Aliya Mustafina Will Travel to Worlds a Guest, replaced by Anastasia Dmitrieva

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The Russian Worlds team line up changed today as Valentina Rodionenko announced via Tass that Aliya Mustafina would be replaced in Glasgow by Anastasia Dmitrieva.  Aliya withdrew her place in the team as she was not ready to compete, but will travel to Scotland as a guest of the Russian team.  'Her support is crucial to our girls in such an important competition', said Rodionenko.

Dmitrieva's strengths are on floor and beam.  At best, her flighty double layout on floor, together with elegant presentation, make her a natural for a spot on the senior national team.  If she were to compete at Worlds it would be an opportunity to develop her competitive maturity.  Second place on both beam and floor at the Rusudan Sikharulidze International tournament are her best senior international results so far, and domestically she appears regularly in finals.  At the Russia Cup last month - not her best competition - she finished sixth AA, 5th on vault and 6th on the balance beam.  

Dmitrieva's potential strength - floor - is a weakness for the Russian team as a whole and her elevation from the reserve spot onto the final competing team may make strategic sense if she is felt to be reliable.  The only question would be, who would she replace?  At the end of the day, relying on first year seniors may be unpalatable to the ultra-conservative team coaches - but there always has to be a first time.  Steeling young blood in such a fiery cauldron as Worlds could be exactly the kind of experience those youngsters need to prepare them for battle in Rio.

This may not be the final change to the team roster - nominative registrations can change right up to the 24th October.  The Russian team travel to Scotland on the 17th, and their final selection will take place at Lake Krugloye on the 14th.  A lot can happen in a day in gymnastics, and we have eleven left before the team board the aeroplane.

This certainly makes the Russian team a heady mix of youth and experience, and emphasises the importance of the first and second year seniors who will have an opportunity to learn and to prove themselves at the most important team competition outside of the Olympics.  If the team performs well, it will cement the position of these youngsters and invigorate motivation and competition for the Rio team.  

Mustafina's almost talismanic status is also reinforced here as she is freed to take up a mentoring role to the gymnasts.  Her presence could make all the difference.

WAG team - 

Daria Spiridonova^

Seda Tutkhalyan*

Viktoria Komova

Ksenia Afanasyeva

Maria Kharenkova^

Maria Paseka

Anastasia Dmitrieva*