Russian Championships Mar 21-25th

One of the Russian WAG National Championships goes March 21-25 in Penza.

Andrey Rodionenko on russiangymnasts.net:

This Russian championships is direct preparation for European Championships, and it’s schedule is very close to that of the European Championships, both in terms of the number of athletes competing and in terms of time. The organizers are striving to do everything so that the technical schedule matches the way the competitions are held at European and world championships. Penza is the only place in Russia with a modern gymnastics podium in both the training and competition halls. And we are trying to organize the Russian tournament on the highest world level. …

Q — Looking at the national team members, can we expect them all to be in shape at the beginning of the season? After all, some get into shape faster than others…

They all get in shape differently and feel different. We have a lot of gymnasts who are hitting puberty and that means a lot of problems with weight and height. The girls are getting stronger, but they are changing physiologically and that requires some corrections. It’s very hard to stay competition-ready. Some are ready right now, some are worse off and some will miss the meet altogether, like Viktoria Komova. She had a small problem with her leg and that required two-three weeks of therapy, so she is not able to participate in the championships. …

Andrey Rodionenko: the championships will show who the leader is

I’m hoping Nabieva is in the mix. We need to see her release back for the Olympics.

That photo linked by Rewriting Russian Gymnastics.