Coaches now home from the World Championships will be reflecting on whether or not their gymnasts peaked at Worlds.
Coaches of the Canadian and Japanese teams will likely be answering yes as those athletes hit a high percentage of their routines near potential. Under pressure.
Others may be finding their athletes peaked too soon — perhaps at the trials for Worlds.
Here’s an article on the topic from William A Sands, PhD, FACSM.
Olympic champion Zou Jingyuan (CHN) did not need to add the extra difficulty to win his third World title on Parallel Bars. But with Olympic silver medallist Lukas Dauser (GER) applying pressure with a 15.500 …
“At first, I just wanted to stick with the original plan,” explained Zou, who upped his difficulty from his normal 6.5 set to one valued at 6.9. “I decided to perform the harder routine to challenge myself. …
16.166 was the highest score of the entire World Championships and left his competitors gaping in disbelief.
“To me, he’s like a God,” said Yulo, whose 15.366 earned bronze. …