Helen Hu is back for a 5th year!

Recall the Beam dream had retired after the 2023 season.

Flipping LONG JUMP

I’m old enough that I competed the Western Roll on High Jump in Jr. High School.  (Dive roll was already banned.)

Technique changed to the Fosbury Flop before I finished High School.

The evolution of technique.

In the Long Jump, Kiwi Tuariki Delamere competed a new technique at the Pacific 8 Track and Field Championships 1974. Front flip.

He was no gymnast.  😀 

That jump was not far off the sea level World Record at the time. 

Flipping was quickly banned. 

Click PLAY or watch an interview with Tuariki on YouTube.

Others had tried that flip.  I heard future Olympic gymnast, Sid Freudenstein, tried it High School competition for Triple Jump in 1968.

Related – How Tuariki Delamere’s somersault turned the sport of long jump on its head

Szombathely Challenge Cup results 2

AKA the Tonya Paulsson show. She’ll likely end up competing for Cal as well as Sweden.

Beam

🥇 Tonya Paulsson 🇸🇪 12.966
🥈 Leni Bohle 🇦🇹 12.866
🥉 Charlotte Booth 🇬🇧 12.433

Floor

🥇 Tonya Paulsson 🇸🇪 12.933
🥈 Greta Mayer 🇭🇺 12.900
🥉 Leni Bohle 🇦🇹 12.700

Vault

🥇 Assan Salimov 🇰🇿 14.300
🥈 Daniel Trifonov 🇧🇬 14.150
🥉 Enkhtuvshin Damdindorj 🇲🇳 14.083

P Bars

🥇 Edoardo De Rosa 🇮🇹 14.233
🥈 Krisztofer Meszaros 🇭🇺 14.066
🥉 Alexander Kunz 🇩🇪 13.233

H Bar

🥇 Krisztofer Meszaros 🇭🇺 13.900
🥈 Lorenzo Bonicelli 🇮🇹 13.766
🥉 Szilard Zavory 🇭🇺 13.300

coach Sam Mikulak

Great gymnast. Great coach.

Szombathely Challenge Cup results 1

Vault
🥇 Darya Yassinskaya 🇰🇿 13.166
🥈 Greta Mayer 🇭🇺 13.016
🥉 Leni Bohle 🇦🇹 12.833

Bars
🥇 Charlotte Booth 🇬🇧 13.266
🥈 Tonya Paulsson 🇸🇪 13.033
🥉 Celeste Mordenti 🇱🇺 12.933

Floor
🥇 Krisztofer Meszaros 🇭🇺 14.433
🥈 Filip Lidbeck 🇸🇪 13.833
🥉 Danny Crouch 🇬🇧 13.800

Pommel
🥇 Edoardo De Rosa 🇮🇹 15.133
🥈 Gabriele Targhetta 🇮🇹 14.933
🥉 Shiao Yu-Jan TPE 14.633

Rings
🥇 Nikita Simonov 🇦🇿 14.700
🥈 Lin Guan-Yi TPE 14.266
🥉 Sokratis Pilakouris 🇨🇾 14.100

Sports Psychology Has an Evidence Problem

Of course every coach uses methods from sport psychology to improve ultimate performances.

But we don’t really know how or why methodology works: self-talk, mental focus, attention, etc.

The brain is complex. Each athlete is different from the next.

A mental training plan for one might well be quite difficult for the teammate training beside them.

Sports Psychology Has an Evidence Problem

The benefits of training your mental skills are, by definition, all in your head. So how do we prove that it works?

Hardy Fink – Lifetime Achievement Award

I can’t think of any other person in Gymnastics history who’s done as much for the sport.

World Acrobatic Society did a nice job trying to sum up his career in their Lifetime Achievement Awards VIDEO.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.