Judge Olesya Syubayeva from Saransk tells which gymnasts she particularly liked at the first stage of the Cup of the Strongest

On the day of individual finals of the first stage of the Cup of the Strongest judge Olesya Syubayeva from Saransk shared her impressions of the performances:

"The competition level is very high, I like it. I am absolutely thrilled by the gymnasts who have come here. The high level of skill, true professionals — it’s indeed a pleasure to judge them. The girls really do grow and improve with every contest. It is obvious that since entering the international stage, they have made some changes to their programs. And I think that at this level, they really can compete for medals. That's great indeed, the high level of difficulty, the difficulty of body, the very high scores, the difficulty of apparatus, and also the artistry — everything has been thought through down to the last detail. These productions are simply spectacular!"

She told which gymnasts she particularly liked and what are the strengths of their programs:

"The juniors are actually all really cool too, all of them performing with a high speed, they’re very beautiful and each one has her own unique flair. Ksyusha Savinova — with excellent pace, very polished, cool and full of emotion. Yana Zaikina gave a wonderful performance — light, graceful, and so refined; I really enjoyed it too. And then there was Eva Chevtaeva, of course, with the ball — I really liked her routine too; she performed it perfectly. Group exercises are also a distinct art form; I really enjoyed them, the difficulty was big. It’s clear that there’s still work to be done, of course, because these are new events, and they’re quite challenging — both the balls and ribbons. But the programs were actually thought out down to the last detail. These were very beautiful productions. The girls cope with them just fine."

She also highlighted the changes in the exercises of Eva Kononova from the Tyumen Region after the World Cup in Uzbekistan:

"I think the lessons learned effort was completed, all the panels were reviewed, how the girls fared on the international stage, and, accordingly, adjustments were made and routines were honed. I think she did a really great job yesterday."