The Academy group gymnasts share their results from the third stage of the Cup of the Strongest

Following the conclusion of the third stage of the Cup of the Strongest in Kazan, the Academy group gymnasts Alina Proshchalykina, Nikole Andronchik, Kira Pryn, Polina Zakharova, and Anna Gryaznova summarized the tournament.

Alina noted the intense competition, explained what helped them achieve such results, and shared some of the most valuable advice from coach Anna Ustsova:

"There's a lot of competition here. There are a lot of gymnasts from different countries. Belarus has a very strong team. And then there's the Russian team, we're competing with them too. At the control training session, Alina Kabaeva told us to do a head turn in the planchet balance with the hoops. And we did it, and we succeeded. We also shifted the music slightly in the clubs to hit all the "hey" accents on the fouetté, and throughout the entire ending. Anna Ustsova tells us to work until the end, not to relax, not to look at marks or results, just to go out and do what we can. We would like to thank the entire Academy, Alina Kabaeva, Ekaterina, and also our coaches Anna Ustsova and Ekaterina Belova, the choreographer, for helping us and giving us important advice."

Nikole spoke about the benefits of test training sessions and advice from Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva:

"A lot of control training sessions helped us. Alina Kabaeva came, attended each one or watched videos, gave us tips, advice, and helped us prepare. During the tournament Alina Maratovna said we've got everything down to a fine tune, we need to go out and do it calmly. There are no small details, we just need to go out and do a thorough run-through with emotions."

The Academy group gymnasts team won three medals at the third stage of the Cup of the Strongest, gold in the all-around and five-hoops routine, and silver in five pairs of clubs. The team's choreographer is Ekaterina Belova.