I think gymnastics fans in general were looking forward to this particular World Cup more than usual this year, because it's one of the first tests for the Russian squad in this new "minus Mustafina" era. Loads of blogs have a roundup of the results, like this one from Couch Gymnast, so I won't bother to reprint them here, but here's a couple of takeaways:
Welcome back, Ksenia! Great to see Afanasyeva back out in competition- in my opinion, she's basically a lock to make it to Worlds this year barring another injury. Her floor music DESPERATELY needs changing, and her triple twist was way overpowered, but she's got a high start value on floor and a decent beam set. With a few more months of training, I think she'll be back in her 2010 shape and will definitely be able to contribute to the team.
Does anyone know what's going on with Lauren? I haven't read any recent injury reports but something must be up for her only to compete on bars and not beam or floor, her strong suits. And this bars set made my heart sink, to be honest- she'd been looking so much better on this, her weakest event and really what's keeping her from making an impact as an all-arounder, but this seemed like a return to crappy-form-town.
Dementyeva continues to have a great season of competition, winning gold on beam and floor and silver on bars. Her improved consistency must be a source of comfort to the Russian coaches- now if she can only upgrade that vault, we'd REALLY be in business.
Welcome back, Ksenia! Great to see Afanasyeva back out in competition- in my opinion, she's basically a lock to make it to Worlds this year barring another injury. Her floor music DESPERATELY needs changing, and her triple twist was way overpowered, but she's got a high start value on floor and a decent beam set. With a few more months of training, I think she'll be back in her 2010 shape and will definitely be able to contribute to the team.
Does anyone know what's going on with Lauren? I haven't read any recent injury reports but something must be up for her only to compete on bars and not beam or floor, her strong suits. And this bars set made my heart sink, to be honest- she'd been looking so much better on this, her weakest event and really what's keeping her from making an impact as an all-arounder, but this seemed like a return to crappy-form-town.
Dementyeva continues to have a great season of competition, winning gold on beam and floor and silver on bars. Her improved consistency must be a source of comfort to the Russian coaches- now if she can only upgrade that vault, we'd REALLY be in business.
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