With US Classic coming up on Saturday (!), I’m taking this opportunity to look at recent scores recorded by US gymnasts to get a sense…somewhat of the hierarchy as it currently stands but mostly of what kind of score it’s going to take this summer to be a thing when it comes to team selection, and who has the chance to achieve that score.
What kind of bars score does it take to be considered a bars gymnast for team selection? (I’m going to say 14.500.) What kind of floor score does it take? (Last year, my answer to that was anything verging on a 14. This year the bar has been raised by a couple of the newer seniors, so it seems like it’s going to take the ability to go a couple tenths over 14.)
Oops. Spoilers? I guess? Anyway, the scores.
First, a chart of the top scores recorded on each event at international assignment/FIG meets in 2019 for those competing at Classic. The top three scores across the field on each apparatus are in bold.
| Name | VT | UB | BB | FX | Total |
| Simone Biles | 15.400 | 14.300 | 14.200 | 14.900 | 58.800 |
| Sunisa Lee | 14.200 | 14.700 | 14.150 | 14.333 | 57.383 |
| Emma Malabuyo | 14.533 | 13.633 | 14.400 | 14.233 | 56.799 |
| Leanne Wong | 14.666 | 14.100 | 14.066 | 13.933 | 56.765 |
| Grace McCallum | 14.566 | 14.200 | 13.833 | 13.866 | 56.465 |
| Kara Eaker | 14.066 | 14.100 | 14.666 | 12.466 | 55.298 |
| Morgan Hurd | 14.233 | 14.300 | 12.933 | 13.633 | 55.099 |
| Sloane Blakely | 13.633 | 13.500 | 13.766 | 13.566 | 54.465 |
| Shilese Jones | 14.700 | 11.600 | 13.033 | 13.800 | 53.133 |
| Riley McCusker | 13.133 | 14.400 | 12.166 | 13.366 | 53.065 |
| Aleah Finnegan | 14.400 | 12.866 | 12.533 | 12.866 | 52.665 |
| Gabby Perea | 13.567 | 12.900 | 12.367 | 13.333 | 52.167 |
| Jade Carey | 15.066 | 0 | 0 | 14.600 | – |
Now, let’s bring in international meets from the fall of 2018 as well (so, that now includes worlds and Pan Am Championships)
| Name | VT | UB | BB | FX | Total |
| Simone Biles | 15.966 | 14.866 | 14.800 | 15.333 | 60.965 |
| Grace McCallum | 14.633 | 14.533 | 14.300 | 14.000 | 57.466 |
| Sunisa Lee | 14.200 | 14.700 | 14.150 | 14.333 | 57.383 |
| Emma Malabuyo | 14.533 | 13.633 | 14.400 | 14.233 | 56.799 |
| Leanne Wong | 14.666 | 14.100 | 14.066 | 13.933 | 56.765 |
| Kara Eaker | 14.066 | 14.100 | 14.666 | 13.767 | 56.599 |
| Morgan Hurd | 14.633 | 14.466 | 13.466 | 13.933 | 56.498 |
| Riley McCusker | 14.266 | 14.500 | 13.733 | 13.366 | 55.865 |
| Shilese Jones | 14.833 | 14.133 | 13.033 | 13.800 | 55.799 |
| Sloane Blakely | 13.633 | 13.500 | 13.766 | 13.566 | 54.465 |
| Trinity Thomas | 14.200 | 14.433 | 13.433 | 12.367 | 54.433 |
| Aleah Finnegan | 14.400 | 12.866 | 12.533 | 12.866 | 52.665 |
| Gabby Perea | 13.567 | 12.900 | 12.367 | 13.333 | 52.167 |
| Jade Carey | 15.066 | 0 | 0 | 14.600 | – |
Finally, let’s bring in all scores over the past 12 months at any meet. (Limited to those competing at Classic, and only on events where they have qualified to compete.)
| Name | VT | UB | BB | FX | Total |
| Simone Biles | 16.000 | 14.866 | 15.200 | 15.333 | 61.399 |
| Riley McCusker | 14.450 | 15.000 | 14.550 | 13.850 | 57.850 |
| Grace McCallum | 14.633 | 14.533 | 14.300 | 14.300 | 57.766 |
| Sunisa Lee | 14.250 | 14.800 | 14.300 | 14.333 | 57.683 |
| Morgan Hurd | 14.633 | 14.700 | 14.100 | 13.933 | 57.366 |
| Leanne Wong | 14.750 | 14.350 | 14.066 | 13.933 | 57.099 |
| Kara Eaker | 14.066 | 14.100 | 15.150 | 13.767 | 57.083 |
| Emma Malabuyo | 14.533 | 13.633 | 14.400 | 14.233 | 56.799 |
| Jade Carey | 15.066 | 12.950 | 13.750 | 14.600 | 56.366 |
| Shilese Jones | 14.833 | 14.133 | 13.300 | 13.800 | 56.066 |
| Trinity Thomas | 14.200 | 14.433 | 13.750 | 13.450 | 55.833 |
| Sloane Blakely | 13.800 | 13.500 | 14.850 | 13.566 | 55.716 |
| Jordan Chiles | 15.000 | 13.850 | 13.550 | 13.200 | 55.600 |
| Faith Torrez | 14.250 | 13.250 | 14.000 | 13.500 | 55.000 |
| Emily Lee | 13.800 | 12.500 | 14.500 | 13.800 | 54.600 |
| Shania Adams | 13.500 | 13.800 | 13.550 | 13.050 | 53.900 |
| Aleah Finnegan | 14.600 | 12.866 | 13.300 | 12.950 | 53.716 |
| Alexis Jeffrey | 13.350 | 13.800 | 12.800 | 12.800 | 52.750 |
| Gabby Perea | 13.567 | 12.900 | 12.367 | 13.333 | 52.167 |
| Olivia Hollingsworth | 13.550 | 12.550 | 12.100 | 13.500 | 51.700 |
| Jaylene Gilstrap | 13.550 | 0 | 13.25 | 12.900 | – |
| Abigael Vides | 13.950 | 0 | 12.400 | 12.700 | – |
| Victoria Nguyen | 13.250 | 13.750 | 0 | 0 | – |
I’m honestly shocked to see how highly ranked Riley is when considering scores from the past 12 months (despite only having one top three score), but I guess I shouldn’t be. She did put together some good meets domestically. But I don’t feel confident in her ability to hit on the world stage yet as evidenced by American Cup 2017, Worlds 2018, and Birmingham Cup 2019. Anyway, 2019 World’s Selection will definitely be interesting to watch.
I’m coming around to Riley but I still think she tends to get overscored quite a bit domestically.
I wish I could also see this with D scores.
I have never understood the Riley hype. Clearly a hard worker but I don’t think being extra in your movements makes up for flaily legs, piked layouts, and consistent competition errors, so this notion of “but her execution!” seems so weird to me. Her bars aren’t all that exciting either except the really cool dismount.
I think a lot of Riley fans like that she’s thin (and also very conventionally pretty) – not that they’re consciously only fans of thin gymnasts, but I think her traditional look appeals to a lot of people and they conflate their fondness for that aesthetic with actual good execution.
Similarly I always thought many of the oohs and aahs over Nastia’s “artistry” and “elegance” and “form” were actually oohs and aahs over her body type, as I found her super posy and her gymnastics full of form and technique errors.
re blonde skinny IT’S TRUE AND YOU SHOULD SAY IT.
Thanks for this breakdown. It will be interesting to see the order of placement after Classics. I am rooting for Jordan Chiles and leanne Wong to bring it and to see how Gabby Perea does. Should be a great meet.
I at one point had an impression that Jesolo meets had unrealistic scoring, but I can’t remember why/source. Can anyone enlighten me on that? (Asking re some of the Jesolo scores up there.)
I’m pretty sure that they aren’t an official FIG meet, but that it’s more of an invitational which is why there isn’t really an official team size and that’s why it feels as if the USA used to send like 700 gymnasts there each year. If you compare the D and E scores that Jesolo hands out compared to more official meets like Euros/Worlds, the Jesolo scores can sometimes seem “cracky”
Wait, what are the numbers underneath the scores? What am I missing here?!
If you’re looking at this page on mobile version, the scores are cut off in the table a little. They should have 3 decimal places. So for example, Sunisa’s BB score in the first table is 14.150 (not 14.1 with a random 50 below it). ☺️
That said, if you turn your phone sideways, the table looks fine.
Wow, I feel DUMB! Thank you so very much for clarifying this for me, I appreciate it 😊
Do people consider Morgan Hurd kind of a lock for Worlds spot (barring injury) – she’s had great success at the last two worlds- but she provides no “must have” score (the one scenario where she’s top three on bars is a tie with Simone) and her AA is barely top 5 in one scenario. She’s a proven ‘gamer’ though. Will be very interesting.
I also think that she will likely be on the team, but I think in the past what might have helped her mentally is being seen as an underdog. It’s known that Morgi is a member of the gymternet so I’m worried that these expectations for her to peak at the exact right time might get to her, because in the past it wasn’t really expected that she’d do that but hopefully that isn’t the case.
Not sure about Worlds, but I can see Morgan, Riley, Kara and Grace all being left off the Tokyo 2020 squad. It just feels like there are too many new challengers who will join Simone on the team (not counting Jade because she’s really in a class by herself with the individual berths).
For the first time in years it feels like the gymnasts who are competing the best in June/July 2020 will be the ones who make the team (Simone could screw up and petition her way to Japan as she is guaranteed a spot baring injury).
At this point I hesitate to call anyone not named Simone Biles a “lock.”
Morgan isn’t a “lock” but remains a strong contender for Worlds and Tokyo. Even if she isn’t always recording the highest scores or difficulty values, she has a proven track record of hitting when it counts and peaking at just the right time.
Wong and Lee are great talents, but whether they have staying power as seniors remains to be seen.
McCallum is always going to be a contender. She’s not flashy but she is SO consistent and continues to up her difficulty.
Eaker is a good all-arounder, but is really going to be under consideration for a specialist berth in Tokyo. Carey is the other obvious specialist. I look forward to seeing her get her vaults back up to par.
Skinner is a wildcard. We also will need to keep an eye on Perea, Malabuyo, and Shilese Jones, who are potential spoilers.
I expect to see Amanars this year, as they could very well make the difference in Worlds team selection. I’ve seen good ones in training vids from Wong and McCallum. Jones surely will have to debut one soon, her DTY is just too powerful.
In my opinion there are no locks for Worlds and Tokyo except Simone. There is no standout AAer or eventer at the moment, they are all close together. If everyone stays healthy, my bets for the teams would be
Worlds: Biles, Wong, Lee and/or McCallum for AA and Carey.
Toyko: Team- Simone, Wong, McCallum, Hurd / Individual- Carey and whoever is a UB/BB person.
underdogs being Shilese Jones and MyKayla Skinner imo.
Have you seen Shilese beam leaps on beam? Thats a quitter try hunny!
How is Skinner an underdog already? She hasn’t competed elite since 2016. Let’s see her compete first to see if she is relevant before deciding if she’s a frontrunner, underdog, or anything more than “attempted comeback” which is all she is at the moment.
I mean, skinner had a “competition surface” DTY, double double, and full in 3 months ago (to put it very lightly). I think competing those skills well, on podium, in front of fans, in relatively high-pressure situations puts Skinner well ahead of others I would categorize in the “attempted comeback” category.
I also think that Skinner is mentally ready for this. She has been planning the comeback for years and has maintained pretty high skill standards throughout NCAA. The precision of the UTAH coaching has improved her form also. She could surprise a few people this week. I wish her the best. It’s a tough road
I can’t wait for the competition to begin. I think the front runners (other than Simone) are Leanne Wong, Sunisa Lee, Grace McCallum, Riley McCusker, Morgan Hurd and Emma Malabuyo. It will be interesting to see what scores they are given and how the Worlds picture comes into focus. Only 3 more months until Worlds. I wonder if Tom Forester is just going to take the top 4 AA and then Jade Carey for FX and Vault. He seems to be going back to just whomever is in the top All Around instead of secret meetings to pick the team (the way it was in the 70s and 80s). I think anyone who makes the top 8 will be in consideration for Worlds.
While I understand why they just pick the Top 4 or 5 AA for the team (#transparency), it never is a good way to form the most ideal TEAM. You’re not using every athlete for AA, and you shut out any chance for great mixing and matching. It’s unfortunate they’ve done this just to be “fair” and I hope they don’t keep this up even if it doesn’t make sense.