2/28/2016

Katrin Is Ready to Show Playful, Glamorous Style

I have been following Katrin Taseva for a couple of years. I think the Bulgarian Federation made a mistake by not including he in the national team earlier and by not sending her to move international competitions last year.

Katrin is very flexible, has made a lot of progress with both her pirouettes and leaps, and, this year, she also has a lot more originality. Some of the risks with clubs you can see in this routine, despite the minor mistakes, are very different from the what most other gymnasts show on the carpet. Also, she is expressive, playful, and just fun to watch.

I am excited that this season she is showing off new and routines with very new and beautiful leotards that bring out her personality and style. I think she can be a real gymnastics diva, who can do perform to some very fun and fast music, and also really engage the audience, while not losing her focus on the difficulties that she is showing. I think these sparkly but elegant leotards will look even more beautiful with medals!


From the competition in Espoo, Finland, I like her clubs performance best, even though it was not the highest scored. This is very clearly a routine that has the potential to be remembered when Katrin becomes more confident.

This year at the Espoo International Tournament, Katrin got scores mostly around 16.8- 17.0. I think if the judges had seen her more last year, she would consistently receive over 17 even with some minor errors, just because at this point in there development she has enough difficulty to earn that. She usually appears very confident and I am pretty sure the mistakes will go away with time, too. At this stage, I definitely think Katrin has made more progress than Sara Staykova, who is the other candidate for the number 2 spot on the Bulgarian team. Sara had the chance to compete at a lot of events last year, and although she is very beautiful to watch, some of the inconsistencies in performance that we saw last year appear not to have changed at all.

I wish the Bulgarian Federation would consider investing some more time and effort in Katrin's international presence so that the judges will not perceive her as a brand new gymnast or as a "reserve" on the team, but rather as a competitor who can claim spots in the finals in the not so distant future. I have really enjoy how Katrin handles the clubs with her feet at the ending of this routine and I can't wait to see her perform it even better.