Angelina Melnikova (RUS) is our 2021 Russian Champion on floor after she nailed a superb routine at the event final! This performance was absolutely amazing, with super difficult tumbling and strong dance elements too. See how I scored her difficulty score (D-score) and execution score (E-score) in this video! The judges in competition gave her a massive 14.400, which I thought was a bit high, although national competitions are typically scored higher than international ones. I gave her a 14.000, which is still a superb score, and it's always easier to see deductions on video than live.

Notes:
- Downgrade on the Double L Turn (D) + Double Turn (B) costed her 0.1 in combination value, as D+B dance earns 0.1 but D+A dance (what she received) earns 0.0. I’m unsure if the judges gave it to her in competition — if they did, that could explain part of the reason that she earned such a high score — but I did not give it.
- Hopefully she’ll get rid of the Switch Ring 1/2 (D) — I know it’s a difficult leap, but it never looks good unless the gymnast rotates before performing the ring, which is so difficult to do ://. I took off 0.3 because of her leg (lower than head height) and her hips (not square).
- Form on the Front Full (C) was for her legs — they weren’t very disciplined and were separated most all the salto.
- No deduction on the Double Wolf Turn (D) — I thought that it was quite precise when one looks at the angle from which her foot takes off and finishes. The Russian girls — Melnikova, Urazova, and Liistunova — all seem to have pretty nice wolf turns! I’m not the biggest wolf turn anti out there, though, so I could be a bit biased.
- I considered more deductions on the Memmel (D) for that weird spin out of it. However, it was rotated quite precisely with good body shape, so I only took off 0.1 for the lack of balance that caused that out-of-place rotation. Also, I was trying to stay somewhat true to the spirit of the competition, which was very lenient execution wise.
- I was debating deducting an extra 0.1 on her last tumbling pass for a lack of balance on the landing — she seems really unsure of it and her legs are fighting to keep her in place after the step — but I ended up not taking it.
- I didn’t consider many artistic deductions — I did consider lack of expression, but if I understood her choreography correctly, I thought she was trying to play a “robotic” role (and did so pretty well) so I didn’t deduct as the expression was in the spirit of that character.

It's always much easier to see deductions on video compared to live, which explains why scores can differ a bit. I try to be lenient on certain form deductions that the live judges may have missed to get a more accurate score, so if you see a little issue in slow-motion that I didn't account for, that could be it. Feel free to comment about that though!

Remember that the point of these videos isn't to be overly critical or to malign the gymnasts, but simply to explain how the sport is scored. Angelina gave a fantastic performance, and the intention of this video is not to diminish her or make her seem like a bad athlete: she is amazing.

Actual score: 14.400 (domestic score)

If you enjoyed, learned something, or want to see more, I'd love it if you were to like and subscribe. It helps me out a lot. If you have friends who love gymnastics, sharing with them would mean so much to me! Thanks for watching :D!

Video from Gymnastea -- check out this channel or Russian Gymnastics for full routines from the competition. Vladislava Urazova and Viktoria Liistunova are both must-sees if you haven't watched their routines already! This video falls under fair use as its purpose and nature is educational: teaching people how gymnastics is scored.

свернуть