Russia completed a clean sweep of the gold medals this weekend at the Moscow Grand Prix.
Dina Averina, three-time World all-around champion was the most successful gymnast, winning four medals, three gold and one silver. Her twin sister, Arina Averina withdrew halfway through the competition with a foot injury.
Daria Trubnikova, 2018 Youth Olympic Champion showed an impressive form throughout the whole competition, placing second in the all-around competition, just behind teammate Dina. She also won a bronze with hoop and gold with clubs.
Lala Kramarenko, junior world champion and rising star placed third in the all-around and won bronze with ball in her senior international debut.
The best non-Russian gymnast was Ekaterina Vedeneeva, the only gymnast to qualify to all four-event finals. She managed to win bronze with ribbon.
Anastasiia Salos, who won bronze with the Belarussian team at the last World Championships managed to comeback from a disappointing first two days of competition, and won two silver medals in the hoop and ball finals.
In the senior international tournament, Anastasia Simakova from Russia showed an impressive form to win gold, in her senior debut. Alina Harnasko from Belarus won silver and Sabina Tashkenbaeva from Uzbekistan won bronze.
In the junior international tournament, the Russian junior showed impressive technically difficult exercises for such a young age. Russia won the team competition, followed by Bulgaria and Spain. Olga Karaseva and Diana Simoshina were the most impressive of the promising Russian team that was also composed by Sofya Agafonova and Alexandra Skubova.
This was the first major tournament of the Olympic season and the first Grand Prix stage. The next competition is at the end of this month, in Tartu, Estonia. The FIG World Cup Series begin in April. The two bog tournaments this year include the European Championships in Kiev in May and the Tokyo Olympics later in the summer.
Picture: mos.ru (Creative Commons Licence)
