Alina Kabaeva recalling lessons of her father, the football player, during a workout in the Academy

The Cup of the Strongest final is more than just a battle for medals, it’s also a chance for young gymnasts to meet their idols. At Luzhniki, dozens of children were waiting for Alina Kabaeva, hoping to get an autograph and take a picture with her.

Medical staff and coaches assisted her on the training mat, with Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva by her side the entire time.

Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva spoke with the junior group gymnasts from the Russian National team and the Academy, as well as their coach Daria Pirogova, choreographer Veronika Shatkova, and choreographer Victoria Borodina.

Members of the Russian junior National group team and the Academy, together with their coach Darya Pirogova, extended belated wishes to the Olympic champion for National Coaches’ Day.

The champions and medalists in the senior all-around competition discussed their work on consistency, introduced new team members, and talked about the support they received from fans. The gymnasts from Omsk also recalled how the 2026 Alina Festival in India served as a true «reboot» for them before returning to their training regimen.

During training, the Olympic champion drew attention to the work of the Academy’s group exercises nearby. The gymnasts made mistakes when throwing the balls, and the Olympic champion explained step by step how to perform the element cleanly and beautifully.

We follow the creative process during the training of Arina Kovshova from Novosibirsk.

At an Academy training session Alina Kabaeva helped Polina Zavgorodnyaya from Moscow practice her rebounding and throwing steps in the program with the ball.

Watch how Alina Kabaeva helped Mariia Borisova from St. Petersburg get into the right mindset during the all-around final at the Cup of the Strongest. After the first two apparatuses, the gymnast had the highest total score.

Alina Kabaeva spoke with Ksenia Savinova from Gatchina and Yana Zaikina from Volgograd about how to prepare for stepping onto the mat and how to test their own capabilities during every performance.

The Olympic champion arrived at the Academy, where she was welcomed with smiles and hugs. Academy gymnasts and coaches congratulated Alina Kabaeva on Coaches’ Day and presented her with a bouquet of flowers.

Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva and coach Elizaveta Chernova showed Arina Kovshova from the Novosibirsk region how to make the dance floor more artistic, and paid attention to the position of the foot and the ball during the throw.

At a training session at the Academy, Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva not only explained to Arina Kovshova from Novosibirsk how to create an image to the music of the program, but also helped give character and expressiveness to the movements in a new exercise with clubs.

Alina Kabaeva showed the athlete how to properly throw the apparatus so that it fits into the rhythmic pattern.

We posed this question to musicians from the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra during the 2026 Alina festival.