2016: It begins

Not the start of the season (c'mon c'mon!!), but the injuries and retirements. It's a double whammy for the US this week, with the news first of all that Nia Dennis has torn her Achilles and just today that Kyla Ross has retired.

Kyla faced into this year off the back of a difficult 2015, with numerous uncharacteristic falls and errors marring her domestic competitive season. The news that she was not at the selection camp for worlds didn't come as much of a surprise as a result. Despite this, and her known injuries, it still comes as a shock that she's out of the running for Rio now at this point. I really thought she would attend at least Classics and Nationals to see where she was at. I've thought that she wasn't going to reappear strongly in elite before, only for her to showcase her usual crisp routines once more, so I gave up on giving up on her. I haven't hidden the fact that I'm not a big fan of her gymnastics - but I am a big fan of her and will miss seeing her this summer. It's a pity that her height has held her back in terms of upgrades and probably wasn't helpful in terms of her previous back injury. Still, a very illustrious career- Olympic champion and with numerous world medals up her sleeves. I'm looking forward to seeing her in UCLA.

Nia is only in her second year as a senior, but has had a most turbulent career so far with several injuries. Last year she was freshly back from injury. I was really looking forward to some upgrades and cleaned-up execution from her, and instead she has a devastating injury at the worst time. She'll miss the whole domestic season, and Rio as a result. Injury, injury, gym change, injury - I've been rooting for her for years and it's been depressing, as her physical status has definitely held her back from achieving her potential - her potential is and has always been HUGE. A sparkly gymnast with big height and big skills, super dynamic and exciting. Will miss her greatly this year and hope she can come back strong from this.

Another career that came to an end (albeit 2 months ago) is Lisa Verschueren of Belgium. She is not someone who I actively followed, although I did notice her in Glasgow, but how her career ended is more devastating than an injury because she doesn't have the option of coming back, and it wasn't her decision. To be that young and forced from competitive sport due to a heart condition really sucks. I know too much about cardiology for my own good from large amounts of time spent typing and googling terms, and I really hope her defibrillator is all she needs to be healthy and safe and it isn't anything very sinister. Thankfully she did have a longish career spanning several world championships, so there is that.

Speaking of Belgium, and on a more positive note, they have exciting talent coming through the ranks this year - particularly Nina Derwael. I LOVE this.

Not all skill videos (few I suppose) come to fruition but I really, really hope this does. Any release with a half turn is a complete winner in my book, and the Ezhova is one my favourite transitions. Fabulous.

Also on the positive balancing front, the McKayla Maroney video interview is coming out this week (Wednesday I believe although really Thursday for me as it's on west coast time) and I'm really looking forward to it. McKayla has always been great at speaking and she has a lot of gaps and information that we are largely in the dark about. Not to mention that it doesn't look like the kind of interview where she'll gloss over or bypass important stuff. Of course, she may well declare her retirement or imminent retirement in the video but by all accounts she's been out of the gym a good amount of time now so that wouldn't be shocking. Sad to put an end to a great career though.

The Olympic year really has its downsides with the impending sense of doom that there are many more names to come in the injury/retirement category. I'm just holding on for the season to start to ease the doom and gloom of it all.

What are your favourite routines of the two? I really love that beam of Kyla's, it had more than her usual as it was fuelled by fierce determination, taking place as it did after a bars meltdown. It's also her last elite competitive routine. Nia's floor showcases her strengths beautifully, love that unique third pass. How will this shake up Team USA and the coveted specialist spots?

Nationals

I'm going to do this post differently to the usual, I've tried twice and both times gotten completely bogged down in it. Definitely some post-Nationals exhaustion going on- GMT makes it an ordeal! So I'll do it in a Q&A format, mixing up juniors and seniors. Feel free to add questions in the comments and I'll stick my view at the top of this post.

Are you happy with the order of the junior podium?

Ideally I'd like Deanne Soza on it. She is everything....except competitive fire but she has time for that hopefully. I was sort of rooting for Jazmyn as the underdog as she really surprised me even though she already has last year's title. But she gave it away on floor...although they only took 0.2 for her out of bounds when it should have been 0.4 but that was enough. Not that I don't love Laurie. Ragan has improved a ton, really enjoying her beam and floor in particular. A pity her bars are letting her down and her vault block is still dodgy but the vaults themselves are secure. So yes, I'm happy with the podium.

Shouldn't Gabby Perea and Morgan Hurd have made the national team?

Although Gabby would have had she not fallen, I doubt either of their coaches expected it at this point of the season so it's unlikely the girls fully expected it if they hit. Gabby is so young and although Morgan is 2001, she hasn't been elite that long and her routines are still getting there, her difficulty is quite low. The spots will be saved for seniors but next year when only Jordan Chiles will be on the NT, they'll be added. Probably at January camp.

Cute incoming! Copyright USAG/John Cheng

What's wrong with Kyla Ross?

Seems to be endurance. Whether it is her typical reduced endurance compared to others or is directly related to a niggling injury is impossible to know. Worlds is still 2 and a bit months away which is a lot of time. There's no point in writing her off at this point. If she is consistent at September and selection camp she could make the team. She may be better off taking a break and focusing on Rio though.

Who should be the second all-arounder at worlds based on Classics and Nationals?

Gabby I think. I am torn between her and Aly for it. Aly's bars duhhh are a weak point but they are better than before and they score decent internationally so they mightn't be a hindrance. Her amanar though...needs to improve or be dumped as it's currently not worth doing. If anyone can though I think she can. Not that it will be beautiful but I expect it to be secure. On the other hand, Gabby showed consistency and is strong everywhere. She wasn't perfect but there was nothing worrying. It's possible she could bring her amanar back. But Aly is soooo reliable and has a monster floor to balance out bars. Hmm.

Why was Nia's d-score on floor so low on Day 2 when she hit her passes?

She didn't do the front full before the double tuck, so she lost 0.5. Not too sure if that was intentional or if she realised she was slightly off and it would have killed the pass. Nor did she do it Day 1 but the judges closed their eyes and awarded it 5.7. Sigh.

Favourite junior Texas Dreams army member?

Emma Malabuyo I think. She is just lovely. Abigail Walker is too cute, so tiny!

Biggest surprise this junior season?

Jazmyn. I really thought she would fall back, seeing as she won last year in the absence of Bailie and Laurie. Although she's lacking a standout event - at least until she gets more comfortable with her tumbling - she is super strong, and so consistent. A mini Aly in the making. Would love to see her clean up her foot form on bars though. Sydney Johnson-Scharpf was a nice surprise too. After creating a buzz a few years back, she seemed to be fading and was plagued with inconsistency and dreadful bars. Major improvement even though she still fell. While her bars will never be pretty, they're noticeably better. And her floor complete with Dos Santos is amazing! Delighted she is back in the game.

Best improvement between Classics and Nationals, junior and senior?

Brenna Dowell. WOW. Fluke falls on both events at Classics...to killer AA sets both days. Hands down on bars day 2 but doesn't really take away from her achievement. To go from training only 20 hours a week during college with just a few elite skills retained to this is incredible. I'm beyond impressed. Delighted she's been invited to the selection camp but unfortunately, US depth is more than likely going to squeeze her out, again.

Brenna is perfection. Copyright USAG/John Cheng

What about Laurie's floor?

I....don't like it. It has grown on me slightly but I can't like it. I've defended her style a billion times but this one crosses the line for me, I think it's her facial expressions. So unnecessary. She also has far too many static exaggerated poses that interrupt the flow. I'd like her to draw back a bit.

Just say no. Copyright- USAG/John Cheng

Feelings on Jordan Chiles?

Jordan is enormously talented with killer potential. She unfortunately remains extremely inconsistent. I thought she would have progressed more as a competitor and I think the amanar was a bad decision. I'm unsure if she will be made as much as she could be at her current gym.

Most shocking fall?

It's a toss up between Simone on floor or Aly on beam. The solidest of the solidest on super-strong events for them. Just plain weird.

Saddest fall?

A good few contenders but I'm going to go with Gabby Perea on beam. She was doing so well! And she's so young with gymnastics beyond her years in terms of precision and polish.

How about that shamrock leo?

I for one am THRILLED it wasn't mentioned in the broadcast. Either the trio did their geography lessons or didn't need to, which would be better again. I don't expect people outside of the British Isles to understand the complicated make-up of the UK and how Republic of Ireland is NOT in it but part of Ireland is blah blah...but if you're pandering to Glasgow as the host city with your music and plan on incorporating colours etc....then you need to get these right. Pandering is fine with me, once some very basic research is done. Although I'm sort of hoping she makes the team and wears a leo with a big Welsh dragon on it because that would be hilarious LOL.

How about the senior podium?

Well gold was a given. Interesting that Simone has increased the lead she had in 2014 with a fall, and with fantastic competitors who weren't around then. Silver and bronze were very much up for grabs and I thoroughly enjoyed that fight. I was delighted for Maggie who was the model of consistency and of course, continuing to show her crazy improvement on 2013-2014. And it was great to see Aly up there too looking like she never left.

Most baffling composition/skill?

Bailie Key's beam! The layout caused major issues day 1 and she was still short day 2 even with the obvious extra effort that went into it. Clearly, they've worked out that this is her best option. I think if she could hit bhs-loso-loso then she'd have it, it's the obvious choice and is valuable this code. The layout needs to become a pike so she can land it seeing as it will never get layout credit anywat and she can work up d-score on turns and leaps, or they could try out bhs-arabian if she has the lift for that. Or arabian-walkover. Something.different.please. Her dismount needs to be dumped too, she gets no set on it and the deep landing is a killer. If she can't get the triple full around, I wonder could she do a 2.5? Or even a double tuck, for a better landing.

Skill-wise, the wolf turn. Although it was everywhere in varying levels of competence, the worst was Texas Dreams. Not one of them can do it, and yet they all do. I get the thinking behind it, I know it's valuable. But it's also a crime.

Favourite junior beam?

Ragan Smith. A joy to watch. So confident and solid, and difficult too. Except the wolf because of course that was hideous.

Pick a worlds team based on Nationals?

A lot can happen in the next 2 months. Simone duhhhh. Aly, Gabby and Bailie. That's really all that is needed to decimate the field. As I said before, I'm hesitant to include Mykayla for a vault medal when that's not really guaranteed. Pretty deep field there. I'm taking Maggie as a guaranteed solid team player usable anywhere, and has an amanar for TF. Number 6 is one of Mykayla, Madison or Kyla. Impossible to call.

Who has shown the best comeback thus far between Aly and Gabby?

In competition, Gabby. Not without flaws, but not with falls or dodgy errors either. Shows room for upgrades nearly everywhere except floor, I think that's maxed. But she has looked extremely dodgy in PT, whereas Aly has looked amazing all of the time in training, and was great in Jesolo. She has actually increased the height on her tumbles and has worked hard to improve problem areas. Aly edges it, barely.

What are Nia's chances this year and next?

Slim. Not making Pan Ams was damning. I'm glad she had good performances at Nationals and am hoping she can add back some of her difficulty and get her form back on track, it's definitely deteriorated. She still shows crazy potential but I'm not sure with the depth that she'll get the chance to shine this quad especially with so much to work on still. She is also seriously injury prone.

Favourite senior bars?

Ashton Locklear. I prefer her line on bars to Madison.

Thoughts on Emily Gaskins?

She's not standing out, and has deteriorated unfortunately. I don't see a whole lot happening for her and I don't think all of the gym changing has helped at all, rather the opposite.

Favourite under-the-radar senior?

Lauren Navarro. Not a good competition for her but I really love her beam.

Junior?

Emma Malabuyo. She has stunning work. Also Trinity Thomas, she's quite powerful without being wild.

Best redemption from last year?

Cristina Desiderio. She fought bars and won, so pleased for her and a well deserved 5th place.

Fiercest routine?

Simone's Day 2 beam needs to be mentioned. The determination and almost anger was brilliant to watch. Taking absolutely no nonsense from the beam with a much smoother barani landing after awful trouble all week, and cements it all with a stick. Amazing.

Most impressive on floor - Simone or Aly?

They are both ridiculous. I can't pick.

180! Copyright USAG/John Cheng

Worst overscore

Jazmyn receiving only half of the OOB deduction that she should have done. It was way too obvious for that to be excusable, ridiculous. Or Simone's vault which was not as good as Day 1 and wasn't stuck....scoring higher, receiving the stick bonus. I almost forgot, just like the judges, Nia received CR for a requirement she did not fulfill on floor Day 1.

Major future talent that underwhelmed?

Morgan Hurd. Not that she wasn't noticed, just related really to the low difficulty she has. But she has got it all. Also I am majorly hoping Deanne Soza gets it together. Have you SEEN how perfect she is? These two are the queens of form and technique AND they are both from unknown gyms.

Most bad-ass moment?

Aly landing an amanar with her leg completely locked in a stance that would break so many....and no big deal, not affected. Surreal almost.

So what's Simone's next step?

Further world domination. The 2015 AA and FX titles, and VT (upgrade dependent maybe for gold again?) and BB medallist. Record breaking 4-time National champion next year, and another haul in Rio. Un-freaking-believable gymnast. We should never 'call' anything or any medals but once she's there, that's it.

Gymnastics-wise, I'm sure they'll be firming up that barani. Possibly a bit late for the Mustafina bars dismount, so I doubt we'll see that or the potential Khorkina this year. I think the Cheng is quite possible, since it was planned for this year.

Most important thing to take away from this meet?

The seniors are aiming to peak in October. The juniors are getting podium experience, trying out typically a lot of upgrades and tweaked routines and it does not matter if they splat all over the place, unless they never do anything but.



There were just so many great leotards going on. They're going to get their own post. As I mentioned at the top, if you want to ask me any questions directly I'll edit them into the post. Hard to think of all aspects of what I watched.

Who made your week? Or broke your heart? Favourite routines? Biggest surprise? Favourite lack of geographical knowledge embarrassment?

Classics

Ahh Classics. Such a great competition with so many new routines, new upgrades..and consequently lots of falls and rough bits. This year was no different.

First, Simone Biles. It is just so pleasing to watch someone so masterful at work. I do get a bit nervous watching her on bars and beam, but less so over time. She really is the most talented gymnast we have ever seen (remember: this is a fact. It does not mean you have to like her gymnastics) and continues to be at the top of her game without showing any signs of peaking or maxing out her difficulty. The best her competition can hope for in terms of gold is that they can upgrade enough that a fall or other huge mistake from her can topple her, but of course, she herself continues to upgrade. She is certainly untouchable in this year, but if the likes of Gabby Douglas and Maggie Nichols continue on their trajectory they may be able to spook her. A bit.

Her beam was a little wobbly and hesitant, hopefully we can see a steadier version at Nationals. It's great to see her bhs-loso-loso series so super solid though. The barani is one of my favourite moves on beam, so obviously I'm delighted to see it make its mark. She has a nice beam composition for her. Bars were as expected, solid and unexceptional. I'm hoping she might do the Mustafina dismount this year though. On vault, I see no reason for her not to at least attempt the TTY next year along with the Cheng...a bit disappointed not to see it but it did make sense if she felt a bit off in general on vault during podium training. Nationals isn't far away after all. Floor was....brilliant. I wasn't sure what we were going to see other than energy. It did take me a few goes to really appreciate the music..still not a fan of the super fast dancey bit towards the end but I love her choreography and her charismatic style oozing through it. Her tumbling was phenomenal and so were the landings, it's so great to see her control the bounce. The full-in DLO looks cleaner every time. Still curious about that last pass...looks very upgradeable, if not this year then next.

Gabby Douglas was a pleasant surprise. She looked extremely dodgy in podium training especially her pet piece, bars. I honestly never thought she'd get through that routine. Fierce competitive nature was definitely in action. I am a bit baffled at her floor music and choreography but the tumbling looks well, she could probably sneak in a little upgrade or two. Beam and bars were so solid, I hope she can upgrade these two though to really make the most of her comeback. I'm not sure what I was expecting from her, but what we did see seemed too much to wish for at this stage. She's not someone I'd automatically root for as I'm not the biggest fan of her style, but I'm thrilled at this force of nature of a comeback. It's exactly what the sport needs. A huge step up from Jesolo for Gabby and while I'll hold her completely cementing her on teams until she gets through the greater challenge and endurance required of Nationals..she's pretty much there. A huge asset to any team, without a discernible weak spot.

Photo copyright- USAG/John Cheng

Aly Raisman's strong performance was less of a surprise, she already had a good showing at Jesolo. I certainly didn't expect to see an amanar though! In fact, I didn't think we'd see one at all...the fact that hers is messy I thought would negate the d-score advantage, as her DTY is much cleaner. Well it's still messy but despite her landing I thought it seemed quite secure, Her beam was a it surprising. Hit her skills with the odd slow connection or two, but I didn't expect her overall slight sluggishness on the event. She said herself afterwards she didn't fully concentrate on the little things, which definitely makes sense. Hopefully she can be more precise and solid on beam like she usually is at Nationals. Still pleased at the improvements she has made on bars, though they'll never be anything more than decent she can certainly claw back a few tenths in execution there hopefully. Floor was the crowning highlight, even with the fluke fall...it's such a great routine. Really enjoying the music, choreography has improved too and the tumbling is just amazing. First pass as good as ever, the upgraded second pass was solid in training and I'm sure we'll see it stood up perfectly in a few weeks and the DLO is a welcome change, and very well done. Her energy levels are fantastic and she looks well on track for Rio.

Maggie Nichols improved in such a short space of time, and keeps getting better. It's not so much her upgrades although those are fantastic, but her style. Her execution has really improved but the most important thing is that she is now light on events she was previously heavy and laboured on. Her beam and bars are so different to how they used to be, and her floor flows a lot better. Really remarkable improvement. I loved how close it was between her and Gabby, but I thought Gabby scoring higher on floor was arguably correct, as Maggie still faces quite a few deductions for messier tumbling...

...I've just been completely thrown off course by the news that Simone Biles has gone pro. Also it's getting pretty late so I'll finish this tomorrow :)

..Several days later...

I hate when things get in the way. Anyway, back to Maggie. Markedly improved as she is, I'm a little unsure how she will be scored internationally. She invites a lot of deductions that gymnasts like Simone Biles and Kyla Ross will not, an example being the aforementioned messy tumbling form. Lots of niggly little things in her bars too. She also doesn't have the years of experience and the reputation that someone well known for sloppy execution has- Aly Raisman. For this reason, I think Gabby Douglas will continue to have the edge on her. But, they're close, and upgrades can make all the difference.

Kyla Ross had an unfortunate day. To come off bars twice is so bizarre to see from her. It was disappointing that she had to pull out of the all-around prior to competition after tweaking an ankle injury, electing only to do bars and beam - a good and correct decision of course, but who didn't want to see her standings in the AA against the rest! I'm glad she redeemed herself on beam, including a nice save. Much as I LOVE the bhardwaj, I'm not too sure this is going to be a keeper for her. Not just because she messed it up and when that happens, upgrades tend to disappear from her routine..but just, height wise. She has precious little room between the bars to twist and be in the perfect position to grab the bar, it's a tiny margin of error. I'd love to see her make it work though. I'm hoping they'll do it Day 1 of Nationals at least to see how it goes, or at least try it in podium training to see if it's a runner.

I'm looking forward to seeing a determined Kyla hit every single thing at Nationals. Although she continues to churn out strong performances just when you think she's going to step back or be overtaken, I DO think she will be surpassed for Rio. But not Glasgow.

Bailie Key was a bit muted for me. Not personality/charm-wise...she was the same as ever though, but in her skills, on beam in particular. It's not just the "layout" that lacks amplitude, it's everything, even her dismount. Everything looks clean and precise, everything is landed fine, leaps are nice...but it's just blehh. Not that she has ever shown a lot of height in her elements on beam, but it has become more pronounced over time. My best guess would be that her foundation of skills was learned when she was a lot smaller and lighter, and they haven't really grown with her. She looked laboured. I find it a little shocking to see her bent in half on her beam dismount, or completely underrotating a triple. It just doesn't seem 'her', I'm so used to her executing everything to near perfection.

Her bars were very nice, hopefully she can show a few upgrades there. Vault was clean and well done as always, though it didn't seem either as easy or with quite the same pop off the table as usual. Hopefully she'll show her old brilliance there, especially since she said she may throw the amanar at Nationals. Floor...the less said the better. Nothing wrong with the tumbling aside from the underrotated triple, the DLO was beautiful for instance. But I cannot believe after such a promising showing last year that there's been such a regression. The music is better after a few listens but still woeful, and I don't think she works with it very well. And the dive and swimming bit...please no. Anyway, overall I think I'm being harsh calling her gymnastics laboured and flat. I hope to see her reinvigorated for Nationals. (Thanks to Cordelia for pointing out that she competed at Jesolo this year. I definitely confused her not being at Nationals last year).

Nia Dennis has had a very difficult few weeks, and that coming on top of a long history of injury, absence and inconsistency. With all of that going on, it wasn't surprising that she didn't do the AA. What was surprising was that she hit. Quite pleased with that, all things considered. Unfortunately, she was much sloppier than she has been in the past...I'm hoping that's temporary. I'm also wishing that once she settles down in her new gym, she can work on upgrading and adding back her best skill..the arabian. I missed it so. She showed a nice bit of power on vault too. Still, unless she shows massive improvement and upgrades, I don't see it happening for Nia. For which I will always lament, because she showed such massive potential from such a young age. Sigh.

Nia Dennis- Photo copyright USAG/John Cheng

Brenna Dowell was an absolute heartbreaker, but I'm so glad both of her falls were complete flukes rather than showing a lack of readiness or having taken on too much. Falls aside, she showed lovely work...especially the bars combination. She's highly unlikely to progress to worlds, but I'm looking forward to seeing her nail everything at Nationals with steely determination. A fabulous competitor.

Sabrina Vega was a complete mystery going into the competition. She's always had lovely gymnastics and I was looking forward to seeing that, and she didn't disappoint. Gorgeous leaps and dance, I was gutted when she fell on floor. Unsure of her motivations for coming back or her future, but if she just enjoys competing with no expectations then good for her. I'll continue to enjoy watching her. Expect for the bent knees on beam, I didn't miss them. At all.

I'm so glad Lauren Navarro had a nice steady beam after falling on bars, but I'm not too sure how long she'll stay in elite. I did think she might surprise, but she'd need a lot of improvement for that. Considering all of the confusion over Ashton Locklear's lack of scoring, it doesn't sound like something USAG has done before. Lovely bars, hopefully she can bust out the full difficulty or close to it with no coaching help at Nationals. Alyssa Baumann and Madison Kocian have I think, had their day. Both are not strong enough in the AA to stand out, and both don't have enough difficulty on their standout event to force their being picked.

Mykayla Skinner was well, a mess. Very clearly not ready. Highlights were a beautiful DTY and a surprisingly nice bars set...she's always had a lovely easy swing there when it comes together, which it did for her there. Not much else did though, with too many lowlights to mention...the beam fall, the very low Cheng landing, her music, baaad floor landings, her music, her music....why did they let her use that music?? It's impossible to work with even apart from the annoyance factor. And it's such a shame, because she can dance very well. I really love her 2013 music and choreography. Sigh. I'm hoping to see much more energy and readiness from her at Nationals. Hopefully not an amanar though. Either way, I don't see her in Glasgow. She is not a guaranteed vault medal...vault is getting deeper all the time. There's 2 medals up for grabs after Simone and quite a few will be angling for them, among them Wang Yan, Sae Miyakawa, Maria Paseka, hopefully Ksenia Afanasyeva, please please please Marcia Videaux will have a FIG license and Giulia Steingruber, who will hopefully regain her DTY.

All in all, a fascinating competition. I can't wait to see the kinks worked out at Nationals, with hopefully less falls and errors. The juniors were a little all over the place, I'm going to discuss them properly after Nationals.

Favourite gymnast:
Simone Biles stole the show

Favourite floor:
Simone Biles. Breathtaking. Aly was a not-too-distant 2nd though.

Favourite vault:
Simone's roof-scraping amanar. Just amazing. Runner-up is Alaina Kwan who floated a gorgeous textbook FTY out of the sky. Beautiful.

Favourite beam:
Hmm. Maggie or Simone. Lovely composition from this pair.

Favourite bars:
Bailie I think. Or Brenna, ignoring the fall.

Favourite leo:

Ashton Locklear. Photo copyright- USAG/John Cheng

Simple but stunning. The sleeves made it, and the classic monochrome.

There were loads of inoffensive ones but not that many stood out. Except for McKayla Maroney's pink flower leo, which totally stood out. It's a beauty, but seemed a bit much as a 'team' leo. It's a very individual one to me. Not because of who wore it previously, I'm not into that. Just seems a bit much. Imagine if they had qualified 10 girls? As for Texas Dreams...if only the black bit was matte! I would be thrilled with it then. I did like the concept, but shiny black just didn't go.

So, can you even remember Classics this long after the competition? Favourite performances, biggest heartbreaks? How is your number 2 AA for worlds shaping up in your head after Classics? Who is winning the most annoying music battle?

Things

First, since it's freshest...

Gymnastike.

Like most people, I'm not impressed by the days-late apology. It definitely reads like a necessary and false apology generated by the backlash, rather than true remorse or even understanding of what they have done. This is compounded by the fact that the apology is directed by their action in covering the story at all, with zero mention of how they linked and exposed their very young target market to porn. No more, no less. 4chan has absolutely no place at all on a gymnastics news site and the utter failure to even acknowledge that is despicable.

It's worth noting that Gymnastike has several dedicated, well-meaning and knowledgeable writers and contributors. They are not to blame for this. (Although some gymnastics writers on the site are to blame for the lazy, copy-pasted click-me articles). Unfortunately they suffer for representing the site as a whole.

I'd hope that they have apologised directly to McKayla Maroney. We of course don't need to see it and she's under no obligation to disclose anything at all for 'closure' for her fans or anything. But I'd like to think they did personally apologise! 

Has the apology changed your view at all? Do you think USAG and/or FIG should still sanction them?

Junior Nationals

Which did in fact take place weeks ago, yup. I didn't catch all of it but enough. A very different competition without Bailie Key stomping over everyone! And with infinitely less sass with Laurie Hernandez out also.

Nia Dennis was strong, but nothing like her full potential. Odd mistakes on THE most secure skill ever...her fully upright arabian. Floor errors, etc, much less dynamic DTY than last year, bars downgrades. It's not fully surprising given that she's not long back from injury, but if she's not more consistent and looking more at her ease in her routines next spring for her senior debut I will be a little concerned. She could be amazing. Training with Gabby Douglas too is very good for her I feel, it's a strong motivator and both girls have similar strengths.

I don't need to see an amanar next year or anything. I'd settle for the super strong DTY back in action, more spring and ease in her floor and an upgrade or two on bars.

I remain unconvinced about Norah Flatley in the AA. She too was dogged by silly mistakes...the two on beam was utterly shocking. But it's not that...it's how her other events compared to beam are progressing, and they haven't in my opinion. I'm also puzzled as to where her bars are going...she's not making the most of the code there really.

In fact, both Alexis Vasquez and tiny Victoria Nyugen are more impressive on beam to me. Super clean, still with that killer variation and flexibility. Just that bit cleaner than Norah. Not that I'm hating on Norah or anything. I'm just not getting the love. Yet.

Likewise Jazmyn Foberg. It is phenomenal that somebody who failed to qualify for Nationals her first year as an elite should win it the next. And even when we take into account the absences and injury list, this is still an enormous achievement and one which she fully deserved. 8 for 8, solid. But...there's usually a but...she's not standing out particularly on any one event just yet. She sure could in the future, but not right now. I'm interested to see how she progresses. Although, I fervently hope her difficulty stagnates. The huge leaps forward on floor and bars in particular are a little concerning, possibly too fast. Bars in particular, her releases are completely and utterly flat and on both events she's not at her ease.

Morgan Hurd is more than just a great dancer with adorable glasses. She is SO CLEAN! Look at her lines on bars. I love little technique queens and have my eye firmly on her. She didn't hit 8 for 8 but so what, she's very young.

Similarly, Deanne Soza is amazing to watch. Especially on bars but she has massive potential on every event. Her mistakes were crushing for me as a new big fan but again, lots of time to improve.

Jordan Chiles had a truly mixed season. From winning Classics, to disaster, to climbing back up the ranks admirably on night 2. I'd like to see her keep her current difficulty and just focus on the consistency. No need for more upgrades yet. Although..that front triple full looks amazing. I couldn't say no to that..

YOG

Clashed abominably with work, so much so that I only got to watch event finals. All in all, it wasn't really overly impressive. While some girls did stand out, there was nobody that really proved they have what it takes to make major inroads into worlds AA next year. But, perversely, I'm also a little glad about that. I do not want anybody peaking for a competition as a junior.

You may have noticed I focused on one gymnast in the run-up to this competition as my 'one to watch' and who I was most excited about. A few weeks prior, I wrote this article. Wang Yan definitely performed as expected. In fact, she surpassed expectations in some regards..with some upgrades on bars and beam (that barani though!) and she nailed event finals. Well deserved medals there. She also lived up to the headcase side unfortunately, throwing herself out of floor finals in quals and messing up in the AA too. She definitely proved herself as a 'someone'. Very valuable for next year for her team, and hopefully incredible experience for her. She's capable of more and I'm really hoping we get to see that.

Flavia Saraiva is quite frankly, a delight. She moves very well and is so wonderfully clean. I'm happy she got this chance to compete as individually she will always be outshone by Rebeca Andrade although of course, Brazil have more than enough room for two stars. They can complement each other quite well. As expected, Flavia did not have the difficulty to get right up and compete for the top spot, nevertheless, she's showing great potential. Bars, long a weak piece for her country, have shown some progress. Hopefully some nice steady addition of difficulty towards Rio will propel her up the rankings.

Laura Jurca was well, crushing. No medals is so disappointing. I have been out of the loop, but perhaps she is recovering from injury? Let's hope she can bounce back from this competition and add some difficulty while still maintaining consistency.

Speaking of consistency, Seda Tutkhalyan managed to prevail despite spectacularly lacking in that department in general. She is above all, interesting. Brimming with potential. I'm delighted with her beam routine in particular and she has certainly shown fantastic progress on bars. She definitely has it in her to be even stronger all-around and I'm looking forward to seeing her senior debut..hopefully with vaults that land where they are supposed to!

Ellie Downie did extremely well, although she was another showing inconsistency. Such power! Although I remain disappointed she isn't emulating her big sister on bars, her floor and vault are pretty awesome. HUGE DTY, I definitely think we'll see an amanar next year, which would be a first for GB. GB really have a strong crew next year with Tyesha Mattis and Amy Tinkler firmly in the mix too.

Sae Miyakawa broke my heart with her floor routine. And then made it soar on vault. She deserved to beat Ellie Downie on form and not because the latter had her second vault downgraded. We need stills of Sae's form mid-flight blown up and pasted in gyms across the world. Stunning work.

Who was your favourite? Most likely to make it big as a senior? Who will be the Komova?

Classics: Thoughts on Juniors

What an interesting meet Classics always is. First, because there are sooooo many gymnasts, more every year in the junior ranks. Brand new faces barely out of Level 10 willing to impress, veterans showing new routines for the season, upgrades a-hoy, girls going all out to impress at the start of the season, while others are holding back a bit for a steadier pace, ready to unleash at nationals. The sheer variety of styles and strengths on display always floors me. For those who don't like US gymnastics, they should really look deeper. You can't categorise this small army.

Firstly, congratulations to Jordan Chiles on winning the junior AA! I wasn't expecting that at all, although I'm not sure why. The loss of Bailie Key and Laurie Hernandez is a big one and Nia has had quite a few struggles with injury in the last while. Norah Flatley gets hyped a lot, but she is quite clearly not an all-arounder yet. I suppose because Jordan is so young, too young for Rio. Her floor was one of the highlights, the full package...great tumbling, presence, spark. Vault...yeah I'd like to see some work on that block, and her form is a little scrappy on beam though her flow and style on that event have come on bigtime. Bars also are better, her swing and handstands, but she was too close to the bar on each release and was lucky to get that score. A thrilling day for her and a well deserved outcome, I'd just like some tidying up on her execution.

Jordan Chiles. Copyright - John Cheng

We need to talk about Deanne Soza, immediately. I noticed her potential last year but WOW she took my breath away. Talk about talent! I'm a little tired of getting excited about a US junior and then seeing that her bars are bad or average, but no whiff of that here. They made my night (before a certain $ came along), no exaggeration. BEAUTIFUL form, swing..and skills! Huge release move, an inbar stalder shoot to high which is rare as Christmas, a gorgeous Ezhova and a full-in DLO. Fantastic. Beam and floor look strong too...she made me a little nervous on the former, but saved so well. Gorgeous switch leap-Onodi combination. She's another too young for Rio who needs to slow or halt the upgrades and just polish everything. Seriously impressive work from this little one.

Morgan Hurd is too cute for words. Noticed her gorgeous floor at the Nastia cup earlier this year and I was excited when she qualified elite and looking forward to some lovely clean work. Not only was she clean...but so consistent and confident! Wonderful to see, she was holding herself on and off the apparatus like a veteran. Thrilling to see her do so well in the AA. And...this isn't relevant, but she kind of proves a major point about Chinese gymnasts looking younger than their years. Unlike some of the Chinese girls, Morgan (adopted as a baby) has grown up in a privileged environment with plenty to eat. Yet she looks about 6-7..

I haven't really been paying a whole lot of attention to Maile O'Keeffe and Megan Skaggs but they both seem to have shot forward in terms of improvement. Will be keeping an eye on them, especially Maile on beam.

Nia Dennis has been battling injury, so it wasn't overly surprising that she wasn't at her best. Even so, she showed what she is capable of when healthy. She has killer potential and I really hope she's able to demonstrate that next year when she's senior and hopefully fully bounced back.

Norah Flatley's beam was gorgeous as anticipated. I'm curious about the long term plan for her though. Perhaps we will see more from her on bars at Nationals, but her routine at Classics was fairly dull and empty I thought. Nice floor work, but she's not standing out there and her FTY doesn't look like it will be anything else in the next while. She remains a beam specialist, albeit a gorgeous and most valuable one, in my eyes. She's with Chow, and Chow is great, but he's not great at vault and Norah doesn't have the power of Gabby or Shawn for instance.

I was expecting quite a bit from the Parkettes crew, Christina Desiderio, Molly Frack, Margzetta Frazier and Megan Freed, especially the first two but it wasn't their day. Molly didn't do AA. Christina in particular is so much fun to watch on floor, hopefully she can improve and really get up to where the top few are.

Speaking of falls, there were so,so many on beam. Not that it'd be unexpected when there's so many juniors, plenty competing for the first time on podium, at the first major elite competition of the year. It's moreso that it was sad to watch, given that quite a few needed this meet to qualify to nationals. On the other hand..I saw no falls or big errors on bars?

Victoria Nyugen's beam was so, so beautiful. Yes, she went into a handstand in the middle of her series but it didn't work to save her balance and off she came. Nonetheless, it was amazing..and admirable that she didn't let the fall faze her. Great floor from her I thought, looking forward to seeing her develop. Unfortunately, another bad meet from Alexis Vasquez who was pulled from two events. She's struggling with a hip injury. Here's hoping she can come back strong next year as a senior.

Victoria Nyugen. Copyright - John Cheng

Jazmyn Foberg was the only MG elite girl healthy enough to be present. She was quite solid but not outstanding, which is fine in one her age. However, while she may not be as pushed as Laurie is or as Ari is on vault, her bars were quite new and she struggled with them halfway through. A fluke, or yet another exhibition of too much too soon..hard to know.

Rachel Baumann was lovely to watch on beam and floor, but I kind of expected more. It was refreshing to see her perfect technique in her passes, but I'd like to see more than the typical WOGA standard emanate from her routines. She could be great.

Shilese Jones is another who stood out on floor...with a 1.5 twisting double back! Great pass, she's powerful and interesting to watch.

For all the criticism American artistry or lack of gets, there was quite a lot on display here. Olivia Dunne really stood out, gorgeous, gorgeous presentation. From an 11 year-old at that. Likewise, Emily Gaskins who is just stunning. Pity about her routine, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

The Good

Floor These young ones are continuing the legacy of strong floor work. Lots of big tumbles- double layouts, 1.5 double back, double arabians, 1.5 to triple etc. Some lovely dancers too and many who have excellent presentation

Beam combinations Building from the ground up, lots of juniors are working the code very well. BHS-LOSO-LOSO, switch-Onodi, aerial cartwheel-LOSO, aerial-aerial-side aerial etc. Lovely scales from a few too.

Variety Is the best part of Classics. SO many girls from so many gyms, different ages, sizes, styles, strengths...it's great.

Leotard game was oh so strong

The Bad 

Injuries, dropouts and girls competing not yet recovered Too many to mention.

Bars Despite many cool connections and skills shown, overall I was not impressed. There was a lot of average work on display and poor skills foundation and form. Sigh.

Leaps So many were bad

Best

Floor Jordan Chiles
Vault Jordan Chiles
Bars Nia Dennis
Beam Norah Flatley

Favourite

Floor Morgan Hurd
Bars Deanne Soza
Beam Tough. Nia Dennis
Vault Norah Flatley..so clean

Favourite Leos

Nia Dennis. Copyright - John Cheng

Buckeye. Always get it right...this is beautiful, colours chosen and their use, and the design. Stunning.

Emily Gaskins. Copyright - John Cheng

CGA have got it going on here. I'd prefer if the sleeves were plain white though. 

Bailey Ferrer. Copyright - John Cheng

We see this shade and fabric quite a bit, but the tiny star-like pattern of the chrystals make this stunning. 

Honourable mentions: Shilese Jones, Olivia Dunne, Morgan Hurd, WOGA

Dishonourable mentions: Lexy Ramler, Delanie Harkness

Lots less pink than usual! Some nice attempts at red and lovely blues and pinks.

Scoring

Better than it has been, and it's not usually too hyped for juniors anyway. The one score that stood out (I'm sure there'd be more if I studied this) was Jordan Chiles' bars. Substantially overscored. Deanne Soza's bars were a little underscored compared to some other routines also. 


Who was your favourite junior? Was the format of splitting it fair or unfair? Can a rotation really be 50 minutes long??

'Quick hits' from Jesolo podium training videos

I am confused as to whether Day 2 is open access or not, it was then it wasn't. Day 1 is definitely not. The below is a combination of both.

Kyla Ross' routines are the same. Very clean on bars and beam, although one or two wobbles on the latter and her front tuck-wolf jump was lacking due to energy it seemed. Stuck a lovely DTY. All in all, she looks good but not her best I think. Ankles had some hefty bandaging/support on beam. Lack of upgrades are the constant theme with her but since she is recovering from a back injury, it's not very surprising and definitely understandable.

Edit- Floor is up. Double arabian-stag, double pike, 1.5-front full, double tuck. She's not following the pass direction rules for which the cut-off is approaching fast. I forget if others are :p Very clean and controlled routine.

Mykayla Skinner's amanar is back! And although it's a significant squat on landing - 90 degree knee bend, it looks quite secure and 'on'. Nice form too. The Cheng was great in the air and landing...her block usually needs a screenshot to see if she used both hands and I can't do that on my phone. It looks like she used both hands (she did not at the Level 10 a while back) but barely. Her tucked double double was shown (her d-score is reportedly 6.8 now although dependent on getting full credit from dance elements) and it was nice, seemed very easy for her. Bars have such an ease in the swing but too many form errors bringing them down, it's a shame.

Beam was...wait for it..watchable! The wolf turn from hell is gone and she has calmed down on the ambitious connections to increase consistency. The BHS-arabian was impressive, lots of height on the arabian and a great upright landing Nia Dennis would approve of. Sadly the BHS is reminiscent of Dominique Dawes on beam. Other acro skills like punchfronts and the side aerial were very nice. Her basic leaps seemed to be hit or enough to be declared 180. The switch half HAS improved thankfully. There's an L-turn-single turn combination, her leg dips up and down a bit on the L but it's fine. She did not do the upgraded dismount she's training - Patterson I think? I don't believe she did the Fabrichnova either. I'm curious to see how she will do, she has definitely put the effort in for more than just d-scores.

Edit - Her full floor just went up. Same tumbles - Moors, Silivas, double arabian - stag, 1.5 to 2.5. The middle passes have switched around. Energy to spare on the first 3, bounced a bit out of the Silivas. Her first pass is really quite laid out for nearly all of it, nice. I'm not sure we will ever see it fully perfectly laid out though. On her last pass she was short a bit. The switch half was..good! Double L turn was okay also.

Peyton Ernst did a dance-through on floor. I watched it without music so not very helpful. Some nice poses showing off her back flexibility and her end pose is great - combines Viktoria Komova's 2011 one and Anna Pavlova's in 2008! Rachel Gowey also did a dance-through. Very elegant arm movements and her lines look lovely, but it didn't seem very expressive or outstanding. Will have to judge both in competition when they're in performance mode. Peyton's beam was solid.

Edit- Full floor went up. Solid tumbling including lovely double layout and double arabian, a little low on the former.

Rachel Gowey did a triple full and made it look like a single twist, so effortless. Hopefully she can nudge the 3.5 back into her routine. Gorgeous form on it. Her bars are not quite there yet, issues with handstands and little form things - her Pak for instance was over arched with oddly flexed feet. Fabulous straight double layout, same as Norah Flatley's. No shap full. Beautiful beam! Floaty BHS-LOSO-LOSO with perfect form and her leaps have improved since last year. Really promising.

Edit- full floor is up. She's doing tuck full in, front double full-front tuck, triple full, double tuck. She landed the first two very low, big stumble on the first and almost sitting the second. Dissappointing but hopefully she'll improve for the competition. She looks great movement, I'm not sold on expression or performance/choreography yet but it's just training.

Bailie Key looks like..Bailie Key. Great DTY. Her bars have been reworked a bit - she has the Church in (or Ricna? Sorry I don't know which) but the Jaeger is still there - petition to dump it and replace with Gienger please! Beautiful Pak, perfect shape and form. Stunning lines. Stalder half might be new also.

Edit - Beam is up. Fabulous, just stunning work. The arabian is in, deep landing but very secure. Aerial-wolf-straddle is very nice.

Nia Dennis showed off a huge DTY. Hit the ceiling on her Tkachev, no piked Tkachev and she did a double pike. Not sure if warm-up or downgrades out of season as she fully bounces back from injury. Nice shape in her Pak too but a little far forward on catching.

Jordan Chiles looks good. Yet another good DTY and her bars are taking shape nicely. She is not hitting handstands but at her age, I wouldn't be concerned. She has step-downs like Kyla! Nice ease in her swing.

Edit- Great floor. Double Arabian and front double-layout front to start. Too much energy on the punchfront and stepped OOB but really a lovely routine. She has a lot of presence I think. Beam is up too, a little bit wobbly but has the makings of a great routine.

Alyssa Baumann was wobbly on beam and broke a few connections. Lovely Onodi but her arabian was landed very low. Emily Gaskins was quite hesitant on beam, a little nervy looking. Gorgeous line on bars but little form issues.

Madison Kocian's bars look cleaner I thought. Bent elbows are her enemy still but the routine looked sharper in general.

Norah Flatley had two beam routines uploaded. Stunning. Just, the full package on that apparatus. She did break the really long connection both times but meh, it's so hard to connect it all. Her bars looked good but not great, still getting there. She's so tiny, I think she needs to grow to really fulfil her potential. FTY did not look like an upgrade will be forthcoming any time soon, fairly piked down.

Edit- floor is up. Nice dance, suits her. Some issues with landings, stumbled out of her triple full sideways and she landed the double pike bent in half, bouncing backwards and putting her hands down. Both she and Rachel are doing a turn combination which has me baffled - double L to single L, in opposite directions. Can they be the same type of turn for CV? Hmm. Norah is definitely lacking power anyway.

Maggie Nichols looks solid. Opens her beam with a Barani, nice! Wobbled on it but I'll overlook that, love this skill. Looks to be working a front aerial-split jump-scissone-side somi series, hmm, interesting. Head too close to the beam on her LOSO in BHS-LOSO series. I would put her a little ahead of Peyton without seeing floor, although Peyton's beam was more solid.

More Nationals and other (updated) news

Juniors

Very disappointing that Nia Dennis retained her inconsistent streak, falling on both of her rafter-scraping releases. There was no stopping Bailie Key with four more stellar routines, and Laurie Hernandez cleaned up on floor with much better landings. I'm also liking her beam the more I see it, I hope she regains her BHS-LOSO-LOSO, because even if hers is flat..it's a cool series. Unfortunately, while there were plenty of clutch performances, there were a lot of meltdowns other than Nia's splat central on bars, both Ariana Agrapides and Alexis Vasquez completely fell apart on bars, damning their chances of making the National Team, which indeed- neither of them made, despite killer potential. But the reason is simple, the junior national team goes by AA placement, not potential. In the case of Ariana, I don't think they would have expected her to make it as she's not up to scratch on beam or bars yet, though incredibly strong on vault and floor. Still, she has a LOT of time, not turning senior until 2017. Alexis would have easily made it over Polina Shchennikova but that bars routine dragged her right down. Speaking of Polina, her day 2 did her no favours, compounded by a weak performance day 1. She has gorgeous lines and leaps, but not a whole lot else at this point and her bars routine was a but of a mess form-wise.

Norah Flatley and Vanasia Bradley also show a lot of potential, hoping for great development with these two. It would be great to see the WOGA girls, Nadia Cho especially, continue to build difficulty on their pet events because that is their ticket to teams and while WOGA remain unbelievably weak at vault with non-spectacular tumbling, they aren't going anywhere near the all-around.

Nia. Copyright- USAG- John Cheng

Bailie is an interesting gymnast. She doesn't have the spark, amplitude or dance of some of the other girls and you would think that would make her boring, because clean gymnastics alone are generally not enough. But somehow it is, and I think it's her mastery of all four events as well as the many upgrades she's planning- Bailie is NOT a 5.4 bars difficulty gymnast and her beam too has more skills in the works. Nia, hmm. She's a star in the making, but obviously needs more consistency as well as polish. I'm very happy that her form and her leaps are surprisingly good. Perhaps straightening her knees before letting go of the bar before a release will help her out- it looks to my non-technical eye as if her knee bend drives her too high and that's the problem, making them very difficult to catch. That said, I am in LOVE with her releases. But it's no good if catching them is 50/50 and I'd be very happy to see her more stable with them, even if a few inches of height has to be sacrificed. Laurie is incredible. She jumped about 20 places or so in the all-around from last year. Feisty, fantastic. She brings to mind another f too..frantic. Not on floor or at least, not in my opinion, but on bars where she's too rushed and doesn't allow enough time to be sure of her next move and hit handstand perfectly. This was more noticeable in her day 2 routine. It worked for her and she hit, it's just something I'd like to see toned down in the future.

Update- I've just seen that Laurie and Bailie will compete at Junior Japan! This meet traditionally attracts top juniors so it could be amazing and make up for the lack of USA at YOG, and the one spot per country for just one specific birth year YOG will have anyway.

Favourite leotards

I really like the MG elite one- they wore it at Parkettes and another meet too, though I don't like how high the collar is. But it's unusual and the design is Celtic, which is a win-win in my view. Nia Dennis' leotard was beautiful, so was Melissa Reinstadtler's and Chow's girls one was a beautiful colour. None of the rest were offensive as such- except CGA. Great colours, could have been lovely but way too much mesh ruined the whole thing and made it inappropriate. If there must be mesh, may it be black or anything not-nude, and only on arms/neck. Not torso, ugh.

Seniors

McKayla Maroney continues to impress, this time leaving no doubt about her tumbling on floor, where she definitely did not go out of bounds on the double layout and saved a slight bit of overrotation on the double pike pretty smoothly. If she can nail the stag leap out of the double arabian, then she has it made- she can challenge Larisa Iordache, equal Simone Biles and put pressure on Ksenia Afanasyeva. Awesome. Her vaults were also much better, it's obvious and she said it herself that she makes sure to really drive the Mustafina because the Olympics one plays in her head. Her knees are a little softer on her amanar than they were last year, I'd love to see her tighten up a bit, but make no mistake- she still utterly dominates that vault. Definitely a lock for the worlds team, though of course Marta has just startled everyone by saying she hopes McKayla will do the all-around there. For sure, there have been a lot of disappointments about girls in line for the 4th place, but I don't think anyone was expecting this. If Madison Kocian is not ready in time, then I fully support this. If she is ready, then I'm torn, because as great as it would be for McKayla to do the all-around, I'd really like for Madison to get the experience. She could be very valuable in a worlds team finals after all.

Simone again hit all her routines which was enouraging. I mean, not falling, I definitely spotted her missing her toe-on. Still, a great weak for our new National Champion and it will really help her gearing up for worlds with that title already under her belt. Her second vault, the Lopez, is incredible. And way too easy for her. Introducing a Cheng at this stage is probably not a risk Marta would want to take (I saw it into the pit on Gymnastike beyond the routine, and it did look amazing) but it would be great if she could verify it in time. I'd also really love if she could bring back the 1.5 to tucked full-in and the double layout-half out to boost her difficulty a little there. Hopefully the 5.7 beam is not permanent, as it's quite a drop on her routine earlier this year- six tenths. She went the safe route, nailed it, now hopefully she can build on it.

Kyla the vamp. Copyright- USAG- John Cheng

Kyla had another very good day, though she was again shaky on beam- still uncharacteristic! It was great to see her determination running into the double pike that gave her trouble on day 1, and nailing it. Hopefully she can get all four tumbles as good as the first two landing-wise. I'm happy her difficulty has increased there and on beam too (though her 6.0 day 2 is said to be a wrong calculation by some?) I know her growth has been an issue, and the heel injury earlier this year and we're all blue in the face from saying this..but one or two more upgrades to her beam and on bars would be so helpful!

It wasn't to be Brenna Dowell's day. She didn't seem 'on' like she has been, it's possible she's dealing with injury or just wasn't feeling the best. Regardless, she remains a very strong all-arounder, but not consistent enough or clean enough to really make her mark. In the future I'm wondering if she dropped beam and really focused on the other three if she'd be better off. She's an incredibly hard worker and has already made big strides in improvement..I'd never underestimate her. But it definitely was Mykayla Skinner's day! This girl, who showed up and crashed her way through Classics and who showed immense improvement but still fell off beam twice on day 1...hit. Everything. Out of the park. So, so impressive. No, we will never enjoy her form on backhandsprings or her block on the Cheng but WOW. Her floor was fantastic and I was so annoyed they didn't show it..until they showed my girl Laurie instead. Delighted for her making the national team, hopefully she can be sent to a world cup or Pac Rims and be pitted against external competition and international judging. And hopefully she moves gyms because despite her turnaround, she still needs a lot of work.

I'm gutted Madison Desch and Abigail Milliet didn't make the National team, but it does make sense...it wasnt to be going by their performances. I'm sure both girls will come back strong at camp and make a great case for their inclusion though.

Favourite leotards

GAGE, again. Simone's patriotic leo was nice and simple but still stunning. Not a fan of either Kyla's or McKayla's..the colour was nice on Kyla but too much mesh, and McKayla's was just dull or something, but again loved the colour.

And in other news....

- Well known by now, but Viktoria Komova was only released from hospital today, after suffering for a week from what has been described as both gastroenteritis and stomach flu. She posted a picture of an IV which supports the view that she was badly dehydrated, and presumably very weak. Something like that is not serious as such, just a setback...but when you don't have much weight to spare it can really suck and I know from experience. She's due to start training again next week. Let us hope she's sent to Osijek world cup for some competitive experience..it's very close to Antwerp but she could really do with competitive experience if they're going to send her to worlds regardless..either as an all-arounder or a bars/beam specialist.

- Russian Cup was the emptiest competition ever. No Viktoria Komova, Anastasia Grishina, Anna Dementyeva, Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Ekaterina Baturina or Evgeniya Shelgunova. In some circumstances, fan favourite Tatiana Navieva won the all-around, followed by Alla Sosnitskaya and Anna Pavlova. Tatiana also qualified first to every event final, except bars which Maria Paseka managed. Event finals are due to be broadcast, but it's basically a webcam..don't expect USAG awesomeness.

- Tatiana Nabieva won bars and vault finals. Second and third place respectively in both were Maria Paseka and Alla Sosnitskaya. Anna Pavlova only did one vault and pulled out of bars finals. Maria Paseka put her hand down on her amanar. I think she's firmly closed the door on an Antwerp spot now. Rumour is Anastasia Grishina hurt her back so that's why she didn't compete and we know for sure that Anna Dementyeva is not training at the moment, whether it's a break or a move towards retirement is not yet known, though Anna Rodionova has basically said the latter.

- It looks like Jordyn Wieber's plan is to train at UCLA. She can train with the team, just not compete. She'd be in close proximity to Gabby Douglas who will be training at Chris Waller's gym in LA, though it doesn't sound like it will be either intensive or committed. 

- Canada's Gabriella Douglas is out of worlds contention with an injury :( Her pet events are beam and floor, and her strength is turns- really impressive work. She had a great shot at the team. Ellie Black was pulled from Pan-Ams at the last minute so let's hope she's not injured too. Their team is now likely to be Ellie Black, Victoria Moors, Maegan Chant and Kaitlyn Hofland.

- GB's Gabby Jupp has been cleared to start training on bars! Like fellow ACL-tear gymnast Aliya Mustafina, Gabby already has a very strong base on bars so it would be great if she could use her time off training on hard surfaces by really excelling on this event.

- Romania's Larisa Iordache, Diana Bulimar and Sandra Izbasa are going to compete (never rely on them not being pulled though) at Interland, a friendly competition in the Netherlands, starting on the 31st, which also has a large contingent from GB as well as the host country. An ideal opportunity for all involved to get some more competitive experience in. There will be quick hits from this and hopefully videos.

Nationals Day 1

Another fantastic day (night) of competition!

Juniors

I feel like it's only a matter of time before Amelia Hundley is injured and out for a season, much like first year senior and teammate Lexie Priessman. I find her a surprising gymnast- she's powerful, as you would expect, with strong vault and floor, but she's also very good on bars, and half decent on beam. Unfortunately she missed her bars connection, but it was a strong routine with a great stuck landing. Vault and floor were as good as ever- she should be more dynamic on vault though I think, but unfortunately her beam was a mess. Wobbly, hesitant, doubting everything- she looked so nervous, and did indeed come to grief. Beam will always be tough when you've shot up in a year and definitely 5"5 or more, but she was really not herself at all. A shame, but hopefully she can redeem herself in finals. 4th place in prelims all things considering is a very good result. I think she could be a valid team contributor as a senior, especially since she can actually swing bars.

For me though, it was the other three standouts I was really watching for. First up, saucepot Laurie Hernandez who once again, gave her everything on floor. I am in love with the music, the choreography of course- but also the tumbling. It seems it gets lost in the rest of her routine which is the total opposite to everyone else's routine- but that is a very tidy and strong double arabian- stag she has going on, and a super clean piked full-in and double pike. The landings did not go her way on Thursday with stumbles and steps from overcooking her tumbles, so she can claw back some vital tenths there today. Her vault was fine, she's been struggling with it a bit this year and it's an ambitious vault- DTY- for one so young and small. Hopefully she can improve the height and dynamics of it in time. Bars were a lovely surprise, again she'd been struggling with it in podium training, and she was short on every handstand and late on turns at Classics and was hammered as a result. Not so here, where she did the routine of her life and outscored Bailie Key! I'm interested to see how she develops on bars- it's not an area where I'd expect her to ever be amazing, but who knows. On beam she wisely played it safe, going for just one layout-stepout instead of two in her series. She manages to incorporate some of her huge presence on floor into her beam, but most importantly she hit, and starting on beam can be nervewracking. Really pleased to see that she has brushed off the inconsistent label somewhat, and beyond thrilled we will (hopefully!) have at least two more floor routines from her before she even turns senior. Her improvement in one year, and added difficulty, is remarkable- though thankfully not concerning, she seems well capable of what she's doing. I was concerned it's too much when she'll be a junior elite for so long, but the more I see her the more I'm not worried at all.

Bailie. Copyright- USA Gymnastics- John Cheng

Bailie Key has hit all of her routines this year- Jesolo, Chemnitz, Classics and Nationals Day 1. It's an impressive record for the gymnast who has long been touted as the number one junior to watch, with added pressure to hit as a result. I think Bailie has it all- she's got the tumbling, the vault, the leaps, the gorgeous bars work, she's a steady and beautiful beam worker and she even has great flexibility as a bonus. Super clean with great execution on pretty much everything. Now she's not exactly perfect- she's not super dynamic on vault yet, and her artistry on floor is questionable- I say questionable because I don't think even firecracker Laurie could make much of that music. It's quite overpowering, and especially for such a dainty gymnast. My favourite routine of hers was her beam. The only real fault is the lack of height on her layout, which is pretty whip-like. Everything else was basically glorious. Her bars are nowhere near her full potential and I was sad to see the absence of her perfect laidout gienger but that just means there's more to look forward to. This girl is going places and in a way it's sad she won't be at YOG. Maybe the Japan Junior International though which always attracts big names. Anyway, Bailie is being paced beautifully and continues to increase her standing as a fabulously clean all-arounder.

Bailie's main internal competition is fellow 1999-born Nia Dennis. Nia is a powerful vaulter with an explosive DTY and an amanar in the works for next year, a huge double layout, SKY high bars releases that are higher than those of Gabby Douglas and the highest arabian we've ever seen. She has something Bailie lacks- spark. She has everything, and she's exciting. With a gymnast like her you expect to see something lacking in her form and leaps- not so. Her form is actually fairly impressive given how muscular she is, and she delivers everything with such amplitude. The arabian on beam is just ridiculously good, and her bars releases are jaw dropping...it's as if she's going in slow-motion. I get the impression they've worked on slowing her counter-rotation so that she actually has a chance to catch the bar, but that coupled with the height is just incredible. Don't get me wrong, Nia has got flaws. She's not very consistent yet, she bends her knees before her releases (I forgive this like I forgive Kim Gwang Suk for it), her landings on floor are not quite there yet, her beam is unsteady etc. As indeed she proved with quite a wobbly beam routine and precious tenths lost on floor. Really hoping she nails everything tonight- her potential is seriously enormous, in her way she has more talent than Bailie even. They are a very interesting contrast and it will be good for both girls to have such a worthy foe to contend against.

Norah Flatley was as bright as a button like she always is. She's got some gorgeous basics on bars that will serve her very well, clean gymnastics everywhere, great lines, and personality. Nothing is at the level of her beam yet, but she's got time to build and no better coach for it. Chow has definitely got the makings of a star here. Speaking of her beam- she's been seriously promising there for years, but her ability still amazes me every time. Fabulous routine- strong backwards AND forward tumbling, with great amplitude as well as form. Her full start value is 6.6 but again she didn't get her full connection. But a 15.350 says it all. Her difficulty keeps her below the top girls- she has 21.9 total in start values versus 23.6 for Bailie, 23.5 for Nia, 23.1 for Laurie and 23.2 for Amelia but despite that, she's firmly cemented herself as one to watch.

Jordan Chiles. Copyright- USA Gymnastics- John Cheng

I really like the look of Emily Gaskins. She can move, she's very stylish. Very impressed with her. Jordan Chiles was strong on 3 events, with moments of loveliness in the fourth- beam, where she fell. I'm glad that she wasn't busting out the big skills and impressed more than ever with her bars- really nice swing.

Highlights:

- Laurie Hernandez' floor and bars.
- Nia Dennis' bars releases and arabian.
- Nadia Cho's exquisite bars and beam. Stunning work, gorgeous lines.
- Polina Shchennikova's Mostepanova turning handstand in split. Drool.
- Norah Flatley's beam
- Bailie Key's quiet confidence in her work, and her beam of course.
- Molly Frack's floor and Christina Desiderio's beam. These mini Parkettes are fabulous. And that Eremia planche hold thing on beam- swoon!
- Laurie Hernandez on bars. I don't think anyone was expecting her to hit like that.
- Abby Paulson on bars, really pretty work and lines.
- Vanasia Bradley's explosive vault.
- Ariana Agrapides' DTY, such power!
- Sydney Johnson Scharpf on beam and floor- she's got presence.
- Nica Hults on beam.

Not-so Highlights:

- Falls. Amelia, Abby Paulson, Jordan Chiles and more. Steadier than Classics but still sad.
- Polina Shchennikova needed a great competition and instead furthered her cause to fade into obscurity. It's such a shame, she's got such gorgeous work.
- The general dearth of floor routines showcasing artistry or any kind of good dance.
 
Favourite routines:

Floor- Laurie Hernandez
Beam- Norah Flatley
Bars- Nadia Cho
Vault- Ariana Agrapides

Favourite leotards- Texas Dreams and MG Elite. I also liked Jordan Chiles' leo. 

Overall, I was really impressed with the form of the juniors. There were fabulous lines in evidence everywhere, clean basics, great leaps and perhaps most importantly- girls with the makings of good bars workers. The US might be condemned as a nation of flexed feet, bent knees and 150 degree splits- but don't let it fool you. There was elegance, excellent form and presence in abundance. The other side of the coin, difficulty, remains as impressive as ever- but I did think there wasn't many throwing skills beyond them. The US has girls who can't even go to Rio throwing incredible DTY's...everybody else needs to buck up.

Seniors

A lot less gymnasts competing than earlier, and yet- so many routines lost to ad breaks, or interviews with you know, retired gymnasts. I wish USAG could stream it themselves, but alas.

McKayla Maroney surely felt she could have done better- she flirted outrageously with the boundaries on floor, not helped by her growth as well as her looong runs into tumbling and her vaults blocked with too much power- the amanar also blocked a little too high and she lost a bit of height. Still amazing vaulting of course and her higher difficulty despite poor landings helped her nudge Simone Biles firmly into second. She'll be aiming just for small steps, and no doubt over her tumbles. I'm very impressed she's upped her difficulty on floor- it makes her a real contender in Antwerp on more than just vault. This girl is going nowhere, and I hope all of those who predicted she was going to abandon gymnastics and 'whore' herself out with acting are stuffed with all of that humble pie. Not quite as good as she could have been, but McKayla was still dazzling and her floor choreography and music change is really growing on me.

Simone. Copyright- USA Gymnastics- John Cheng

Simone Biles smashed the 60 mark, proving that she CAN hit- and hit gloriously at that. Let's not forget she didn't push the boat out and opted for safety- taking six tenths off her beam, and some off floor too. Stuck her amazing full-in beam dismount, improved the wolf turn, caught her bars releases this time, and her floor was great- minus the low double layout landing. It's odd when you consider how secure and high that was with the half turn- perhaps she's better off landing forward on it. She was under a lot of pressure to hit and her performance will give her a confidence boost facing into tonight's competition. She may even sneak the DLO half-out back in! I really loved her Lopez and her amanar was right back on form. Still, there's certainly room for improvement with this bursting ball of potential and energy.

Kyla Ross was uncharacteristically nervous on beam, which was strange to see. She has taken out the whip-double tuck on floor and still landed low on her third pass, the double pike. I can't get excited over a routine fresh from 1989 difficulty-wise and while her big stumble forward on the double pike was so disappointing because it means endurance is still an issue- I was very pleased to see that her recent artistry coaching has definitely paid off. She let go a bit more, sold the routine much more than she had been doing. They can't teach her good upper body carriage overnight, but improvement is always welcome and I hope it catches on with other seniors and juniors. Kyla definitely redeemed herself with an excellent and effortless bars routine, and her vault was great. I don't think she has damaged her all-around status- though competition was lacking, with a fall from Peyton Ernst, the equivalent of a fall with Brenna Dowell's two missed requirements, and no all-around from Lexie Priessman and Elizabeth Price. But she did show the glaring weakness her low difficulty presents. At this stage, her coaches have almost shut the door on upgrades.

It definitely wasn't Brenna Dowell's day, not only did she miss connections exactly like at Classics, but she also missed two compositional requirements- the full twist on floor, and the leap series on beam- 0.5 deduction each, so she basically fell. The full twist on floor is a bit puzzling- fair play to her if she realised late on that she wasn't going to get the full-twisting double layout around, and opted for the safer double layout. But I remember seeing from twitter that she was pretty much only warming up the double layout itself- so they knew she was going to swallow that deduction. Well, hopefully they didn't forget. She's a great gymnast with fantastic ability- questionable form and leaps on beam aside, which is her weak point. Unfortunately, her selling point really is as an all-around gymnast and she did not show enough to get onto the team for Antwerp.

Kennedy Baker's piked double arabian was more laidout than ever- certainly equal to Daiane Dos Santos, who never achieved the perfect pencil-straight form on it to begin with. Last year it was very loose..now, it's creditable, which is amazing. Unfortunately she stumbled bigtime on another pass, which let her score down. She has moments of greatness on bars also, and her wolf turns are awesome..but I don't think it's enough and still believe she's on her way to NCAA sharpish. Peyton Ernst flung an upgrade, a pretty nice double layout. She looked on track to do as well as she at Classics, but came to grief on beam. She could really rival Brenna for bronze tonight...but I'd be quite confident at this stage that neither will be at Antwerp. Madison Kocian wowed with excellent beam and bars, and along with everyone else, I sat up and noticed her, and placed her on 'my' worlds team. Unlike Abigail Milliet whose competition didn't go her way, she has the difficulty on both events. Of course, she rolled her ankle on floor and is now out of tonight's competition, sadly. That doesn't mean she can't verify at camp and sneak onto the team, it could be quite minor. I was so taken aback by the fact she finished her routine AND did timers on vault, amazing considering how awful her ankle roll looked on the replay.

Mykayla. Copyright- USA Gymnastics- John Cheng

Mykayla Skinner came back with a vengeance after her disastrous Classics performance. Podium training still showed her one-handing her Cheng vault, or as it's been described- her laid-out double double with a high-five to the vault table. The fact her coach high-fived her after this was just depressing. BUT, never write someone off. She nailed her floor routine, WITH the double double laidout in bends (though she sacrificed form for this), had an actually decent bars set with much improved form and skills and then vaulted pretty well. She is still twisting far too early which prevents her pushing off on both hands fully- but it was a lot closer, and not really valid for that deduction. It's still astounding she can get that vault around, and very well too. Yes, her beam was a hot mess but I'm so pleased she improved so much everywhere else! And I really, really love her floor music, and the choreography bit where the music changes. It's symbolic for her senior elite career so far. You think she's gone and then BOOM she's up and running in contention to make the National Team. I still want her to change coaches sharpish but..well played.

It's quite interesting how the seniors are panning out for worlds this year. McKayla Maroney has charged her way into the fray as THE contender for the vault/floor spot. The inconsistent Simone Biles has done herself a lot of favours to take an all-around spot, so too has Kyla Ross, despite her own difficulties with..difficulty, and endurance. The last spot has always been interesting. First it was Katelyn Ohashi's until she was knocked out with injury, then for me it was Brenna Dowell's until I discovered she would not be able to do the all-around in prelims, then it was between Elizabeth Price for bars or Abigail Milliet for beam, with some having Peyton Ernst in contention too...for others it was Lexie Priessman's who would only do floor to complement McKayla only doing vault and then finally the spot was Madison Kocian's. Clearly we are still in for some surprises..

Highlights

- Simone's Lopez vault. Floaty, high, stretched, beautiful.
- Madison Kocian's beautiful bars and beam
- Mykayla Skinner's floor..tumbling, music, some greatness in her choreo.
- McKayla Maroney's tumbling. Nice upgrades too. And goes without saying- her vaulting. She blew the roof off and she wasn't even near her best that day.
- Kyla Ross' bars. They won't get that score in Antwerp but they were just gorgeous. I can watch her backhandspring-layout on beam all day long too.
- Some really high and floaty double arabians. I like this trend for juniors too.
- Brenna Dowell's front double pike and Tweddle, because how badass are they?
- Kennedy Baker's wolf turns. Yum.
- In general, a serious amount of impressive work by the seniors. They're not going to sweep the medal table in Antwerp- which would be really rough with no team competition to balance it out anyway..but they're going to make their mark.
- Tidy hair! Loving this. It's not something I got all hot and bothered about before, but I freely admit it is nice to see. The biggest difference though is junior Lauren Navarro between Classics and Thursday. Check out her beam from the two competitions for the best appreciation.

Not-so highlights

- Madison Kocian's injury. Heartbreaking.
- Elizabeth Price not being ready and falling apart on bars. More tragedy!
- Some appalling commentary. Yep, McKayla needed the redemption of the team finals vault after her fall in event finals...that makes chronological sense for sure. Why yes, Gabby Douglas would not have made the team had she not placed at Nationals..you can't mean 2012, so please at least specify the year.
- Interviews with retired gymnasts when THERE IS GYMNASTICS GOING ON.
- Similarly, there were at least five ad breaks too many meaning not near as many routines were shown.
- Other falls, like Peyton Ernst. Quite a few stumbles and low landings on floor too.

Favourite routines

Vault Simone Biles. Yes, she was better that day. Perhaps not as impressive in the air- though she is in some ways with her stretched form- but definitely more impressive on the ground.
Floor Simone Biles. Back on form.
Beam Madison Kocian
Bars Madison Kocian

Favourite leotards

OH MY GOD McKayla Maroney's leotard was incredible. I would have preferred if the arms faded out a bit more..it looked a bit disjointed. But nevertheless, stunning. Similarly, GAGE's leo was just beautiful. In general, there's a trend away from pink towards blues and purples...and we should all embrace it while we can, before they're forced into National Team pink.

Soooo...have you caught up on youtube? Here is Day 1's senior broadcast if you missed it. This is a very long post and I had to rush though it a bit, so I'm sure I've forgotten some important details- feel free to add them in the comments! Favourite routines? Greatest surprises? Your worlds team? Are you on the fence about Maroney's peacock look? Can Al Fong remember the code in time?