Horton finally hit Horizontal Bar. Artemev finally hit Pommels.
The enigmatic Sasha Artemev seized the halfway lead here at the men’s gymnastics U.S. Olympic Trials …
Excellent. This should get Sasha through to the selection camp.
(AP Photo/Rob Carr) – ESPN
Raj Bhavsar and Justin Spring, who showed consistency across all six events, Spring finishing first or second in four of six, Bhavsar scoring a second, two thirds and, in the pommel, fourth.
I don’t mention Kevin Tan because he’s a lock. Give him his ticket to Beijing right now.
Kevin Tan turned in the best score of the night, 16.550 on rings, his specialty, and he leads the weighted total in that discipline by – in gymnastics terms – a mile …
details on all competitors: Live Coverage: Men’s Prelims – Inside Gymnastics
Justin Spring – AP Photo by Julie Jacobson
The gymnasts will tell you that Justin Spring is the “monster” of the field. He does huge difficulty. But I expected him to be knocked out at this stage because of bad execution. His form can be atrocious.
Looks like I’m wrong. Again.
As always, I look to Andrew Thornton to tell me what’s really going on at Trials:
Although the scores alone won’t directly determine the Olympic team, there will be two spots announced immediately at the conclusion of the competition for both the men and the women. In fact, the men’s selection committee might announce the full six-member team just prior to the final women’s competition on Sunday. At the very least, they plan to announce a nine-member Olympic training squad, with the alternates to be determined at a later date. This means that on the men’s side, we will either know the Olympic team by Sunday or have a pretty good idea of the team. On the women’s side, there will undoubtedly be a bit of mystery that remains at the end of the competition, and fans will simply have to wait a few weeks for the announcement of the final team. …
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I just heard today that Casey Sandy did not attend the Canadian Men’s Olympic Training Camp and Test Meet tonight. But did not hear why. Has he withdrawn from Olympic team selection?
Gymnastics Coaching.com 