The final Russian team selections will not be absolutely clear for another few weeks. Men's national coach Valery Alfosov needs another week to make some difficult decisions after some rather unpredictable performances in the Russia Cup - most noteably, a strong showing by Vladislav Polyashov as compared to patchy showings by Ignatyev and Kuksenkov.
The women's team selection, meanwhile, seems to hinge upon the availability of Ksenia Afanasyeva, who only recently underwent a cleaning up procedure to her right ankle. The doctor who performed the surgery will fly to Moscow from his Munich clinic next week to provide his advice. If given the medical all clear, Ksenia would be asked to compete floor only, says Valentina Rodionenko. This might favour a team composed of Melnikova, Mustafina, Tutkhalyan (three AA) with Kapitonova filling the fourth qualifications place on vault, bars and beam. Without Afanasyeva the team will be severely weakened on floor, and it is difficult to see what might be the best configuration. Perhaps then the 'troika' would feel supported by Paseka on vault, with Kapitonova or Spiridonova on the other three pieces. If you have time to do some sums based on the girls' D values, it would be interesting to speculate at this stage ...
It has also now, sadly, been confirmed that Maria Kharenkova is out of contention for Rio. She will travel to Munich in mid July, with Viktoria Komova, to begin to address some problems with her ankle. Head coach Valentina Rodionenko says that Maria has suffered with pain for a long time, but didn't say anything about it until two weeks ago, when she simply couldn't keep going any longer.
EF got underway this morning. Paseka won vault ahead of Tutkhalyan and Nabiyeva, with Kapitonova winning bars ahead of Melnikova and Spiridonova. Floor was won by Ablyazin ahead of Ignatyev and Kuksenkov, PH Polyashov, Stretovich, Danilenko, and rings Ablyazin, Ignatyev, Kuksenkov. You can follow quick hits of tomorrow's finals on Twitter from @TheAllAround, who are also posting occasional videos. This morning, Nikita Nagorny transmitted most of the comp on his Periscope channel! Great work, Nikita. We will look forward to seeing the competition finish tomorrow, but clearly the final, full Olympic teams will not be announced for some time yet.
Good luck to all the girls - and thinking particularly of Ksenia and Maria at what must be very difficult times for them.
And big thank you again to RRG's anonymous contributor, for the links and translations .. Hugs ??
Rodionenko on Kharenkova - http://tass.ru/sport/3425499
On Afanasyeva - http://tass.ru/sport/3425454
The RGF is posting videos on its YouTube channel - https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC62MoG67QWCrgd7YVrqE6qQ
WAG EF Day One results - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/otdel-ny-e-vidy-zhen.pdf
MAG EF Day One results - http://sportgymrus.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/otdel-ny-e-vidy-muzh.pdf
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