Dasha, Lena, and Nastia Conquer 2015 Tbilisi EYOF

Tbilisi Old Town

The 2015 EYOF has concluded and so many youngsters have made a statement for themselves and what we can expect to see of them in the future. I love this competition because it follows an Olympic format, but it's a competition for juniors, giving them vital experience about what they can expect if they should ever make it to the grandest of all competitions, the Olympics. For some, these experiences were hard learned as there was a succession of devastating tie breakers which, if they had not been broken, would've led to history being made for more than one country. To start with, Russian MAG and WAG made a fantastic effort at this meet; collectively they bring home 14 medals, 5 of them gold. Here are the WAG EF results:  

                VT

Marine Boyer FRA - 14.375

Daria Skrypnik RUS - 14.100
Elena Eremina RUS - 14.000
Zsofia Kocavs HUN - 13.800
Marie Skammelsen DEN - 13.800
Tabea Alt GER - 13.675
Maisie Methuen GBR - 13.625
Livia Schmid SUI - 13.600

                UB

Daria Skrypnik RUS - 14.850
Nina Derwael BEL - 14.800
Anastasia Ilyankova RUS - 14.700
Diana Varinska UKR - 14.650
Tabea Alt GER - 14.300
Florine Harder GER - 13.650
Zsofia Kovacs HUN - 12.850
Emmy Haavisto SWE - 12.200

                BB

Axelle Klinckaert BEL - 13.950
Maisie Methuen GBR - 13.650
Daria Skrypnik RUS - 12.750
Martina Maggio ITA - 12.650
Nina Derwael BEL - 12.200
Ioana Crisan ROU - 12.100
Zsofia Kovacs HUN - 11.850
Anastasia Ilyankova RUS - 11.750

                 FX

Axelle Klinckaert BEL - 14.100
Daria Skrypnik RUS - 13.900
Nina Derwael BEL - 13.750
Juliette Bossu FRA - 13.750
Tabea Alt GER - 13.700
Elena Eremina RUS - 13.600
Olivia Cimpian ROU - 13.600
Martina Maggio ITA - 13.350

A last talk before TF

Though Russia's Daria Skrypnik dominated the competition, medalling on all events, certainly it was Axelle Klinckaert who was the talk of the gymternet. First of all, can I just say that while many were surprised to see Belgium pushing Russia throughout the competition, they have been quietly having great meets for some time now. Yep, at the FIG Ghent Challenge Cup, their juniors took a silver team medal behind Germany and ahead of Italy and Brazil. The junior team also took 3rd, 4th, and 9th place in the AA with less than a point separating bronze from gold. At the same competition, seniors Rune Herman and Lisa Verschueren took went 6th and 7th in AA with 54.650 and 54.500. They came 4th in TF. At the Belgium Championships, Dewael scored a 55.316 with a fall and at the European Games held in Baku the team finished in a respectable 10th place, 10 points behind gold medal winners, Russia, and 1.7 points behind Romania. And lastly, their juniors were a point behind a very strong Russian team at EYOF, when many predicted no one, not even Romania, would come within 5 points of them. So. Just keep your eye on this team into the next quad and dont forget to give them a shout out when mentioning developing nations. 

I was really impressed with Dasha at this meet. Well, not "really" impressed but I feel she proved that her win at Russian Nationals over reigning junior European Champion, Angelina Melnikova, was no fluke. Her AA score was 55.750, down a point or so from quals, and down 2.250 from her AA win at Nats. I have to be honest, I think she's a solid competitor with reliable scores of mid-56 to 58 tops, but she didn't present that quality to us here in AA or any of the event finals, save FX. I know her bars are lovely even when she's not at 100% but something was just off with her everytime she competed it. The handstands were terrible, the dismounts seemed laboured and badly landed and she couldn't always make those connections. I dunno. She can do better is all I have to say (she's a natural bar worker so i wouldn't be worried; Russia will whip her back into top shape). 

On floor, it was, again, the Belgian and Russian Gala, as those two countries battled out the order of the medals. Congrats to the medalists, but I want to talk about lovely lovely 6th place finisher, Elena Eremina. For the most dedicated of Russian fans, you probably knew about her from the 2013 Dityain Cup where she won golds on UB, AA and inTF. Some recollect her better at the 2014 Tournoi Pas-de-Calais where she was bested by Georgia Mae Fenton (GBR) for the gold in AA. Apparently I am neither dedicated nor observant enough to remember her from such events. The first time I saw her was at this year's Nationals where I immediately pledged my soul to her because I can tell she's World's team quality. Let's see, I was drawn to her AA leo which was Team Russia's 2010 TF's leo, so yes, she was conjuring all the good vibes by wearing that. Then I saw her floor and watched it 50 times because the delicate melody and the breathy vocals reminded me of Aliya's famous fx, Hijo de la luna. And lastly, she had scored a 14.4 for that floor routine which was about a month after the senior National's where the average FX score was in the 13's. So I just took the pledge to become obsessed with her right then- why wait for 2017? No matter if she falls under the junior curse and bombs as a senior, I will always love her. Watch that floor routine here.

        The happy medalists!      

Elena performed a great floor exercise at EYOF and in fact she was generally consistent here in finals, scoring a tenth less than quals but kept off the podium because others improved from quals and had greater difficulty. I think Elena is such a strong all around prospect for Russia. I'm not deterred at all by her not making AA finals here. If anything, I don't really want her to be a superstar junior because those don't turn out so well in Russia, but when she's focused and physically prepared she's right up there with the best and can win against them. She needs more time to mature as a competitor and not balk when it matters. But all the potential is there: powerful vaulting, good UB worker, great beam and floor worker. And though everything is not always controlled, it never looks hard for her which is most important at this stage. She has time.

Poor Anastasia Iliankova just isn't getting enough attention from fans. With Elena stealing hearts, and Daria all the medals, no one's really talking about her "miraculous" inclusion into the AA finals. I at first thought it was a gift too, but upon looking at the limited video footage we had of the meet, it seems Iliankova is coming into her own. She was always beloved for her unique non-Russian style bar routine and she's still most adored for that but it's not her sole merit anymore. This girl really has improved everywhere, I don't know where to start! Her beam is really cool with a round off to layout, a full Y turn, and she also has a side aerial+loso connection. I'm partial to the latter skill but hold it to high standards because I loved how USA's Kyla Ross looked when she trained it, and I wish Anastasia would straighten her bent knees. Nevertheless, she scored a solid 13.5 in TF and 13.650 in AA, atwhich point she saw no need to be further reliable and fell twice in EF's. On to better things. She scored a bronze on bars (and I wish both her and Derwael had beaten Skrypnik) with a massive 14.7. Words do not describe how awesome this routine is. It's not just that she does big tricks and dares to connect them, but that she manages to have perfect form and classic russian swing despite it's atypical composition. Do yourself a favor and watch it if you haven't. 

Though many juniors don't live up to our high expectations at the senior level, the depth and long standing dominance of the junior program always leaves fans optimistic regardless, and I would caution against anyone thinking Russia's problems are with the coaches of the junior department. This concludes my most pressing thoughts on the Russians at EYOF.