This year, the Russian Cup is taking place early in order to serve as the selection competition for the European Championships. The competition only features the all-around and event finals. Normally, only seniors compete at the Russian Cup but this year’s competition will also feature juniors since they are also being selected for the Euros. The Cup will be divided into two parts – women will compete from June 27 until June 30 and men will compete from July 4 until July 7.

As this is one of the two biggest national competitions of the year, expect to almost the whole national team (except for the injured gymnasts) and those vying to get onto the national team. Aliya Mustafina will likely miss the competition as she is still dealing with her knee injury and we surely won’t see Elena Eremina, Maria Paseka and Aleksandra Schekoldina – all three of them had back surgeries. Maria Kharenkova and Liliya Akhaimova were battling injuries at the Russian Championships and it’s not yet clear whether they will compete all-around in Chelyabinsk but they are definitely preparing for the competition. Liubov Akhaimova, the younger sister and a complete doppelganger of Lilia Akhaimova has recently qualified elite and is expected to compete at the Russian Cup. In the qualification, the senior national team will compete in the second subdivision.

On the men’s side, we can expect Nikita Nagornyy join Artur Dalaloyan and David Beliavskiy in the fight for the all-around gold. Oleg Stepko will again try to make the Russian national team and hopefully, he’ll have more success this time. In the qualification, the senior national team will compete in the second subdivision.

Russia has its own system of gymnastics level and so the Candidate and the Master of Sports levels might be confusing. Basically, both levels are considered to be elite in Russia and the qualification depends not only on the scores a gymnast shows but also on their age. Junior gymnasts at both levels can be on the national team and represent the country internationally. Senior gymnasts on the national team have to be at the Master of Sports level.

Since it’s all about football in Russia right now, unfortunately, the main TV channels won’t be paying any attention to gymnastics. The finals are supposed to be streamed live on the Federation’s website. There might also be some Instagram accounts doing live streams during the qualification as there were for the Russian Championships.

Full schedule

Day Session Local time (GMT+5) ET PT June 27 Wed WAG Qualification Juniors, 1st Subdivision 8:00-10:00 11pm-1am 8pm-10pm Juniors, 2nd Subdivision 10:00-12:00 1am-3am 10pm-12pm Juniors, 3rd Subdivision 12:00-14:00 3am-5am 12am-2am Juniors, 4th Subdivision 14:00-16:00 5am-7am 2am-4am Seniors, 1st subdivision 16:30-17:50 7:30am-8:50am 4:30am-5:50apm Seniors, 2nd subdivision 18:30-20:50 9:30am-11:50am 6:30am-8:50am June 28 Thu WAG Junior AA Juniors, AA final, Candidate for Master of Sports level 15:00-16:30 6am-7:30am 3am-4:30am Juniors, AA final, Master of Sports level 18:00-19:30 9am-10:30am 6am-7:30am June 29 Fri WAG Senior AA Seniors, AA final 14:00-15:30 5am-6:30am 2am-3:30am June 30 Sat WAG event finals Seniors and Juniors, Event finals 12:00-15:00 3am-6am 12am-3am July 4 Wed MAG Qualifications Juniors, 1st Subdivision 08:00-10:00 11pm-1am 8pm-10pm Juniors, 2nd Subdivision 10:00-12:00 1am-3am 10pm-12am Juniors, 3rd Subdivision 12:00-14:00 3am-5am 12am-2am Seniors, 1st subdivision 14:30-16:30 5:30am-7:30am 2:30am-4:30am Seniors, 2nd subdivision 17:30-19:30 8:30am-10:30am 5:30am-7:30am July 5 Thu MAG Junior AA final Juniors, AA final, Candidate for Master of Sports level 13:00-15:00 4am-6am 1am-3am Juniors, AA final, Master of Sports level 17:00-19:00 8am-10am 5am-7am July 6 Fri MAG Senior AA final Seniors, AA final 14:00-16:00 5am-7am 2am-4am July 7 Sat MAG Event Finals Seniors and Juniors, Event Finals 12:00-15:00 3am-6am 12am-3am

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