20 days until prelims!

I don't know how I'll survive until then, there's going to be very little going on besides snippets from camp. USA, Romania, Russia, China (He Kexin is almost guaranteed that last spot), Australia, Britain and Canada's teams are all named. Romania's upgrades have all been drooled over already, let's hope they can fix those connections because some of the back tucks are laughable. We'll all be waiting impatiently so see how much amanaring will be going on in prelims.

China's team will be staying at Salto gymnastics in Northern Ireland! This is great news for them, they are probably the best gym on the whole island but still miles away from your average American gym, and they don't have any major accomplishments or present/past gymnasts. Acclimitisation is very important...although London is further south than the lovely 12 degrees and rain (56 fahrenheit) of the lovely Irish summer I am experiencing, it's unlikely to be significantly better. It DOES experience heatwaves around July and August though, so who knows!

Just thinking about USA in prelims, as they are the team whose capabilities I know the most about. Gabby does have a better beam routine than McKayla, yet she's far more likely to headcase on it. However we just have to hope she nails it as she does in training because obviously she can't qualify to the AA if she's taken off and McKayla is put in her place.

USA, prelims

VT: Aly, Gabby, Jordyn, McKayla (Kyla)
BB: Gabby, Jordyn, Aly, Kyla (McKayla) Most want Aly last, but I think it will hurt her score to be on AFTER Kyla
FX: Gabby, McKayla, Jordyn, Aly (Kyla)
UB: Aly, Jordyn, Kyla, Gabby (McKayla) I would prefer to stick McKayla on bars as she has a better swing, releases and less form errors than Aly but Aly has proved she will stay on those bars no matter what and not make huge errors like struggling on a handstand. She also deserves to try to qualify to the AA.

The scoring will be really interesting. Aly has scored well at worlds, will this continue? Or will they be slamming poor form across the board. CAN McKayla with a fixed third pass outscore Gabby's floor? Quite possibly. Will amanar form be deducted fairly? WHAT a strong team!

Other teams are much harder to predict, for me, they just don't have the same level of exposure (or have language barriers).

Russia, prelims

VT: Mustafina, Grishina, Komova, Paseka (Afan)
UB: Afan, Grishina, Mustafina, Komova (Paseka)
BB: Afan, Musty, Grishina, Komova (Paseka)
FX: Mustafina, Komova, Grishina, Afan (Paseka)

It seems madness to take a member just for vault in prelims, yet it works- this team is so strong. She can fill in on floor if neccessary too.

Romania, prelims

VT: Chelaru, Ponor, Izbasa, Iordache (Bulimar)
UB: Chelaru, Bulimar, Izbasa, Iordache (Ponor)
BB: Bulimar, Izbasa, Ponor, Iordache (Chelaru) WOW
FX: Bulimar, Izbasa, Ponor, Iordache (Chelaru)

Again, another super strong team. Izbasa totally deserves the second AA spot. My predictions here are I'd say pretty accurate. I can't predict China, just don't have enough info on where they are at.