Aliya Mustafina Bars 2010 Voronin Cup

Absolutely love watching her routine…especially when she connects everything back to back as she plans.  It’s just one of those routines that is very pleasing to the eye because it has such an incredibly smooth flow and every skill has its place…nothing is added simply as a “filler.”  Having said that, her handstands were a little piked in this routine and not quite as tight in the midsection as I’ve seen her.  But that dismount sequence helps make up for it…she’s really figured out exactly where she is in the air on that super cool 1 ½ twisting double back and has been landing it phenomenally well.  Awesome!

Tatiana Nabieva Bars 2010 Voronin Cup

Obviously an easier version of this routine (without the huge toe-on laid-out Tcatchev), but still very impressive.  Like Mustafina, when she connects her skills back to back she’s one of the most pleasing to watch in the world on this event.  I love how aggressively she connects pirouetting skills into her  in-bar skills, even when she’s not in a perfect handstand.  Some gymnasts abort their connections when they are just slightly off, but she shows enough confidence to go for them anyway.  I wish many other gymnasts would take note.

Tatiana Nabieva Vault 2010 Voronin Cup

Very good pop off the table on both vaults…still the leg splits, but maybe a little straighter knees than she sometimes shows on the Yurchenko.

Oksana Chusovitina Vault 2010 Voronin Cup

Not nearly as much height as we’ve seen from her in the past, but we’ll give it to her!  She scored an average of 14.375 here (2nd place behind Nabieva), and I’m not sure exactly what they credited her first vault.  If she received a laid-out position, it starts at a 5.9, but if they gave it piked, it starts at a 5.5.  The handspring rudi, in comparison (which she competed before tearing her Achilles two years ago) starts at either a 5.9 (piked) or a 6.3 (laid-out).  This vault here is in between piked and laid-out, so it’s hard to say what they did.  Her second vault, a laid-out Tsuk full (5.2) is also a downgrade from her normal laid out Tsuk 1 ½ (5.5) and the Tsuk double full she did in Beijing (6.0).  Regardless, most of us thought she’d be done with the sport for sure after that last torn Achilles, but as she has done for the last 18 years, she has proven us wrong again.

Thanks so much to YouTube user Igorgymn1 for posting these!