Jesolo 2018 Preview: Melnikova, Akhaimova, & Urazova Headline Team Russia

The 2018 City of Jesolo Trophy will host some of the world's best gymnasts from top elite programs, including Team Russia.

Apr 3, 2018 by Justine Kelly

Jesolo 2018 Preview: Melnikova, Akhaimova, & Urazova Headline Team Russia

The 2018 City of Jesolo Trophy will host some of the world's best gymnasts from top elite programs in one of the first major team international competitions of the year. Team USA is not sending an official delegation this year—only gymnasts from individual clubs—and other countries will be in the hunt for that team gold medal.

One of the most anticipated teams is Team Russia, which is sending a total of eight gymnasts, a few of whom are juniors. The team ranges from Olympic veterans like Angelina Melnikova to up-and-coming hopefuls like junior Vladislava Urazova.

Get to know Team Russia from our background summary below, and don't forget to check out the competition LIVE on FloGymnastics on April 14-15.

The Veterans | Angelina Melnikova & Liliia Akhaimova

Angelina Melnikova

Melnikova is one of Russia's most talented gymnasts, and she has competed for the team for several years now at international competitions, including the Olympics. Melnikova's biggest challenge is consistency, but if she is on form then she has a real shot at taking home multiple medals.

Notable Medals:

2018 Birmingham World Cup: All-Around Gold
2017 European Championships: Floor Gold
2017 City of Jesolo Trophy: Team Bronze, Vault Bronze, Floor Bronze
2017 Stuttgart World Cup: All-Around Silver
2016 Rio Olympics: Team Silver
2016 European Championships: Team Gold

Notable Skills:

Bars: Van Leeuwen, Komova II, Piked Jaeger
Beam: Front tuck mount, Back handspring step-out to back handspring to back layout to two feet
Floor: Full twisting double layout, double layout

Notable recent scores:

All-Around: 54.465 (Birmingham World Cup, 2018)
Beam: 12.666 (Birmingham World Cup, 2018)
Floor: 13.500 (Birmingham World Cup, 2018)

Relive Melnikova's floor routine from last year's Jesolo event finals, where she scored the bronze medal. Can she improve her standing this year?

Liliia Akhaimova

Lilia Akhaimova has been competing for Russia at various competitions since 2013. She is a powerful gymnast, known especially for her abilities on vault and floor, so she is a useful athlete for Russia to have on their roster.

Notable Medals:

2017 Summer Universiade: Team Gold
2017 Summer Universiade: Vault Silver
2017 Summer Universiade: Floor Bronze
2017 Cottbus World Cup: Floor Gold
2017 Cottbus World Cup: Vault Silver

Notable Skills:

Vault: Tsuk full
Beam: Front tuck mount, Round off to layout to two feet
Floor: Double arabian to punch front, double layout

Notable recent scores:

Vault: 14.4 (DTB Pokal Team Challenge, 2018)
Floor: 13.5 (DTB Pokal Team Challenge, 2018)

The Bars Stars | Anastasia Iliankova, Uliana Perebinosova & Kseniia Klimenko

Anastasia Iliankova

Iliankova is one of Russia's best bar workers. She competes incredibly difficult release moves and has so much variety in her routine. The key is whether she is able to hit all of her combinations during competition.

Notable Medals:

2017 Osijek World Cup: Bars Gold
2017 Osijek World Cup: Beam Silver

Notable Skills:

Bars: Shang, Hindorff to Pak salto to Maloney, Ezhova, Van Leeuwen
Beam: Round-off layout step-out mount, Aerial cartwheel to layout step-out

Notable recent scores:

Bars: 14.9 (World Championships Event Finals, 2017)

Uliana Perebinosova

Uliana Perebinosova is another gymnast who is capable of big releases on bars, including a Tweddle to Bhardwaj combination. She had some success earlier this year at the Doha World Cup; it will be exciting to see if she can replicate this in Jesolo.

Notable Medals:

2018 Doha World Cup - Bars Silver

Notable Skills:

Bars: Tweddle to Bhardwaj

Notable recent scores:

Bars: 14.566 (Doha World Cup, 2018)

Kseniia Klimenko

Kseniia Klimenko is no stranger to Jesolo, having competed for the team last year. She is fantastic on bars but can be strong on other events as well, such as beam.

Notable Medals:

2017 Voronin Cup: Bars Silver

Notable Skills:

Bars: Van Leeuwen, Piked Jaeger to Pak salto, Maloney to Gienger between bars, Double front with half twist dismount
Beam: Aerial cartwheel to layout step out

Notable recent scores:

Bars: 14.350 (Voronin World Cup, 2017)

Relive Klimenko's 13.9 beam routine from last year's Jesolo event finals:

The Newbies | Vladislava Urazova, Elena Gerasimova & Daria Belousova

Vladislava Urazova

Vladislava Urazova is a junior elite who has shown a lot of capability on several events, particularly vault and floor. She also has good difficulty on beam with beautiful combinations, such as her Front aerial to split jump to Onodi.

Notable Medals:

2017 Voronin Cup: All-around silver (Juniors)

Notable Skills:

Beam: Round off layout stepout mount, Triple wolf turn, Back handspring to back handspring to layout to two feet, Front aerial to split jump to Onodi

Notable recent scores:

Vault: 13.15 (Voronin World Cup, 2017)
Floor: 13.95 (Voronin World Cup, 2017)

Elena Gerasimova

Elena Gerasimova recently competed at International Gymnix and put up a respectable all-around total of 53.701. She is beautiful to watch on beam and has one of the most unique mounts in addition to good difficulty, such as a front walkover to front tuck combo.

Notable Skills:

Bars: Inbar to full pirouette, Piked Jaeger
Beam: Aerial cartwheel to layout step out, front walkover to front tuck
Floor: Full-in, Triple twist

Notable recent scores:

All-around: 53.701 (International Gymnix 2018)
Floor: 13.600 (International Gymnix 2018)

Check out this video of Gerasimova's beam routine from International Gymnix earlier this year. Her mount is one of the most impressive and unique elements in her routine.

Daria Belousova

Daria Belousova has had minimal competition experience, but she's shown she's one to watch based on her performance at the 2017 Voronin World Cup. Be sure to watch for her beam routine; she scored a 13.95 on it in Voronin and is definitely capable of a podium finish.

Notable Skills: