Aerial skiing became an official medal event at the 1994 Olympics. It’s extreme, to say the least.
Anton Kushnir will be officially crowned World Cup men’s overall aerials champion at the this weekend’s Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix at Mont Gabriel and head into the Vancouver Olympics as the favourite to win the gold medal. …
This score should keep them at the top of the team rankings.
The No. 1 ranked Alabama Gymnastics team posted its second highest score of the season, a 196.600 here Saturday night on the Penn State campus to beat the No. 19 Penn State Nittany Lions (196.025) and No. 23 Minnesota Golden Gophers (192.825) in front of 2,046 fans in Rec Hall. …
“The biggest thing for us tonight was we displayed great teamwork,” Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. “We had some inconsistencies to work through – adjusting to the equipment and people who weren’t 100-percent – and I altered our lineup to ensure our success in the future. I’m very proud that the people we inserted stepped up and performed well. We must have had six different lineups at different points tonight, it was definitely a long working night at the office.”
The annual Men’s “Winter Nationals” meet in Las Vegas looms.
2008 Olympic horizontal bar silver-medalist Jonathan Horton of Houston and his 2008 Olympic team bronze-medalist teammates Alexander Artemev of Lakewood, Colo., and Kevin Tan of Fremont, Calif., are among the 136 male gymnasts currently in the field for the 2010 Winter Cup Challenge, Feb. 4-6, at the Las Vegas (Nev.) Sports Center. Five members of the 2009 World Championships team are also entered, including Tim McNeill of Falls Church, Va., who was seventh in the all-around finals. In addition, 11 members of the senior national team and 13 gymnasts on the junior national squad are in the field.
Performances at the 2010 Winter Cup Challenge will help determine the 15 men who will comprise the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team through the 2010 Visa Championships in Hartford, Conn., Aug. 11-14. Ten will qualify for the team using the National Team Points System, and the remaining five will be selected by the Men’s Program Committee from among the Winter Cup participants and athlete petitions. …
On his GymSmarts coaching blog he reflects on an all too familiar topic:
Why do gymnasts stop improving?
… When I start to give a gymnast the same correction over and over again, but nothing changes, I need to stop and think what is causing this situation. …
Mas identifies typical reasons:
• growth spurt
• lack of good basics
• unwillingness to make changes
• bad habits
• fear
… The next cause of a plateau is the hardest one of all. That is the lack of interest in doing gymnastics, but she is hiding it within herself. Many times, she comes to the practice for a social reason or her parents expect her to go to the gym. …
The third-largest crowd in school history, 9,198 strong, turned out at the O’Connell Center for the fourth annual Link to Pink event and were treated to a season-best performance by the No. 4 Florida Gator gymnastics team Friday night.
The Gators (3-1, 3-0) got individual winning performances in three of the four events and had a scoring advantage in all four as they downed No. 13 LSU 196.725-195.050, setting a season-high team score in the process. …
Oregon’s Mandi Rodriguez wins the all-around with a 39.475 and leads her team to a win over Stanford and Seattle Pacific University.
… The Beavers scored 196.225 while the Cardinal tallied 195.775 and Seattle Pacific had 188.100 before a Pink Out crowd of 6,143, the best turnout since the regular season record of 7,583 on Feb. 7, 1997 against Utah. …
… “We’re not very good,” said Georgia head coach Jay Clark. “We are not a mature team right now and we aren’t competing like it. We’re gaining a reputation for not being able to finish a meet …