Five days until Classics! Very exciting. Sadly, Elizabeth Price has pulled out as she tweaked a hip during a tumbling pass recently. She was due to compete vault and bars which would have been very exciting to see. Hopefully she'll be back in time for Nationals. Although Classics is usually a splatfest, it will still set the stage for the worlds team. I'll be ignoring falls for the most part as they quite often don't mean anything. Gymnasts like Mykayla Skinner though can't afford falls if they are to really prove themselves in the running, especially as she has a reputation for inconsistency anyway.
My main wishes are;
- McKayla Maroney to hit everything, especially vault and floor though it'd be very interesting if she does the AA and nails beam and bars. As has been discussed to death, she does have a great line on bars with a fantastic gienger and dismount. She has a great flow on beam and always nails connections, though her bent knees kind of suck here. I'd like to see a twisting dismount too.
- Mykayla Skinner to nail floor and vault too. That would really shake things up in the running for the specialist spot.
- Fantastic beam and performance by Abigail Milliet, she has a lot of style.
- Improved form and solid routines from Brenna Dowell. I don't care that she's quite obviously not a dancer, she has improved a LOT in the last year and I'm rooting for her.
- A really exciting showdown between Bailie Key and Nia Dennis. These two are quite evenly matched.
- Much stronger performances from Lexie Priessman and Amelia Hundley than what we saw in Europe.
- Norah Flatley to score the highest on beam amongst the juniors and Jordan Chiles to place top 5 AA.
- 4/4 from Simone Biles and a sense of greater control on her floor landings.
- Someone to have a release-fest on bars, like Tan Jiaxin or Shang Chunsong. Polina Shchennikova is shaping up to have the best bars combination but hers is different to my dream..
- Laurie Hernandez' floor. It's just fantastic.
- The junior competition, just in general. There are a HUGE amount of juniors with quite a lot that I've never seen any routines of.
- Any leotards that are not hot pink. I'm a fan of magenta or sangria or whatever GK call it (London AA leo etc.) but the pepto-bismol shade is just horrible and the really super bright pink doesn't suit very many people.
What are you looking forward to? Other than a good competition!
USAG have just confirmed that podium training will be streamed. On Friday, juniors at 9:30 Eastern Time (so 14:30 GMT, 15:30 GMT+1) and seniors at 12pm Eastern Time (5pm GMT, 6pm GMT+1). On Saturday, competition day, juniors will kick off at 1pm central time ( so 7pm GMT, 8PM GMT+1) and seniors at 6pm, again central time (11pm GMT, 12AM GMT+1). USAG are promoting the two days in eastern and central time respectively so I kept it that way to avoid confusion, just keep an eye on the actual timezone they list. Streaming will be on www.secretclassic.com
Roxana Popa of Spain has just won Spanish Nationals. Not a great feat you might think, but her score was huge- 58.083. Her difficulty is 5.8 on everything except bars, which are 6.1. She's a new senior and she doesn't really have a weak event. I'm really looking forward to seeing her in Antwerp. Her bars in particular scream upgrade- the Tkachev-Pak for instance. Great swing from her, check it out.
I created an ask.fm account for the laugh. It's here.
I'm excited for Classics. I hope to see a consistent Biles. Let's hope the competition won't be THAT big of a splat-fest.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Popa. She's really great on bars which is odd considering she's actually Romanian. It's sad to see how much Spain is struggling with its program when in 2000-2004, they were considered medal contenders...
Yeah not like 2011, or was that Nationals? The video compilations are kinda hilarious in a way with the amount of falls. Aside from Bross of course.
DeleteWell she's been in Spain a while! At Euros she was talking to Larisa and Diana which was pretty cool. Iridon, Blendea are one or two more Romanian juniors aren't bad on bars either. Yes, they're having a nightmare with funding and the head coach scandal. I don't see them getting off the ground as a team, but maybe individually a bit!
Can't wait for Classics! I'm going for the senior competition, since I live just a two hour drive from Chicago! I went last year as well, and it was great fun (although the million tiny girls screaming for Nastia just about broke my eardrums). I'll be right by the vault landing area, so I'm very excited to see McKayla and Simone (and MyKayla and Brenna and all the fantastic vaulters) close up! Shame that Ebee won't be there, though.
ReplyDeleteI really hope Simone can put together a strong competition, with no falls. It would be such a shame if inconsistency kept her from realizing her huge potential as an all-arounder. Despite myself, I find that I'm rooting for Brenna as well. It is nice to see someone keep working hard and improving despite perhaps not being the most naturally gifted of the gymnasts on the national team. And like everyone else in the universe, I'd love to see some solid upgrades from Kyla! I'm looking forward to having a bit more of a basis for all my speculation about who will make the Worlds team.
I'm disappointed that I won't be able to see the juniors, but I'm pleased to hear that there is a livestream of podium training, and I hope that routines will be posted afterwards!
Oh jealous! Keep an eye on youtube, I'd say a certain fabulous uploader will upload the streams, if they don't do that themselves. Yes, McKayla in particular since we only saw that one Amanar and Lopez...and that was more than 2 months ago I think so should be improved hopefully. I'll be right by the vault in Antwerp, so hopefully they'll be there as well.
DeleteUgh I can't believe I forgot 'and upgrades from Kyla'. Can't wait to see if the amanar Simone was implying actually materialises.
Roxana has a lot of power. I can see her upgrading to an amanar on vault and adding a double-double on floor in the next year or so.
ReplyDeleteI want boring Brenna and her crazy front tumbling to win. Her double front pike and front tuck beam mount make up for said boringness. Besides her dance is not half as bad as Aly's.
Yes she does, and even on bars she shows it. I hope her coaches can get her there!
DeleteI'd love if Dowell came second or third. I'll have to reserve first for Biles though. Second would be good, and it will also scream at Kyla's coaches to cop on..if it comes to that.
I'm really interested to see Brenna - didn't she win senior verification at one of the camps? And I seem to remember both Simone and Katelyn predicted that she would be going to worlds, which I thought was really interesting. Either way I love both front tumbling and good form so hurrah for the Dowell. I've blocked out my whole Saturday evening/night (I'm in Cork for the summer and much as I'm loving it livestreamed gymnastics will always beat a night out ...)
ReplyDeleteYes, at two camps. Oh Cork, awesome! The city or where? All my relatives live in West Cork and nothing beats there..
Deletebeing the gym guru that you are can i ask you a totally random unrelated question: did anyone have the beginning of this piece of music as the opening for their floor routine last year?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKfGDqXEFkE
it's been bugging me for days lol. i heard this music on the radio and immediately thought of someone's gymnastics but i could be WAY off my rocker haha.
Unfortunately I am neither technical minded or music minded! I can only recall current routine music for the most part, except for the few superb routines with unusual music that stick in my head..and they are few.
Deletethat's ok, i know it was a strange request! i've been sick in bed for weeks and i'm going stir crazy, hence the mind wandering over bizarre gym questions!
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