Ksenia Savinova shares her impressions of the third stage of the Cup of the Strongest and talks about the support of her family in the stands

Ksenia Savinova became the winner of the third stage of the Cup of the Strongest in exercises with a ball, clubs, and ribbon, and also won a silver medal in the all‑around competition.

After finishing, the gymnast shared the details of her performance with the ribbon:

"At the very beginning of my routine, I have three jumps scheduled, and while I was flicking the ribbon, it caught a knot, so I had to perform everything leading up to the dance steps with that knot. Then I decided to stop and untie it. It didn't work on the first try, so I ended up missing one skill and went straight into the dance steps. After that, during the performance, I was thinking about where I could insert that skill so that not to miss it."

Ksyusha shared how she reacted to her family’s presence in the stands:

"I knew even before the competition that they were coming to cheer for me. When I walked out for my first apparatus, the hoop, I lost it out of bounds. My mom had never actually watched my performances live together with my granddad before. And they walked out then. And when I had a loss, they said they would keep watching no matter what happens. Once you're on the carpet, you don't really feel nervous. But on the first day, when I arrived, I was anxious because it was the first time almost my entire family came to watch. I was worried at first, but then they supported me so much that all the nervousness just disappeared."

The athlete also said that they were recognized in the gym during training camps in Turkey:

"Those were girls from Turkey. It’s so cool that people know us in different countries, and it felt really nice. We had one long training session, we used it to run through our routines and analyze the new programs for next year."

The gymnast thanked everyone who helped her:

"A huge thank you to Alina Maratovna, who helped walk me out to the carpet at this tournament, the fans, the Academy, the coaches, the choreographers, and everyone involved in my successes and victories!"

Ksenia Savinova from Gatchina is a Russian junior champion and a European Championship silver medalist. She is a member of the National team and lives and trains at the Alina Kabaeva Sky Grace Rhythmic Gymnastics Academy.