Lena and Nastia for 2015 Japan Junior!!!

Get very excited, because from September 22nd to the 23rd, Elena Eremina and Anastasia Iliankova will represent Russia at the 2015 Japan Junior International! Elena is probably my favorite up and coming junior (read about how my obsession started here). The Japan Junior is probably the most well known, well respected global junior comp in the world, renowned for all the talent that has competed at this meet since the 1980's. It's the closest we'll ever get to a junior World's.

I'm excited that Elena got picked over Melka or Skrypnik because I believe her talent is not as "obvious" as others on the team right now and she needs to continue receiving assignments so that she can a) observe how the best in the world train & compete b) gain experience c) gain confidence. I'm very curious to see how the girls will do since their podium chances in the All-Around are, well, bleak. USA is sending both their 2014 and 2015 national champion and they are undisputedly going to medal in every final, okay? Then you have Catherine Lyons who is a goddess among mortals and can put up scores in the 14's ON EVERY APPARATUS, and this was before the vault and uneven bars upgrades she trained over the summer. Her beam work will even challenge the Americans for the gold medal in the event finals. These three will probably take the podium in AA. If Catherine should count mistakes, the Russians still won't have an assured place on the podium because of China's fabulous Liu Tingting, who should score in the range of 55 to high 56 and challenge for gold in the UB final. It'll be up to them to hold their nerve, perform as cleanly and confidently as possible and see where the chips lay at the end of four rotations. Here's the complete list of participants: 

WAG Competitors:
Emily Whitehead (AUS)
Megan Roberts (CAN)
Hannah Jade Chrobok (CAN)
Liu Tingting (CHN)
Lu Yufei (CHN)
Catherine Lyons (GBR)
Lina Philipp (GER)
Carina Kroell (GER)
Chun Mei Cheung (HKG)
Ho Yat Cheung (HKG)
Seojeong Yeo (KOR)
Stefania Orzu (ROU)
Denisa Stanciu (ROU)
Anastasiia Iliankova (RUS)
Elena Eremina (RUS)
Jazmyn Foberg (USA)
Lauren Hernandez (USA)
Natsumi Hanashima (JPN)
Nagi Kajita (JPN)
Koko Dobashi (JPN)
Kiko Kuwajima (JPN)

I hope in two years, when the next Japan Junior occurs, Elena and Anastasia will be successful seniors. By sending them to this meet, Team Russia is sending a clear signal of who will become the face of Russian gymnastics next quad. Onward, girls! 

A few videos to reacquaint yourself with just a TINY portion of talented Russian gymnasts who've gone to this meet: