Nastia Is Sent To Arthur Gander

On November 4, in Morges Switzerland, the 32nd edition of the Arthur Gander Memorial will commence. The tournament is the second most prominent competition in Switzerland after the Swiss Cup. Invitations are sent to the top athletes, and the preliminary roster has just been released. Quite a prominent lineup is included, and among the veterans stands Anastasia Dmitrieva, breakout first year senior of the Russian national team. Anastasia has had some very solid results this year, and the general consensus among fans and coaches is that her performances on her strong events (floor, beam) are more stable than last year, even if she still has to learn to cover her mistakes and minimize deductions better. 

For these reasons, it is very exciting to see her name on the start list. This is the perfect no-pressure type of competition Nastia needs to continue gaining international experience at the senior level. Most of her competitors will be arriving straight from Glasgow Worlds with simplified routines so its a dual opportunity to see how the best train and compete, while offering her the opportunity to get on the podium if others make mistakes and she goes 4 for 4. Recall that Nastia is perfectly capable of 55-56 in AA and that Daria Spiridonova beat Larissa Iordache (her first AA title ever) there last year, so anything is plausible. 

Here is the preliminary roster. Along with Nastia, I look forward to seeing Ilaria Kaeslin, a beautiful bars and beam worker (she saves her acrobatic series for the end of the routine!), and Pauline Schafer, the best German beam worker, with a Musatafina-esque floor routine [imo]. 

The roster is subject to change. Good luck, Nastia, you deserve this!