"This competition will only make the children better." Tatyana Sergaeva on the results of the third stage of the Cup of the Strongest

The Russian national team Head coach, Tatyana Sergaeva, summarized the results of the third stage of the Cup of the Strongest:

"Over this period of time, across all three stages, almost all the girls improved very significantly. They started working more or less consistently, as compared to the previous stage. But by this stage, the third, their nerves, their nervous systems, were already kicking in. And that's where, of course, the most consistent gymnasts start working, and they move into the lead."

She explained how the system of these competitions allows gymnasts to develop and make progress:

"Because we came up with this point system, the point system, we don't know who's going to the finals until the very last moment. And that's great, I really like it. And behind the curtain, they're all fighting for a spot in the finals. I'm perfectly happy with that, because as head coach, I'm interested in how the girls handle this tension, this intensity. Because it's also a kind of training for them. We've created such intense competition, and because of this competition, the kids will only improve, only grow, only get stronger. Especially for the juniors, I told them all that this isn't their most important competition. This is their test run before the next competitions. All our strongest juniors are competing there. So here and now they had to check one last time whether everything was going well with their program or not, and then work on it in the remaining days."

The third stage of the Cup of the Strongest is taking place in Kazan, September 26-28.