This weekend, in the first major competition for the season, rhythmic gymnasts from all over the world are going to show off new routines at L.A. Lights.
Past medalists include world champion Rizatdinova from the Ukraine, European champion Charkashyna from Belarus, Maximenko from the Ukraine, Staniouta from Belarus, and, my new persona favorite, Galkina from Belarus, who won the tournament as a junior. Here is Galkina at last year's worlds. She is very athletic and dynamic:
I am also excited about this year's participants, particularly those by Iliana Rhythmic Gymnastics, out of Philadelphia, coached by one of my favorite gymnasts from the past. I would like to highlight Evgeniya Chernukhina, a very promising representative of this club:
So, the Worlds will take place in Kyiv this year, and the Ukrainians are working hard and expecting medals. I have always thought that Ganna Rizatdinova has greater potentials than Alina Maksymenko. At the European Championship this year, Ganna won silver with ribbon but stayed out of the podium in the other finals. This year I like her hoop routine best and I expected more medals for her.
Ganna didn't look happy with her scores so she must have expected more, too.
What is Ganna missing that will make her outscore Mamun, Kudryavtseva, Miteva and Staniouta?
She demonstrates great pirouetting technique, she can jump, and she can dance expressively.
I think the area of potential improvement is apparatus difficulty. Her clubs routine is especially static, as she is holding the clubs in both hands most of the time. The ball routine, otherwise very elegant, also features catches with two hands only. Ganna won a medal with ribbon, but Kudryavtseva and Staniouta both had errors. Frankly, her ribbon does not impress me either. The only routine I like this year for Ganna is her hoop routine. I hope she puts in more apparatus difficulty before the Worlds in her homeland. That way, she will show off all the qualities of a winner.
Now that the first two strong tournaments of the year, one in Estonia and one in Moscow, have finished, I can say I watched the new routines of most of the world's best gymnasts. I have made my picks as follows
1. Top Ball Routine: Margarita Mamun. This is a lyrical, brilliant, light-as-a-feather routine, in which I think Rita Mamun displays some of the best arm movements in the business of dance and gymnastics. We see risk and we also see expression:
2. Top Clubs Routine: Alexandra Merkulova. This is one of the few routines with a vocal and with words that I actually enjoy. Sasha Merkulova takes the credit for looking like she is having tons, tons of fun performing and not like she is pretending to dance. I really feel sad when so many gymnast just move their hips around because now you have to include "dance elements" and they are not feeling the music, or the mood, or anything at all. Joyful dancing aside, this is a routine full of small movements and tricks with the clubs, which is what every routine should be. None of the elements look static and a few are pretty original. The routine covers the entire carpet and matches the music:
3. Top Ribbon Routine: Melitina Staniouta. A classy and classical routine beyond any doubt. As we know, all of Melitina's leaps and pivots are some of the strongest in the world and she has put a lot of effort into interpreting the music and making this routine very "alive" and fluid. Melitina Staniouta is, physically, the best gymnast in the world right now. If her expression matches her physical fitness, she should be winning gold after gold. But mostly with this wonderfully sophisticated ribbon:
4. Top Hoop Routine: Ganna Rizatdinova. Ukranian gymnasts completely "own" the hoop as an apparatus. Maksymenko has presented a strong hoop routine as well but Ganna's pirouettes and her dramatic, yet, not drama queen-ish interpertation has put it over the top of me. She is truly flying high like her hoop here, taking over all the emotional space she can:
