Before and after the selection: what to expect from our gymnasts in the Czech Republic at Sirius

The Russian Gymnastics Championships will start on September 30 with the qualification combined with the team tournament. He will be a selection for the World Cup in Indonesia. Despite the fact that the Russian Gymnastics Federation has already sent a nominal application for the World Cup, it is not yet final — like many countries, Russia has not yet decided on the composition and has the opportunity to make substitutions. Therefore, Sirius should expect serious competition in many disciplines. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Heavy losses

We can announce six boys and four girls at the World Cup, and the expanded squad, like all other countries, is a tradition of the post—Olympic season, when national teams need to train young people, look at the athletes' capabilities and figure out who to focus on in the next Olympic cycle. That is why the International Gymnastics Federation provides such an opportunity, instead holding such a World Cup somewhere far away, where it is far and expensive for most teams to get there. This time in Indonesia.

Our national team is not coming to the start of the Russian championship without losses. Daniil Novikov, an all-around wrestler, winner of the "Cup of the Strongest", an athlete who was bet on the World Cup, was injured. This has noticeably exposed the all-around front of the national team, as Daniel Marinov has not yet fully assembled his combinations and will be doing a lightweight program at this championship. Skipping the Czech Republic is Savely Sredin, who has an amount of 84,300 in the season, which he received, however, at the regional start, but nevertheless he is also a strong all-rounder. He had an operation on his hand, and now the athlete is recovering.

Against this background, Alexander Kartsev, who recently received a neutral status, healed all his injuries and complicated the combinations, looks like the leader in the all-around. Perhaps Mukhammadjon Yakubov, who also has a status, will be able to impose competition on him. Ivan Kulyak, another person who is able to pass all six rounds well, has no chance of going to the World Cup — he does not have a neutral status.

Thus, the main hopes for the World Cup are associated with specialists of certain types, and attention will be focused on them at the national qualifying championship. There are also problems here — Alexey Usachev, a man who is able to make a good basic jump, has not received admission from the International Federation. Alexey Polyashov is on a swing horse, Ilya Stutterer is on the rings, these are the people worth watching, both can go to Indonesia.

Interestingly, a foreign athlete will also perform in the Czech Republic. We are talking about the 2022 world ring champion and the European all-around champion of the same year, Adem Asil from Turkey.

"I'm at Sirius because Russian gymnastics stands out on a global level," Adem Asil told Izvestia. — There are three countries — China, Russia and Japan, they are the best in the world. And it's better for me to come here and compete with Russian athletes than to perform at a challenge where no one will be there. In addition, the competition will be held on the podium here, just like at the World Championships. It's a good preparation, that's why we chose the Russian Championship. But first of all, of course, because of the level of Russian athletes. This is the last check before the World Cup. After that, I will spend another week in Russia at the training camp, and then I will go to Indonesia with the Russian athletes.

Four clear leaders

The girls have a better situation both in terms of level and admissions. Only Olympic champion Victoria Listunova, who is still collecting the all-around after achilles surgery, has not yet received neutral status. The athlete planned to do the uneven bars and the balance beam in the Czech Republic, but at the last moment decided to limit herself to the uneven bars.

Otherwise, a very serious confrontation is planned in the Czech Republic between a whole group of gymnasts who have a neutral status and are able to win medals there after arriving at the World Championships.

Angelina Melnikova recently won the uneven bars final at the FIG World Challenge Cup in Paris, becoming the first Russian gymnast to compete at an international tournament in three years. In this victory, it's not the first place that matters, but the way Angelina was sued.: it was adequate, without the desire to hold down grades. However, you still need to understand that in gymnastics, the World Cups and challenges are not the starts where the entire elite comes. They are traditionally skipped by Asians, rarely attended by Americans, but this time they were skipped by Italians — everyone is preparing for the national selection and the World Cup. So a victory in Paris will not be a pass for Angelina to the World Cup, the selection will take place at Sirius.

Moreover, another Russian gymnast, Anna Kalmykova, currently holds the world leadership of the season in the all-around, having scored 57,365 points in the Russian Cup qualification. Another of our gymnasts, Lyudmila Roshchina, won the "Cup of the Strongest" with a total of 55.466, beating Kalmykova there. Leila Vasilyeva had some problems with the season, whose amount in the Russian Cup qualification is 55,465, but now the athlete has recovered and is declared for the Czech Republic.

Vasilyeva, Kalmykova, Melnikova and Roshchina are the four clear leaders with whom the hopes of Russian gymnastics at the World Championships are connected, and they were included in the preliminary application, but first the girls will have the national championship. It is necessary not only to perform well, but also, given the realities of the sport, not to get hurt.