Though he failed to defend his National Championships 2007 all-around title, I was more impressed with Artemev this year than in 2006 when he won.
Last year, I thought Sasha played it “safe”.
This year he was definitely preparing to be a contender at World Championships and Olympics.
The best example was on Vault. Though he does not have the build of a great vaulter, it was Sasha who competed the first triple twisting Yurchenko in competition. (Leave a comment if you know of other athletes who have competed this vault previously.)
He competed 3 triples over the 2 days of competition, not really landing any of them well. But I was very impressed with the effort. Sasha will stabilize that vault for sure.
Click PLAY or watch the blurry and illegal — no camcorders were allowed at the meet — triple twisting Yurchenko on YouTube.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 