The 2017 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships were held in Kazan, the host city of the 2013 Universiade. It was the first national championships after the Rio Olympics, and it served as an important step towards selection for the European Championships in Cluj-Napoca.
Who competed
Of Russia’s ten Rio Olympians, Daria Spiridonova, Seda Tutkhalyan and Angelina Melnikova competed in the women’s team event. David Belyavskiy and Nikita Nagornyy chose to focus on individual apparatus rather than the all-around. Aliya Mustafina, who was pregnant at the time, attended to support her team-mates.
Women
Qualification doubled as the team competition, and Moscow won the women’s team title. Natalia Kapitonova, the alternate for the 2016 Olympic team, won the all-around and shared the bars title with Daria Spiridonova. Seda Tutkhalyan won vault and shared beam with Viktoria Trykina, and Lilia Akhaimova won floor. Elena Eremina, 2016 junior European all-around champion, led qualification but made costly mistakes in the final and finished second. Melnikova was not yet at full strength and placed 11th in the all-around, but took bronze on vault and beam.
Men
Moscow also won the men’s team title, and Artur Dalaloyan won the all-around. A year later he became world all-around champion in Doha.
Read more: our archive entry on the 2017 European Championships in Cluj-Napoca.
