The European Championships just got a bit less exciting -- and, if you're Aliya Mustafina, maybe a bit less stressful.
The Russian Gymnastics Federation announced today that 16-year-old superstar Viktoria Komova will not travel with the Russian team to Berlin, according to International Gymnast Magazine, which confirmed the news with Russian coach Valentina Rodionenko.
Komova sustained an ankle injury in December, and though she returned to compete three events at the Russian Championships two weeks ago, did not look quite her usual self (fall on uneven bars). She will rest through Europeans in order to be healthy for big meets later this year -- including the World Championships.
This will be a disappointment to many gymnastics fans, who were hoping to see the first Mustafina-Komova matchup in Berlin. In lieu of Komova, the Russian women's team for Europeans will be Aliya Mustafina, Anna Dementyeva, Tatiana Nabieva and Yulia Belokobylskaya.
It's an interesting composition -- the defending European team champions are obviously using Europeans to let younger and promising team members, including Belokobylskaya and Dementyeva, get some experience on a big stage, while pulling out a big gun (Mustafina) and a workhorse (Nabieva, who did more competitions in 2010 than any of her teammates).
Left off were reigning European vault champion Ekaterina Kurbatova and 2010 World team members Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ksenia Semyonova and double Olympic veteran Anna Pavlova, who finished second at the recent Russian Championships.
The Russian men also named their team for the European Championships: Anton Golotsutskov, Maxim Devyatovsky, Nikita Ignatyev, Alexander Balandin, Emin Garibov and Denis Ablyazin.
Side note: I wonder if Mustafina will be out for blood after losing the American Cup to Jordyn Wieber. Rodionenko summed up the Russian view of the meet with this quote: "America is America. We expected that they would spare no effort to win. But everyone saw that Aliya's upgraded routines are good."
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