Nikita Nagornyy and Lilia Akhaimova who were supposed to represent Russia at the American Cup on March, 7 have announced on their Instagram accounts that Russia will withdraw from the competition due to coronavirus fears.

Nagornyy wrote: “Due to the escalation of the coronavirus around the world, the Russian national artistic gymnastics team will not participate at the World Cup in the US”.

Lilia Akhaimova wrote: “Unfortunately, we are not going to the World Cup in America. But health is more important.”

Earlier, Angelina Melnikova was not allowed by the national team to participate in a Serie A competition in Italy. As of now, there is no official information about Russia’s participation in the remaining World Cups but Karelian Gymnastics VK page said Russia will also withdraw from the Tokyo World Cup. The page is generally a trusted source of news and often publishes information about the national team before the official confirmation appears. If Russia chose to skip the American Cup even though the US does not have a huge number of coronavirus cases, especially in Milwaukee, it does not seem likely that they would go to the Tokyo World Cup, as Japan has a much larger number of cases and started instituting quarantine measures such as shutting down schools.

Missing even one of the all-around World Cups will mean Russian won’t be able to qualify extra spots to the Olympics as all four cups count towards the series results. If they miss the remaining apparatus World Cups, it will not really make a difference for women, none of which are likely to earn a nominative spot but might diminish Poliashov’s chances of qualifying. Poliashov currently has 90 points on parallel bars but You Hao can also get to 90 points if he goes to Baku or Doha World Cups and they would become tied.

Meanwhile, Chinese gymnasts who had to miss the Melbourne World Cup because of Australia’s entry ban for non-citizens who visited China in the past 14 days, will be able to participate at the American Cup and the remaining apparatus World Cups. The gymnasts who are supposed to compete at the three competitions are currently training in Doha in order to avoid quarantine.

UPDATE: Valentina Rodionenko officially confirmed that Russian gymnasts also withdrew from the Tokyo World Cup.

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