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Maroney – Amanar 16.000

The SOUND of her hitting the horse is so LOUD.

Speaking of great vaulters … Mihai today at Congress said that he never consciously taught Alicia her “flyspring” style handspring. In fact, at the 2005 Worlds there was discussion amongst judges as to whether or not she should be deducted for piking on. 🙂

See photo and video of her preflight.

Vaulters like Maroney and Sacramone are unique. Don’t assume your gymnast can duplicate their technique.

Biles, Ross, Dowell

Wow.

It was a treat to watch the Sr women tonight. So much difficulty … yet you were surprised when anyone missed anything.

Nearing the end of the meet it looked obvious that the top 3 would be the top 3 …

1. Simone Biles, Spring, Texas, 120.450
2. Kyla Ross, Aliso Viejo, Calif., 120.250
3. Brenna Dowell, Odessa, Mo., 116.550

… until Biles and Dowell made major errors on their 8th apparatus. And Kyla had what looked like a near fall on Beam, last apparatus. 😦

4. Peyton Ernst, Coppell, Texas, 115.300
5. Maggie Nichols, Little Canada, Minn., 114.700
6. Mykayla Skinner, Gilbert, Ariz., 113.150
7. Kennedy Baker, Flower Mound, Texas, 112.900
8. Abigail Milliet, Denton, Texas, 110.900
9. Madison Desch, Lenexa, Kan., 109.900
10. Erin Macadaeg, Redwood City, Calif., 109.700

Vault
1. McKayla Maroney, Long Beach, Calif., 31.200
2. Simone Biles, Spring, Texas, 30.875
3. Mykayla Skinner, Gilbert, Ariz., 29.600

Bars
1. Kyla Ross, Aliso Viejo, Calif., 30.950
2. Simone Biles, Spring, Texas, 28.950
3. Brenna Dowell, Odessa, Mo., 28.850

Beam
1. Kyla Ross, Aliso Viejo, Calif., 29.950
2. Simone Biles, Spring, Texas, 29.900
3. Kennedy Baker, Flower Mound, Texas, 28.950

Floor
1. McKayla Maroney, Long Beach, Calif., 30.100
2. Simone Biles, Spring, Texas, 30.000
3. Mykayla Skinner, Gilbert, Ariz., 29.750

The level on Floor and Vault is amazing. Only one Senior did an easier vault than Yurchenko double twist. It’s the new normal.

Without a taxpayer dollar going into the coffers of USAG, this is the #1 nation in the world in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics.

Respect.

Click PLAY or watch Simone’s Floor on YouTube.

Here’s full VIDEO coverage of the Sr day 2 competition.

Bailie Key 14.950 FX

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Jr WAG day 2 video playlist is already up. THANKS USAG. 🙂

Sean Melton out

I spoke with Ron Brant today. He was generally impressed with the Men’s performances day 1.

Early in the quadrennial you might expect contenders for Rio to be throwing high difficulty, taking many falls. Yet there were surprisingly few falls over the entire competition — though many of those were to the top Sr guys. 😦

Ron hopes that the new Seniors will bring up the Level on Pommel Horse. That didn’t happen in Hartford, however. It’s still the weak apparatus for USA.

He named a number of young guns who could be serious candidates in time for 2016. Sean Melton, one of those.

Unfortunately medical decided to have Sean withdraw from Championships due to possible concussion.

Again that was on a Thomas roll-out skill, seemingly well executed.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Better safe than sorry. This was the right call.

Putting Yusuke Tanaka back into competition after his concussion at the Tokyo Worlds was the wrong call.

related – recent concussions …

via Uncle Tim

Key, Hernandez, Hundley

Jr USA Championships 2013

IG:

1. Key—118.55
2. Hernandez—116.65
3. Hundley—113.75
4. Dennis—112.55
5. Flatley—112.40
6. Hults—111.90
7. Baumann—110.90
8. Shchennikova—109.85

Vault
1. Ariana Agrapides, Bayville, N.J., 30.750
2. Vanasia Bradley, Lincoln Park, Mich., 30.200
2. Nia Dennis, Westerville, Ohio, 30.200

Bars
1. Amelia Hundley, Hamilton, Ohio, 28.550
2. Lauren Hernandez, Old Bridge, N.J., 28.450
3. Polina Shchennikova, Arvada, Colo., 28.300

Beam
1. Bailie Key, Montgomery, Texas, 30.900
2. Norah Flatley, Cumming, Iowa, 29.950
3. Alexis Vasquez, West Des Moines, Iowa, 29.400
3. Lauren Hernandez, Old Bridge, N.J., 29.400

Floor
1. Bailie Key, Montgomery, Texas, 29.750
2. Lauren Hernandez, Old Bridge, N.J., 29.100
3. Amelia Hundley, Hamilton, Ohio, 29.000

IG:

They just announced the 2013 Junior National team: Polina Schennikova, Alyssa Baumann, Veronica Hults, Norah Flatley, Nia Dennis, Amelia Hundley, Lauren Hernandez, Bailie Key.

Ruggeri – underscored on Floor

Aug. 16, 2013 – XL Center – Hartford, Conn.

This was my favourite Floor routine of the night. Of MANY good routines.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Difficulty. Amplitude. Style. Rhythm.

Ruggeri got 8.950 execution.

Let’s compare that with the top scoring Floor of the night, Steven Legendre. (He looked really good AA tonight, by the way.)

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

9.000 execution. 😦

Which routine had more deductions?

Who are the E judges on Floor?

Whatever FIG judges are doing on Floor, it’s not working. FX and Horizontal Bar regulations suck.

UPDATE from USA FIG judge in the comments:

The difference was straightforward: Paul’s piked stalder press had a short hold. That’s a 0.3 deduction, and that is straight from the judging panel’s mouth.

I now understand.

There have been quadrennials when the judges would have not credited the hold, but not deducted … instead giving credit for a lower value skill.

That’s not the case here, I understand. They felt he attempted the 2 second hold — and missed.

Nabiyeva, Sosnistkaya, Pavlova

Without Grishina, Komova or Mustafina, it’s a happy surprise to see one of the great personalities of the gymnastics world on top of the podium at Russia Cup.

Comeback. 🙂