Son captures silver at Moscow Grand Prix
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Second-placed Son Yeon-jae of South Korea, from left, first-placed Aleksandra Soldatova of Russia, and third-placed Arina Averina of Russia pose at an awards ceremony for individual all-around competition at the Gazprom Champions Cup named after Alina Kabaeva, the first event of the 2016 Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix Series. / TASS-Yonhap
By Park jin-hai
Korea's star rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae clinched a season’s first all-around individual silver at the 2016 Moscow Grand Prix on Sunday, raising Korea’s expectations for the upcoming Rio Summer Olympics.
At the Druzhbah Arena, Sunday (KST), Son collected 18.366 and 18.166 in the clubs and ribbon events.
The day before, Son tallied 18.066 in the hoop competition and 18.366 in the ball event.
Winning a total score of 72.964, the 22-year-old Korean rhythmic gymnast broke 18 points in all four events, ranking second in the international competition.
It is Son’s best personal record, surpassing the previous record of 72.8 she had set last August during the International Gymnastics Federation World Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Son also broke her personal bests in the ball and clubs competitions, bettering her previous best scores from the Sofia World Cup event.
The individual all-around gold went to Aleksandra Soldatova of Russia, who collected 74.066, while the bronze went to another Russian gymnast, Arina Averina who scored 72.682.
Son has been participating in the season opener Moscow Grand Prix since 2011, with the exception of last year, and this was her first time to ascend the podium.
In her 2011 first appearance, Son came in 19th, but has seen her ranking climb. In 2012, she came in 18th in the individual all-around competition, and 10th in 2013, before placing sixth in 2014.
The annual competition organized by the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation has been regarded as fiercer than any other such competitions because it doesn’t have a national quota for the number of contenders and thus draws more big names from Russia, which is considered strong in rhythmic gymnastics.
Six Russian gymnasts competed at this year’s event, including Soldatova, Averina and Margarita Mamun.
Mamun, who is ranked the world’s top gymnast, finished fourth with a total score of 72.432.
The Moscow event was an important test bed for Son as she has beaten the total score of Melitina Staniouta, a Belarusian gymnast she is likely to compete against for an Olympic bronze medal. Staniouta slipped to fifth after a ribbon fumble, for a total 72.249.
Ukrainian rhythmic gymnast Ganna Rizatdinova, another strong rival for Son along with Staniouta, was absent from the competition.
During the competition, Son unveiled a new program where she performed her signature fouette pivot with a straight leg, earning her 0.2 extra points on technical difficulty. This has further lifted Son’s chances to challenge her two rivals at the Olympics.