Stuttgart: Russia Dominates TF's

Show of hands: who thought they would actually compete well? 

The golden girls

Melka had to content herself with silver...for now.

Regarding Men's TF: I was pleasantly surprised by the level of difficulty on display. For the past few quads it's been expected that the Russian team will lag behind everyone else at the start of the season but the whole team, not just the ones in Stuttgart, seem really...prepared? What on earth is happening? I'm used to depending on one standout individual (ahem, Denis) to win all the medals in the post-Olympic year while everyone else sorts their life out but what I saw (and I'm no mag expert) seemed EF worthy, at least for the Euros level. Hmmm.

Regarding Women's TF: (Sighs) Well they won. Now that the good news is out of the way, can we talk about that bars rotation? Or that vault rotation? Vault and bars has been Russia's bread and butter lately so unless they're being goddesses on beam and floor I'm gonna need all of them to get it together pronto. I can't even conceive of what would happen to this team if we had to add inconsistent bars to the list of worries. Oh lord. Lena was put up last on three events so clearly they thought she was their potential highest scorer. She did score the highest on two events (vt, bb) but had a meltdown on floor and with a score that would've cost Russia any color medal if they had been competing against stronger teams. Will they still send her to Euros? She was the best beam worker at Stuttgart and she didn't repeat her bars fall in TF but...is it enough? Spiridonova looked cooked the entire week, I better not see her in Romania lmao. Kapi is THE ONE. Of course I love and prefer Lena and Melka but they're beautiful messes and it's not like I haven't been on the Kapi train since 2016 (ahem, I wanted her to replace Spiri in Rio teeheehee). 

Regarding AA:  After so many falls I thought it was nice that most people ended on a high note with floor. And lot's of gorgeous routines! Angelina (and Morgan Hurd for that matter) could have won this competition, you guys know that, right? I thought she'd be an utter catastrophe but it wasn't so terrible- she definitely understands damage control. She was low-balled on floor and it was 100% unnecessary because she already had the beam fall so if they wanted a German to win they didn't need to keep pressing Melka. I'm not upset about it, but c'mon, there's almost a one point difference between their fx scores and that's ludicrous. Tabea didn't need their help. Anyways, with conditioning and rest Melks will be in good form for Euros and I think bars and AA are her best medal chances. I have a terrible feeling they're going to squeeze her like a lemon this quad, she's the ideal gymnast to replace Aliya and be overused...

What were your thoughts on Stuttgart? Does any of it even matter for the women, since Jesolo might set a higher precedent?