Andy Thornton did an analysis of Kyla Ross vis-a-vis past U.S. Jr. National Champions. He compared Kyla against Carly Patterson, Shawn Johnson, Kim Zmeskal and all the rest.
A couple of interesting points jumped out at me:
… for American female gymnasts, the average time lapse between winning a first junior national title and reaching peak competitive form is about 2.3 years. So we can expect Rebecca Bross to be in peak form this year, Jordyn Wieber to reach her peak in 2010, and Kyla Ross to reach her peak in 2011. …
Critically important:
… The average peak age … has been 15.7. Hmmm…. that’s younger than the required age of 16 to compete at world or Olympic competition. Great! The gymnasts can go to their first world championships or Olympic Games while they’re on the way down from their peak. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? …
I know many elite coaches who project their gymnasts to peak at age-16.
Andy also posted all 4 of Kyla’s routines if you want to see how she compares as a Jr. against the past greats.
Click PLAY or watch her Vault on YouTube.
There’s much, much more if you click through to American Gymnast – When does history say Kyla Ross will peak?
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