Aha!

A new YouTube video has been uploaded that proves that Viktoria Komova, who won the Voronin Cup just a few days ago, is still working the incredible ff - layout stepout - Arabian beam series that we saw her do earlier this year. Apparently she did it at the Voronin Cup (in the event finals, we guess, since she didn't do it in the video from the all-around competition that was posted earlier). She fell on the Arabian, but came closer to nailing it than she did in the older video in which she's shown performing the series. We can't wait to see her hit that combination in competition.

Check out the routine including the phenomenal Arabian series for yourself here and say it with us: WOW.


(photo: Stefan Wurzer/Gymnasticsunited)

Komova's vault from the same competition, a decent but unspectacular Omelianchik, has also surfaced on YouTube. Check it out here.

We're hoping her other routines from the Voronin Cup will be posted soon.

Russian News

A few days ago, IG published the results of the Mikhail Voronin Cup, the final top-level competition of the 2008 season. As you can see here, Kristina Goryunova won the senior women's title in Moscow, but it was precocious junior Viktoria Komova, fresh from a successful appearance at the Massilia Cup, who impressed most, outscoring Goryunova by 1.3.


Kristina Goryunova, senior AA winner (photo: Stefan Wurzer/Gymnasticsunited)

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, this is the beam routine Viktoria Komova performed at the Voronin Cup. Check it out - she's a very stylish gymnast (like her mother, 1986 Goodwill Games champion Vera Kolesnikova) with great form on her layout stepouts, an excellent standing Arabian, and a very difficult Patterson (double Arabian) dismount. Sadly the cool combination of flipflop, layout stepout and Arabian that she was practicing last year seems to have fallen by the wayside, but there's enough yumminess left.

Also, this is the floor routine Komova recently performed at the Massilia Cup. She has a very abrupt way of landing her tumbles (we're wondering if she's suffering from an ankle injury), but she's promising all right - check out that 1.5 twist through to double Arabian mount!


Viktoria Komova (photo: Stefan Wurzer/Gymnasticsunited)

Other Russian news

Firstly, the Russian Gymnastics Federation has announced that Oleg Ostapenko will assume the position of head coach of the Russian juniors at the national junior training center at Malakhovka on January 8th.

Secondly, MKRU confirms that the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation is indeed investing heavily in its competitive program. Not content with bringing experienced coaches back from abroad, the Federation is trying to train its younger coaches by letting them take part in practical training sessions under the leadership of the best coaches at the Round Lake national training center. In addition, the Federation recently completely re-equipped 18 gymnastics schools with state-of-the-art apparatus. All this, it is said, with an eye not just to the future, but to the present. Sounds like the Russians mean business, doesn't it? We can't wait to see what will come of this all-out attempt to restore Russian gymnastics to its former glory.

Coming Soon to a Stadium Near You… NOT!

Here at the Triple Full headquarters we can't wait till it's 2009. Not just because that's when the new code comes into effect (cue one HUGE sigh of relief on our collective parts), but also because it will be interesting to see which juniors-turned-seniors will enrich the sport with their presence.

Among the more interesting juniors we think will turn senior in 2009 (some confirmation would be nice) are Tatiana Nabieva, Tatiana Solovyeva, Ana Porgras, Amelia Racea, Samantha Shapiro, Rebecca Bross, Peng-Peng Lee, and Charlotte Mackie. We can't wait to see these girls take on this year's crop of champions.


The young Russian we most look forward to seeing in 2009: Tatiana Solovyeva

However, this post is not about them. It's about the juniors you won't be seeing on the senior stage next year because they'll still be under age. And boy, are you missing out on something good.

Our top-5 of sadly age-ineligible budding stars:

Cui Jie
China's tiny Cui Jie gets our vote for the Most-Promising-Junior-You're-Not-Likely-to-See-in-a-Senior Competition-Any-Time-Soon Award. She's basically a younger Cheng Fei – not terribly impressive on bars (by Chinese standards, that is), but excellent on the other events. Check out the floor exercise she did as a 13-year-old (featuring a gorgeous double Arabian) and you'll see why we're excited about her. Her beam also has future greatness written all over it. Watch those arms – they're beautiful. If she ever learns to connect that front tuck-Rueda combination, we'll love her all the way to a stack of gold medals.

Aliya Mustafina
We're not sure whether the mature Aliya Mustafina will live up to the promise of her extremely precocious 11-year-old self (best seen here), but we still enjoy watching her a lot. She has beautiful lines and extension, some original dance and pirouettes, and a bit of that old Soviet elegance that is all too rarely encountered in the sport these days. She's a rhythmic gymnast among acrobats, and the new code should work in her favor. Pencil her in for a few medals over the next quad. And her younger sister Nailya for the quad after that.


Aliya Mustafina (Photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner/Gymbox)

Larisa Iordache
Larisa Iordache is Romania's national junior champion in her age category. The girl is twelve and has a fair bit of presence for one so young, not to mention some impressive skills. She hails from the same club that produced Aurelia Dobre, Dinamo Bucharest, and her coaches are quick to compare her to Aurelia, saying, "Larisa is exactly like Aurelia was twenty years ago." We don't know about you, but we like the sound of that. Click here to see an 11-year-old Larisa rock the floor in 2007!


Larisa Iordache (Photo: Ayako Murao)

Viktoria Komova
Viktoria Komova has good genes. She's Vera Kolesnikova's daughter and she's clearly inherited her mother's talent. She mounts floor with a 1.5 twist through to a double Arabian (check it out here), and while her dance is nothing to write home about yet, her form and general liveliness indicate that she could become a decent dancer given some more time and a good choreographer. Plus she's working on a ff-layout stepout-Arabian combo and a double Arabian dismount on beam (yes, really). Madness, we tell you. Madness. Of a kind we highly appreciate.

Jordyn Wieber
If there's one thing all three of us agree on, it's that we dislike Jordyn Wieber's hands. However, if someone tells the kid to stop flexing those wrists, she'll have a bright future ahead of her. Especially if those rumors about her Amanar vault are true. Because that would be awesome.

Here's hoping these girls won't go the Nadezhda Ivanova / Irina Isayeva way…