"This the result of the Academy on the whole." Academy coach Anna Ustsova speaks about the performance of Academy group exercise gymnasts at the Russian championship

Nicole Andronchik, Anna Gryaznova, Polina Zakharova, Nelli Reutskaya and Alina Proshchalykina won silver in the individual finals in the five pairs of clubs routine at the Russian championship.

Their coach Anna Ustsova noted significance of this event for athletes after the end of the competition in Kazan:

"In fact, it was a very important start, after all, the best teams from all over Russia have come. We had contests - there was not as much competition as here. We prepared for these competitions, the team is young. I am very happy about the result that we got here."

The coach stressed that the result achieved is the merit of the Academy on the whole:

"We had control training sessions, they helped me a lot. Our judges evaluated competently and suggested things that sometimes we couldn’t see. This result is a joint result of our entire Academy. Not only mine, not only the children, this is our big team that always prepares for tournaments, both individually and in groups. Many thanks to them for this."

The professional also spoke about changes in programs:

"This situation is unusual, it throws you off a little, but what we did, it had to be done — change the music, redo the exercises a little. I hope that we will be more stable in the future, we will work on everything, and the result will be better as early as at the next competition."