Some Favourites For WAG European 2013

Okay this will be a post for some of my favourites to win or medal. I just quickly wrote this so it's not a well thought out post. First I'm just going to start talking about Ksenia Afanasyeva, after all my blog is named after her Olympic number. She has made this competition exciting. Let's all admit it we all thought it was crazy when we heard reports of Afanasyeva training the Amanar vault. At her age and knowing her vaulting ability it was just crazy to hear that she could do an Amanar. She does says that she can only do it to pit surface and doesn't know if she will compete it. Later reports on the gymternet reports that during podium training she in fact did do the Amanar, even if some of the attempts weren't successful, it is 100% true that she is training this vault. Reports also says she warmed up 7/2 twists, that's 3-1/2 twists in case you're wondering. Apparently she will do AA. I think she can have a shot at AA but her best shot is floor gold. I'm not sure why she is even trying to do AA or an Amanar but good for her! She is my favourite gymnast so it's exciting to hear all these news.

I love love her spin combination. 

 (Source: starkofwinterfell)

She is taking risks on spins while other gymnasts are taking risks on leaps. Her main competition will be the Romanian gymnasts. I don't particularly like their style but they are very very good on floor. Here is Afanasyeva's winning 2013 French Cup floor. She has posted the highest FIG world Cup score on floor for this year, 14.633.

(Source: starkofwinterfell)

AA: Aliya Mustafina. She has been quiet lately and maybe this is a good thing. Maybe she has some secrets up her sleeves. Maybe she doesn't but I think she will win this or I'm hoping she will win AA. Then there is Anastasia Grishina. If she can get her self together she has the difficulty and execution to win. Their main rivals will be Larisa Iordache. Iordache's DTY can rival Mustafina's but her bars will be her nemesis. Iordache will just want to stay on bars. From there she can dominate on beam and floor. Iordache is capable of scoring very high on these events and I wouldn't mind if Iordache takes the AA title.

As much as I admire Aliya I have to admit I do not like her beam composition. The only thing I like about her new beam routine is the switch 1/2 leap + onodi + 2/1 spin. Her other connections are not done nicely. With that being said I still hope she can win a medal on beam or at least qualify. Aliya is my favourite to win on bars. It's really hers to lose.

On beam, if Grishina can bring back some difficulty she will be my favourite to win but I also enjoy Iordache's routine. I wouldn't mind if she grabs the gold on beam. There are other gymnasts who can medal on beam. The Italians are doing some intersting skills/connections on beam so I wouldn't be surprise if they medal.

For vault, I'll be honest. I really don't care who wins this title. It's probably the least watched event finals in WAG. I guess I will root for Maria Paseka. She can still do an Amanar and if she can make it to finals and land it then she should be rewarded for it. She proved that she deserved to be on the Russian team. Her competition will come from Giulia Steingruber and probably Larisa Iordache. Larisa did win vault finals at Doha Cup with DTY and a new Tsuk 1/1 vault.  Ooops she didn't win but she came in 2nd.


I'm a Russian fan so I'll be rooting for the Russians, DAVAI!