Photo: Ricardo Bufolin Imagem
Daria Trubnikova, Olympic Champion at the last year’s Youth Olympic Games is regarded by many as the new Russian star. The question is if she can live up to the expectations and through the competition and pressure within Russia.
Since the breaking of the Soviet Union, Russia has clearly been the most dominant nation. Through the years, it has produced some of the greatest champions this sport has ever seen, such as Alina Kabaeva, Evgenia Kanaeva, Margarita Mamun, Yana Kudryavtseva, and the list goes on.
However, there has also been some “what could have been” such as Laysan Utiasheva, Alexandra Merkulova, Daria Svatkovskaya, Yulia Bravikova, among many others. Some retire due to serious injuries, being unfit to represent Russia internationally, or because the pressure is just too much. People hope that Trubnikova’s promising career does not end tragically.
Two years ago, she wasn’t even competing for Russia in international junior tournaments. She only started being noticed in late 2017, but even then no one regarded her as a possible contender for the Youth Olympic Games. Instead, it was her teammate, Polina Shmatko who was the favorite having been the most successful junior gymnast at the 2016 European Championships.
The beginning of 2018 meant the beginning of a new season, but for juniors born in 2003 the qualification for the Youth Olympic Games to be celebrated in October in Buenos Aires. Russia was represented by Anastasiya Sergeeva and Daria Trubnikova. Shmatko was not nominated due to injury.
It was a hard competition for Trubnikova, riddled with mistakes, which cost her from earning a ticket to Buenos Aires. Sergeeva finished first, but these quotas are nation-wise and not gymnast-wise. This means that the gymnast qualify their country to the competition, but does not necessarily mean that they will be the ones being chosen.
Then something seemed to click inside Trubnikova’s mind, and her improvement was evident right at her next competition, at the Deriugina Cup in Kiev. There, she won three gold medals, with two scores over 18. Her good results enabled her to compete at other junior international competitions such as the AGF Trophy in Baku, where she and teammates Lala Kramarenko and Anastasiya Sergeeva won gold with the team. Individually, she won two gold medals, with ball and clubs.
She was named to the European Championships in Guadalajara, where she won gold with the team, alongside Polina Shmatko, Anastasiya Sergeeva, and Lala Kramarenko. She did two apparatus, but only qualified to one final (clubs), due to the one-per-nation rule. In the clubs final, she won gold, as well.
Photo: Oleg Naumov
Witness her winning routine at the European Championships here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QekEn98jz4 (video from: europeangymnastics).
She and Sergeeva were competing for the spot at the Youth Olympics at the last two competitions, Minsk (Crystal Rose Cup) and Kazan (Yoldiz Cup). At the Crystal Rose Cup, she won silver in the all-around, as well as gold with ball and clubs. At the Yoldiz Cup, she won gold in the all-around (there were no finals). This meant that she would represent Russia at the Youth Olympics.
Photo: Oleg Naumov
Do not miss her classic, yet modern ball routine, which gave her the highest score (18.800): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhGUDSuQU-Y (video from: RGYMRUSSIA).
At the Youth Olympic Games, she qualified in first place, well ahead of the second qualifier from Italy. At the all-around final, she finished first, but had to come back from a second place finish, after the first rotation.
Photo: Oleg Naumov (RGYMRUSSIA)
Enjoy her ribbon routine, which gave her the gold medal: https://vk.com/videos-45795948?section=album_56032927&z=video-48940689_456239698%2Fclub45795948%2Fpl_-45795948_56032927 (video from: Russian Team Daily VK).
Some of her new routines have already been released. While her routines seem much more mature compared to last year, it is still uncertain as to how many international competitions she will be chosen to. It all depends on the results she gets.
Enjoy her new ribbon routine to a famous Italian opera, La Donna è Mobile from Giuseppe Verdi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4VDpSxDh3U (video from: rgstarvideos).
It is evident that Trubnikova is one of the brightest stars Russia has at the moment. It is unrealistic that she will participate in Tokyo, but she is expected to dominate after Tokyo, especially leading up to Paris 2024.