumbling and bending her knees on the landings, which is super important for her at this point. But, nevertheless she needs to be expressive and I don't think this music is that great or helping her to give an overall performance.
This is the type of routine Vika needs to deliver every single time out. She was confident and put her feet down and refused to move. The turns need a tad more time up on the toe, but considering how bad her close competition (aka Weiber) is at them I am inclined to be lenient on this matter.
Right now as it is shaping up Russia looks like, aside from beam that is persistent problem, their focus should be on vault: they need those Amanars back. I am not a fan of the Amanar. I find it a dangerous skill, but if the US plans to bring to London, and I am sure they do, 2 or 3 6.0s vaults, Russia is going to need to be doing this vault to challenge them. With two Amanars in their line-up, the Russians become a tough nut to crack since their bars are so strong and their floors quite good with Afanasyeva leading the offensive. Let's hope for some upgrades and healthy gymnasts!
One thing that is bothering me though: where is Demy?!?!
No comments:
Post a Comment