It looked at first as if Simone Biles' path to another World Championship got a lot easier; however, that may not be the case.
Aliya Mustafina, likely Russia's best hope to win the gold medal, initially announced that she would not be taking the trip to Scotland. Mustafina has been battling health and injury issues for the last two years, and sat out several big competitions this season.
“Yes, I’ll miss the world championships,” she said earlier in the week. “The main reason for this is that I have a very sore back. I can’t say it’s a serious injury, but the pain has bothered me for quite some time. When I don’t train, it gets better, and when resuming training again the pain comes back.”
With other top world gymnasts struggling, the loss of Mustafina looked to make Biles' victory a sure thing - China's Yao Jinnan has been out of action with a shoulder injury and Russia's Viktoria Komova is coming back from heath issues. The only gymnasts who could challenge Biles would be her teammate, Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas, and Romania's Larisa Iordache, who was the silver medalist to Biles in 2014, but has missed time with an ankle injury.
Mustafina, however, may compete in Scotland after all. In a statement on the official Russian gymnastics web site, R-Sport, Russian head coach Valentina Rodionenko confirmed that Mustafina would be working through the pain to try and make the team.
“Yesterday Mustafina decided to bite down and train for the World Championships despite her back pain. We know her condition and can’t force her to train. But Mustafina said she would get ready for Worlds, so she will return to training. We’ll be taking seven gymnasts to Worlds.”
The news is a huge boost for the Russian National Team, who has had to rely on her skills and leadership over the past few years. The team barely held on to win the bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships, and Mustafina won two individual bronze medals. The only other Russian woman to win an individual medal was Daria Spiridonova, an uneven bars specialist.
Just because she's working to make the team, however, does not mean Mustafina is a lock to make it to Scotland. Mustafina herself said she is uncertain if she will be healthy enough to compete.
“My performance at Worlds is up in the air. I’ll see how I’m doing in the next few weeks and will know whether it’s possible as we get closer to departure. "While it is difficult to say anything about the state of my health, one does need to start training. We will work in the camp at Round Lake (site of the Russian Gymnastics Training Center)."
The 2015 World Championships will be held in Glasgow, Scotland from October 23rd to November 1st. National teams are likely to be finalized the first week of October.