Angelina Melnikova

2014

Melnikova competed at the 2014 L'International Gymnix to win the team gold medal and all-around silver medal in Junior International Cup. She also placed second on uneven bars and third on floor exercise.^[1] In April, Melnikova competed at the Russian National Championships which were held in Penza with her home team, the Central Federal District. Her team placed first with a combined total score of 267.966. Individually Melnikova had a strong showing placing first in the Junior Master of the Sport All-Around with a score of 58.300. She also won two other gold medals on beam and floor with scores of 14.700 and 14.167 respectively. She competed in the uneven bars final and placed seventh.^[2] The results of these championships were used to help determine the gymnasts who would compete at the European Championships in Sofia and due to her strong performance Melnikova was selected for the team. In May 2014, Melnikova competed at the European Gymnastics Championships in the junior division alongside teammates Maria Bondareva, Daria Skrypnik, Seda Tutkhalyan and Anastasia Dmitrieva. As a team they placed first with a combined score of 168.268. Melnikova then went on to win a gold medal in the all-around competition and on beam and a silver medal on bars behind teammate Skrypnik.^[3]

2015

Melnikova competed at the Junior Russian Championships in Penza, Russia on 1–4 April. She finished in 1st place with her team, then went on to take the silver in the all-around, 5th on the uneven bars, gold on the balance beam, and silver on the floor.

In September she performed at the Russian Cup. She was ineligible to compete due to her junior status, so performed as a guest. Her overall score of 57.234 was the highest of the competition, beating official champion Daria Spiridonova's score of 56.733.^[4]

Melnikova competed at the Elite Gym Massilia meet in Marseille, France in November, taking the all-around title ahead of France's Marine Brevet and Romania's Diana Bulimar, and winning a silver team medal for Russia with teammates Daria Skrypnik, Evgeniya Shelgunova and Natalia Kapitonova. She qualified to the floor and uneven bars event finals, but counted falls in both events, leaving her in 6th and 5th place respectively.^[5]

2016

Melnikova (second from right) and the Russian team with their Olympic silver medals after the women's team final on 9 August 2016

On 18–20 March, Melnikova debuted in international competition at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge Cup where Team Russia won the gold medal. On 1–10 April, Melnikova won the all-around at the 2016 Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championships; as well as taking gold in balance beam, floor exercise and finished 5th in the uneven bars final. In July, Melnikova was named to the 2016 Olympic team along with Aliya Mustafina, Maria Paseka, Daria Spiridonova, and Seda Tutkhalyan to represent Russia at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the Olympic Games, she performed subpar, partially due to a strained hamstring suffered during podium training. In the qualifying session she fell off of the beam and again on floor, failing to qualify into the individual all around or any of the event finals as many expected her to. She improved upon her performance in team finals, competing all 4 events, but still counting a fall on beam. Her performances contributed to Russia's team silver medal.

2017

Melnikova started her season at the Russian National Championships in Kazan. Although she was expected to do well in the absence of Olympic champion Aliya Mustafina, as well as coming into the meet as the reigning national champion, she faltered throughout the competition on every event except vault, finishing 9th in the all-around. She also placed 3rd on vault and Beam, falling on the latter. Despite her poor showing at nationals, Melnikova participated in the 2017 Stuttgart World Cup in March, placing second behind Germany's Tabea Alt and ahead of the USA's Morgan Hurd. She then competed at the City of Jesolo Trophy, where she received three bronze medals in the team all-around, vault and floor exercise. Later she participated at the 2017 London World Cup. She competed poorly, falling on beam and floor with major mistakes on bars and vault. It was announced in April that she would attend the European championships as part of the Russian team, along with 2016 Olympic teammate Paseka, Elena Eremina, and Natalia Kapitonova. During qualifiers, she fell on the balance beam and uneven bars, and she did not qualify for the individual all-around, but she qualified for the vault and floor exercise final. During the vault, her form was not as good as the other gymnasts, resulting in her coming 8th. During the floor exercise final, she did a surprisingly clean routine which resulted in her winning the gold medal ahead of British gymnast Ellie Downie and Eythora Thorsdottir from the Netherlands.^[6] Her score in the final (14.100) was the highest international score on floor exercise for the 2017 season thus far.

In August, Melnikova competed at the Russian Cup in Ekaterinburg, where she won the all-around ahead of Elena Eremina and Maria Kharenkova. She also placed first on the balance beam and third on vault and in the team competition.

After the Russian Cup, Melnikova was selected to represent Russia at the World Championships along with Paseka, Eremina, and Anastasia Ilyankova. In qualifications, Angelina competed the all-around, hitting her beam routine (12.600) but counting two falls and an out of bounds penalty on floor exercise due to a foot injury. Despite a low 11.166 on floor, she performed a clean Lopez and DTY (14.400) and hit her bars routine to qualifty for the all-around final with a score of 53.132. Her uneven bars score, 14.966, was the fourth highest in the competition, but she was not allowed to advance to the final due to the two-per-country rule; both Eremina and Ilyankova scored higher, with a 15.100 and 15.066 respectively.

In December, Melnikova competed at the Voronin Cup where she finished first in the all-around, ahead of Viktoria Komova.

2018

At the start of the season, Melnikova was named to the Stuttgart, Birmingham, and Tokyo world cups; however she was pulled out of the Tokyo World Cup in favor of teammate and first year senior Angelina Simakova. Melnikova started off her season at the 2018 Stuttgart World Cup, where she finished 5th after botching her pirouetting elements on uneven bars, falling on the balance beam, and under rotating her piked full in on floor exercise. However, a week later at the Birmingham World Cup, she was able to improve on her performances, managing to get her pirouettes on bars without losing swing, avoiding a fall on beam, and managing better landings on floor. Her performance was good enough to win the meet, finishing ahead of USA’s Margzetta Frazier.

In April, Melnikova competed at the 2018 City of Jesolo Trophy, where she claimed a gold medal with the Russian team, ahead of Italy and Brazil. On vault, she won a silver medal; on bars, she claimed a bronze, behind teammate Anastasia Ilyankova and USA's Ragan Smith. On beam, she won another bronze, behind the American first-year senior Emma Malabuyo and Smith. She also finished fourth in the all-around, behind Ilyankova, Smith, and Malabuyo, and fifth on floor exercise.

Melnikova competing at Euros 2018

A week later Melnikova competed at the Russian National Championships. On the first day of competition, she earned a silver medal with the Central District team and qualified to the all-around and all four event finals. Several days later, after scoring 14.466 on vault, 14.433 on bars, 13.300 on beam, and 13.566 on floor exercise, Melnikova won the gold medal in the all around ahead of Angelina Simakova and Viktoria Komova. In the event finals, she earned a silver on vault with a 14.049 average, behind Viktoria Trykina and ahead of Tatiana Nabieva; gold on bars with a 14.266, ahead of guest competitor Irina Alexeeva and Komova; gold on beam with a 13.466, ahead of Ksenia Kamkova and Polina Fedorova; and gold on floor with a 14.500, ahead of Simakova and Alexeeva. Melnikova's routines were changed and upgraded prior to the competition to better fit her physical abilities. On beam, her bhs+bhs+layout series was replaced with a bhs+loso combination. On floor, her troublesome piked full in was replaced with a front tuck+ro+bhs+double tuck combination pass, and her double arabian was swapped for a full twisting double layout.

In late June, Melnikova competed at the Russian Cup. She was originally only going to compete uneven bars and balance beam due to nagging injuries, but later decided to compete all-around, where she finished first despite a fall on balance beam in qualification and a watered down floor routine.^[7] She also finished first with the Central Federal District team in the team competition and in the uneven bars final. Melnikova did not compete in the remaining event finals due to her knee injuries.^[8]

In August, Melnikova competed at the European Championships in Glasgow. Together with her teammates Simakova, Alexeeva, Lilia Akhaimova, and Yuliana Perebinosova, she earned a gold medal in the team event. While Russia qualified into the team final behind France after a shaky qualifications performance, the team hit 12 out of 12 routines in the final to decisively win the title.^[9] In event finals, she placed second on vault behind Boglarka Devai of Hungary, third on uneven bars behind defending champion Nina Derwael of Belgium and Jonna Adlerteg of Sweden, and sixth on floor exercise.

On September 29, Melnikova was named to the nominative roster to compete at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar alongside Akhaimova, Alexeeva, Mustafina, and Simakova.^[10]

Junior

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2013	Russian Hopes (CMS)
2014	L'International Gymnix
	National Championships (MS)				7
	European Championships			6
	Top Gym
2015	National Championships (MS)				5
	ITA-RUS-ROU-COL Friendly
	Elite Gym Massilia				5		6
	Voronin Cup

Senior

Year	Event	Team	AA	VT	UB	BB	FX
2016	DTB Pokal Team Challenge Cup
	National Championships				5
	European Championships					5
	Russian Cup
	Olympic Games
	Arthur Gander Memorial
	Swiss Cup
	Toyota International			4
2017	National Championships		11				8
	Stuttgart World Cup
	City of Jesolo Trophy		6			7
	London World Cup		5
	European Championships			8
	Russian Cup				4		5
	World Championships		16
	Mexican Open					6
	Voronin Cup						8
2018	Stuttgart World Cup		4
	Birmingham World Cup
	City of Jesolo Trophy		4				5
	National Championships
	Russian Cup
	European Championships						6