Men's Nationals Commences On A High Start
David Belyavskiy leads qualification on Day 1 of Nationals. In second is Nikolai Kuksenkov followed by Nikita Nagorny. I wasn't able to watch the entirety of the livestream but from what I saw, there was an abundance of what can only be described as "spirit-boosting" overscoring taking place. The top guys did have a good day but the judges seemed excited that the men were actually hitting for once and solid routines were being rewarded with scores usually reserved for mind-blowing excellent performances.
Nonetheless, Ablyazin impressed me with his return to stability and confidence on vault and rings, followed by Nagorny who presented upgrades on VT, SR, and FX as if they were always in his repertoire. Judging was uneven depending on apparatus; on floor, a lot of performances were sloppy in form or out of control in landings (or both) yet came away almost untouched in e-score. Bless domestic judges! Belyavskiy was given the most status bonus, I think. He counted little errors most everywhere and fell on his vault but still broke 90- just an example of how crazy the scoring could get. The highlight of his day would be parallel bars, where he scored 15.867 with some arm bends and a couple of handstands that weren't held for the standard 2 seconds (which demonstrates control). Otherwise, his swing was terrific and I think his P-bars represent the theme of his AA: 80% perfection muddled by 20% errors.
Emin Garibov is an inspiration for continuing to fight against the setbacks from his shoulder injury but his performances today prove he needs to take it easy and do the one thing athletes seem incapable of...rest. His participation could've boosted Russia's scores if he was healthy for Rio, but alas, it's with hesitancy and regret that I finally admit he should rest and regroup mentally for 2017 World's. The Olympic year seems too physically demanding; I hate to see him so unsteady and flustered.
Nonetheless, Ablyazin impressed me with his return to stability and confidence on vault and rings, followed by Nagorny who presented upgrades on VT, SR, and FX as if they were always in his repertoire. Judging was uneven depending on apparatus; on floor, a lot of performances were sloppy in form or out of control in landings (or both) yet came away almost untouched in e-score. Bless domestic judges! Belyavskiy was given the most status bonus, I think. He counted little errors most everywhere and fell on his vault but still broke 90- just an example of how crazy the scoring could get. The highlight of his day would be parallel bars, where he scored 15.867 with some arm bends and a couple of handstands that weren't held for the standard 2 seconds (which demonstrates control). Otherwise, his swing was terrific and I think his P-bars represent the theme of his AA: 80% perfection muddled by 20% errors.
Emin Garibov is an inspiration for continuing to fight against the setbacks from his shoulder injury but his performances today prove he needs to take it easy and do the one thing athletes seem incapable of...rest. His participation could've boosted Russia's scores if he was healthy for Rio, but alas, it's with hesitancy and regret that I finally admit he should rest and regroup mentally for 2017 World's. The Olympic year seems too physically demanding; I hate to see him so unsteady and flustered.
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| 1. Volga 2. Siberia 3. Moscow |
I'm always shredding the men because they get very little of the shitstorm the women's team does- all the while performing worse- but I was quite proud of the display this afternoon. Not going to get over-excited yet, but I am happy, and hope the women can give us something identical next week. It was a good day, all in all. Below, David Belyavskiy's PB routine, courtesy of Yulia Razheva on VK:
Top 5 AA scores are:
1. David
Belyavskiy 90.367
2. Nikolai Kuksenkov 89.799
3. Nikita Nagornyy 89.033
4. Nikita Ignatyev 88.467
5. Artur Dalaloyan 87.501
3. Nikita Nagornyy 89.033
4. Nikita Ignatyev 88.467
5. Artur Dalaloyan 87.501
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