Russia Names Nominative World's Teams

MAG:
Ignatyev Kuksenkov Belyavskiy Nagorny Ablyazin Rustov/Kudashov

WAG:
Afanasyeva (captain) Spiridonova Tutkhalyan Kharenkova Komova Paseka

The MAG team's best prospect in the TF is bronze (China and Japan are lightyears ahead of Russia in d-score, e-score, and consistency), but that would still be very hard to come by with downgrades, [spring] injuries, and inconsistency plaguing them. More likely they will end, ranked 4th-6th in the world, behind USA and GBR (possibly even an improved BRA). Denis remains their best shot at an EF gold, but no longer on floor, since trying to match Shirai's d-score there has made him a spectacular mess. His best hope is now Rings and Vault...but of course he will face very real competition from USA, BRA,CHN, and DPRK, among others.

The women's team has a better chance of a team medal and can put up two finalists in every EF except floor. They are inconsistent, and this team is stronger on paper than they are in reality. Take a gymnast like USA's Aly Raisman, for example; she is a BB/FX specialist who has suitable difficulty elsewhere to make her an all-arounder as well. When team coordinator, Martha Karolyi, is figuring out team lineups she knows exactly where Raisman fits in her stratagem, because she can rely on her to live up to the potential her d-scores indicate. Compare that to Russia's specialists, most of whom are so inconsistent that excelling on their best events isn't a given. It makes Andrei Rodionenko's job much harder because it becomes a game of who you can trust instead of who has the highest d-scores*. Is Komova actually a UB/BB specialist...is Dasha? Are either of them suitable AAers or are they presently one eventers with the occasional strong meet. Which one goes up on Russia's worst event, beam, alongside Kharenkova and Tutkhalyan? Of the four, who does Russia really want to see in the all-around final? On paper, these 4 girls should all be scoring different collective totals, and yet mistakes generally keep them around the same AA score. Even though each girl has a unique style and some should be scoring higher than others in execution, inconsistency evens the field between them. 

 However, in other finals, they should do very well. Russia will medal on UB (possibly two medalists, but a field of Downie [7.0], Huang [7.0], Chunsong [6.7], and Scheder [6.7] decreases those odds somewhat)*. On beam I think Maria is the only true contender for a medal, though Seda should at least make the final if she doesn't implode in qualifications. Maria can score 15+ which will be absolutely necessary in a field with some of the steadiest beam workers: Raisman [6.8], Biles [6.7], Iordache [6.4+], Ponor [6.3-6.5],Chunsong [6.3-6.7], and Black [6.6].

On floor, Afan will be in fierce company with a rematch from her Euros competitors, Steingruber [training a silivas for a 6.5], and Fragapane [6.1] and the unwelcome addition of Chunsong[6.6], Mao [6.2], Biles [6.8], Raisman [6.6] and Miyakawa [6.2-6.4]. I believe Afan has a 6.4, when everything is connected and in order, so she is a legitimate medal contender though I worry about her tendency to have endurance issues and sometimes she only hits once during a week long competition but hopefully those days are behind her. Vault will be headlined by Biles and Paseka and I'm actually excited to say that it's Masha with the upper hand! Biles revealed through her ask.fm that she didn't do her cheng at the most recent camp and actually praised Masha's prowess with the vault. She is the sweetest little thing. I'm not sure what USA is up to, having their best vaulter go to World's with a 5.6 second vault. Maybe she upgraded but isn't doing a cheng (a "mustafina" perhaps?) or maybe she is planning the cheng but not telling us hehehe. Or maybe Mykayla Skinner finally got her amanar back, and with a cheng already in her arsenal, is the real gold medal contender (I would LOVE to see Skinner beat Biles just to see USAG fans' heads explode lol). I'm proud of Masha's growth on this event and she is the kind of gymnast Russia needs more of (I know I know who wouldve thought?!?). But honestly, she's basically the most consistent dual specialist Russia has. She's not just a VT/UB specialist on paper-she actually excels on those events and is becoming very consistent with high scores. I never thought i would utter the words 'reliable' and 'Paseka' in the same sentence but such is life.* 

World Championships will not be a breeze for Russia but it shouldn't be impossible to take a gold medal either. Neither the MAG or WAG team is as strong as they could've been if fortune was with them but what else is new and, again, such is life. Good luck to Team Russia!

*Compare that to USA where the girl with the highest d-score 95% of the time makes the most sense because they don't put anything on a competition surface they haven't mastered. 

*I ranked Scheder's UB at 6.7 because that is the highest value bars she presented at Bundesliga, though she's otherwise performed a 6.4. She is presenting a new skill at World's: an inbar piked tkatchev. It should be valued at an F but they might give it a G rating so her final d-score isn't fixed. Becky Downie also confirmed over Twitter that she had upgraded her bars routine to a 7.0. Shes a major threat for the title and will have the home crowd behind her. 

*As soon as I called her reliable she fell in the UB final at Russian Cup for a 13.7. Kill me.