The FIG has released the nominative rosters for world championships, which are extremely important and binding (just kidding, this is nothing).
Still, I’m going to run through the list and make some general observations and reflections on what’s happening here, especially for the major teams.
1. Australia
The nominative team of six is Georgia-Rose Brown, Talia Folino, Georgia Godwin, Emily Whitehead, Emma Nedov, and Kate McDonald, but the Australian women are yet to compete at Australian Classic, which comes later this month. So definitely treat this team as a placeholder.
Godwin, Brown, and Nedov are essential, but I’d consider the remaining two spots as still to be won. Whitehead, Folino, and McDonald (and potentially Chipizubov as a beam option, though she is not on the nominative list) are all trying to prove that they deliver the best option for counting-worthy scores, particularly on bars and beam for when the inevitable important-routine fall for 11.733 happens in qualification and their routine has to count instead.
2. Belgium
The nominative six are Maellyse Brassart, Nina Derwael, Jade Vansteenkiste, Julie Vandamme, Margaux Daveloose, and Fien Enghels. This group of six, plus Senna Deriks, are in Germany to compete on Saturday with crucial selection implications hovering over their performances. Because right now you have Nina, and then…uh…we’ll see.
Without some of the typical members of the Belgian collective like Axelle Klinckaert and Rune Hermans in the mix currently, there are golden opportunities for some unfamiliar characters to make this team.
Right now, my preferred Belgian five would be Derwael, then Brassart to do any event as needed, Enghels who has a ton of ability on bars as well as delivering a realistic possibility on beam, Vansteenkiste who has excelled on floor this year, and then probably Senna Deriks to provide a third bars score and reasonable possibilities on any event—though I could see that spot going to Daveloose instead.
But…complications between the lines: Deriks isn’t listed on the nominative roster at all, Enghels is listed sixth in a non-alphabetical team order (where you’d typically put the alternate), and Brassart is competing as an individual in Germany while the other six are competing as the Belgian team. Hmph. We’ll know a lot more after tomorrow.
3. Kaylee Cole
The Stanford senior is off to worlds to represent Bolivia again. We haven’t seen Cole compete for Bolivia since the 2015 Pan Am Games, and she hadn’t previous attempted to do both NCAA and elite at the same time. If the aim is to get that Olympic qualifying score rather than just go for the experience of going (also perfectly legitimate), she’ll have to add back bars, which she has not been able to do in NCAA, even in years when Stanford desperately needed bars routines.
Side note: Cole is listed on Stanford’s 2020 roster as competing VT, UB, and BB, but not FX, where she has figured significantly in her college career to this point.
4. Brazil
There is an obvious four for Brazil right now in Saraiva, Fidelis, Jade Barbosa, and Oliveira, who will be called upon to do pretty much everything at worlds. Of course, Rebeca Andrade would have been the obvious fifth, but with her injury, there’s not a natural replacement who adds anything much to the team score.
The other two listed in Brazil’s nominative six are Carolyne Pedro and Isabel Barbosa. Carolyne Pedro has been the fill-in for Andrade at meets lately, so I’d expect to see her at worlds again. There’s a legitimate argument for Other Barbosa in that she adds more to the team on beam and floor than Pedro, but I think Brazil is probably most worried about having a third bars score to go with Main Barbosa and Oliveira, since Flavia’s bars can be so…uncertain. Pedro gives you an option on bars that Other Barbosa doesn’t.
5. Laney Madsen
Madsen has competed twice for Bulgaria this year—European Champs and the European Games—and will be the Bulgarian representative at worlds this year in the hope of qualifying a spot to Stuttgart. Her 48 AA score from Euros is believable for that goal, but her 43 from Euro Games is not, so she’s going to have to be on.
6. Woo over Onyshko
Canada has already announced its official team, going with Victoria Woo to join the Big Four while relegating Isabela Onyshko to alternate status. Black, Olsen, Moors, and Padurariu have been locks for the team for a while now and will do nearly everything at worlds, and you’re happy with that group on almost every event—just lacking that third vault and third definite bars score.
Last year, Sophie Marois made the team to provide a DTY as that third vault, but apparently without a similar option available this year (*whispers Denelle Pedrick softly into the breeze*), Canada looks to have taken the next-best-AAer approach instead by selecting Victoria Woo. Woo’s most impressive event is beam, so there she provides another option if Moors makes you too nervous, though I wouldn’t say her inclusion addresses the team’s needs on vault or bars much. That’s why I expected the 5th spot would go to Onyshko to provide a third bars routine so that Moors doesn’t have to count again this year, but no.
If you’re concerned about what this team does on vault after Black and Olsen…correct.
7. CHINA
What do we do about China? China has not yet conducted its final trial for the worlds team, so the nominative roster of Li Shijia, Liu Tingting, Qi Qi, Tang Xijing, Zhang Jin, and Yin Sisi is an in-progress look at the possible team—though a fairly realistic one.
Li Shijia’s victory at the first trial helped her emerge as a useful-looking AA option at worlds, so then with LTT on UB/BB (and as a possibility on FX if needed) and Qi Qi on VT and FX, you’ve more or less got two routines on each event covered. If you then add Zhang Jin for VT/FX and Tang Xijing for UB/BB while also delivering a 4th vault possibility with her DTY (China?!?! Four vaults?!?! I never!), the events are fairly well covered.
The compelling argument against that particular team of five is that it’s an overreaction to China’s perceived weakness on vault and floor, over-covering those events with more routines than necessary and leaving a surprising hole on bars. That team of five would not score nearly as well on bars as China could, with some compelling athletes missing out who would definitely increase the team’s scoring potential. Yin Sisi is listed as the sixth member here and could replace one of the previously mentioned five with her TF-ready bars routine. And as we know, Luo Huan can also deliver UB/BB and be a backup option on vault and floor. (As others have pointed out, Fan Yilin is being kept in a separate group of athletes going for individual apparatus assignments, but I still don’t understand why since she’s technically eligible to do both.)
If Yin or Luo show that they are outscoring Tang Xijing on bars (or bars/beam) at the next trial—or if Zhang Jin’s vault and floor scores start to look kind of superfluous and/or inconsistent—we could see an adjustment to the nominative roster.
8. Czech Republic
The Czech Republic just sneaked in, finishing 24th at worlds last year to advance a team to this year’s competition. The top gymnasts from that team—Jirikova, Holasova, Ponizilova, and Halova—return as part of the six options for the Czech Republic, joined by Sandra Jessenova, the daughter of Hana Ricna and brother of David who also competes for the Czech Republic. Sandra trains at Parkettes and we know her as Sandra Jessen, but…when in Rome. It’s another Nicole Pechanec/Nicole Pechancova situation.
Also, Anna-Maria Kanyai is listed here, which is worth discussing. Kanyai competed for CZE last quad, then went to Bowling Green to begin an NCAA career last season. She competed in the UB lineup for Bowling Green in five meets, then was part of the mass roster departure toward the end of the season when the stories started coming out about the coaching staff. Now she’s back and part of the Czech Republic’s nominative roster for worlds.
This Czech team is full of action.
9. Alexa Grande
On the list for El Salvador is Alexa Grande, a veteran who last competed at worlds a full 8 years ago. So sit on that.
10. Ada Hautala?
New senior and Finnish national champion Ada Hautala is missing from Finland’s nominative list, which I have to assume means she must not be fit because otherwise you’d obviously send her to worlds.
11. France
France has already confirmed its team of five, and it is the most sensible selection, adding Aline Friess’s rudi on vault to the core four of MDJDS, Boyer, Charpy, and Devillard.
Overall, it’s a well-rounded team that should excel on vault and beam and is the current cool, hipster pick for an upset team medal. The team is a little soft in terms of the third bars routine. They’ll have to use Friess on bars (they would prefer alternate Pontlevoy there instead if these were teams of six, but alas no), and I’m not really sold on the third floor routine, though that was unavoidable. Honestly, those are relatively minor concerns compared to the concerns and team holes many of the contending teams have.
12. GB
GB has confirmed that Ellie Downie, Alice Kinsella, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Taeja James, Becky Downie, and Amelie Morgan are the final six from which a team of five and one alternate will be selected, but the identity of that alternate is still unconfirmed. And it’s going to be a tough one.
On the one hand, you have Taeja James, whose whole career has been “and none for Taeja bye”-themed when it comes to being selected for teams. But in the absence of Fragapane (who is missing and presumed injured), you really do want another bigger floor score to lift that event up. On the other hand, you have Amelie Morgan, a solid AA option with a theoretically secure beam routine (also one of the more reliable DTYs), and it would be thematically consistent with Great Britain’s historical selection procedures to leave a solid beam routine you actually might need sitting on the sidelines—and instead just fall all over the place in the team final. What? Nothing.
Note that Morgan is also listed 6th on this non-alphabetical nominative list, a further cue that she may be in mind as the alternate. On the third hand, when was the last time these gymnasts even competed in a public setting with scores to look at, so how do we know anything?
13. Maria Kharenkova
Kharenkova’s fast-tracked citizenship change has allowed her to compete at worlds this year in the hope of qualifying to the Olympics. While her 48s and 49s at Russian Cup weren’t going to make a dent on the Russian team, they will put her in contention for that Olympic spot.
14. Germany
Germany’s team selection for its home worlds might have seemed the most straightforward of any of the major countries, with a core group of veterans in Bui, Schäfer, Seitz, Scheder, and Voss that has comfortably and consistently separated itself from the pack over the last several years.
Complicating matters has been the emergence of Emilie Petz, who won the all-around title at the most recent German trial. Scheder missed the same competition with injury, and unless that dynamic reverses itself back to normal, we could see Petz named to the team. Watch on Saturday for how Petz does to see if her race for an upset worlds spot remains on track.
15. Mai
End of notes.
We’ve known Japan’s team for a long time now, and the thing is…I do think Japan should get to the team final even without Mai since Teramoto and Hatakeda and Sugihara (sometimes) remain a legit scoring force. But it is not the sure thing it should be for a program at Japan’s level. Without Mai, Japan doesn’t look as strong as France or Italy or Canada and could be fighting it out with the likes of Great Britain, and Brazil, and Germany (and Netherlands and Belgium if they have big qualification days) for those last spots in TF.
16. No Dipa
Dipa Karmakar is not present on India’s nominative list, though with that trash beast of a federation, it will be a miracle if they send anyone to worlds.
17. Irina Sazonova
Iceland has included Irina Sazonova on its nominative list, a 2016 Olympian whom we have not seen compete for nearly a year and a half and who last went to worlds in 2017.
18. Crisan for the save
For a while this year, Romania was down to 2.75 senior elites and a Pringles tube full of dust to round out the squad, but the nominative roster does at least have Ioana Crisan returning to the fold. I mean, it’s still horrifying, but less so if she’s able to get close to her past level. I believe Crisan is the only Romanian besides Iordache in 2017 to have scored a 13 on bars this quadrennium.
19. Steingruber comeback is on
That’s all.
20. No Tonya Paulson
Paulson of Sweden took the Youth Olympic Games by storm last year, finishing 7th in the AA, but she does not appear on Sweden’s nominative roster. Presumably for Sweden reasons. We do have Jonna Adlerteg and Jessica Castles as SWE’s two representatives, and now that Adlerteg has returned to the AA, they’ll be in a fight with each other to see who can get the nominative spot to the Olympics through the all-around standings. Both are capable. Ideally, Castles would get in through the all-around and then Adlerteg would get in as well by making the bars final, but it’s a tough road to two spots.
21. The US women
I have nothing to say about the US women’s nominative roster of Biles, Lee, McCallum, Hurd, Wong, and Chiles because it’s just the AA standings from nationals and should not be dissected in the slightest. It means nothing.
We’re used to trying to read the tea leaves of the US nominative roster because Martha would totally use it as a mind game and leave off people she currently felt were too fat and/or disappointing, but with Tom, it looks like it’s just the nationals all-around standings and there’s no deeper strategy than that.
Now, if Tom also uses the selection camp all-around standings to name the worlds team, with no deeper strategy than that, then we’re going to have a real problem. But we’re not there yet.
RE GB, I think we can assume that Ellie, Becky and Alice are in (Alice is European beam champ, they ain’t leaving her behind). Which means the alt is one of Taeja, Amelie or GMF. Now we need a decent VT and FX to compliment Becky. Taeja is the best pick for those two events, so it comes down to- Amelie’s beam or GMFs bars? Honestly I can see the arguments for both.
THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF OLYMPIC TEAMS WERE STILL FIVE GAH. This team would have been PERFECT as a six-person team.
I’m gonna RIOT if MDJDS doesn’t get her feet on a podium, BTW.
In college/NCAA news…
The state of California has passed legislation that will take away the amateur status of NCAA athletes and allow them to make money through financial endorsements and sponsorships.
Could this allow one Simone Biles to attend (compete for) UCLA after the 2020 Olympics?
I don´t think so.
Besides the amateur/pro thing, there is also the eligibility time span.
After graduating high school you can defer for max one year without cutting your 4 years of eligibility. So basically she´s been out of high school for a long time.
Is Emma spence a senior yet? Because if she is, could she not add a bars routine for canada?
Spence is a senior and bars is not her event. Woo is better on bars than her. Moors is better on bars than her. Spence could add a vault (it’s her best event – she has a nice one and a half) but it doesn’t really score much higher than Woo’s full. Woo’s full is probably the one of the best vault options Canada has (assuming Marois isn’t healthy since she hasn’t competed this year). I see Spencer’s point about Pedrick but apparently Gymnastics Canada is unwilling to consider a level 10.
It will be interesting to see what Canada does with Woo in prelims. They will obviously put her up on bars because Olsen won’t do bars. She has a better vault than both Padurariu and Moors but Padurariu will definitely vault in prelims and perhaps they want to give Moors a chance at AA too in case something goes wrong with either Black or Padurariu? But Woo’s is definitely the third vault Canada wants in the finals. And probably the third vault they want to count to ensure they get to finals. Beam…I feel like Olsen has a better beam routine than Woo, but Woo (and Onyshko) got the nod to go in the lineup at Pan Ams. And floor she actually outscored Olsen at Pan Ams due to Olsen’s OOB although I would assume they would want to take a chance on Olsen with more elite training time….although the scores they want to count on floor are probably Moors, Black, and Padurariu.
So I could see Woo in anywhere between 1-4 prelims lineups. Finals, I think it’s vault and maybe beam?
Where has Brooklyn stood on vault recently? I can’t really find anything on Youtube, but she has shown in the past quite a few vault options that would make her at least preferable to a FTY in TF. Even her handspring pike 1/2 is equivalent to Victoria Woo’s FTY at worst.
I really think they should have selected either a more difficult vault (in international settings, it’s always worth it to send a more difficult vault, there isn’t enough E separation) or Onyshko’s bars over Woo, and that she will do only UB in QF and TF, maybe BB in QF. IMO they shouldn’t take Moors out of the AA just for her FTY, even if she will likely be two-perred.
Brooklyn tried a handspring layout full at Pan Ams and fell on it. She appears to have done a Tsuk layout full at Canadians based on the D-score and it scores the same as Woo on day 1 and .5 lower on day 2.
You guys seem to want options for Canada that don’t exist. Onyshko’s peak score on bars is lower than Woo’s and she scored lower than Moors at Pan Ams, so I don’t know that she really adds anything on bars. And yes, it would be good if Canada had a
DTY to put in there but Sophie Marois seems to be injured and for whatever reason, Pedrick is not an option.
“Whatever reason” does not fly with me. Pedrick was there and she was doing the DTY. Unless she didn’t want to be selected of her own accord, not selecting her because she is a L10 is a weak reason.
Also, if Moors’s Tsuk full looks anything like it did in 2017 by Worlds, that’s going to be better than an FTY, and if not it still scores the same. I just see no reason to take someone specifically for a FTY for TF when at the very worst if Moors is scoring really bad they can just use Padurariu’s FTY (0.050 less than Woo’s both days of nationals, both got 13.5s in their last international assignments).
I admit the Onyshko talk is based a lot on reputation, though. People (me included) just kind of expect her to get better scores tha she is getting whenever she competes next.
Well, part of the reason I said “whatever reason” for Pedrick is that has anyone considered that she may not be interested in doing elite and all that goes along with it? She is in the middle of university, and she may not want to leave and fly around the world to go to Worlds. Yes, for fans, it may seem like Worlds is the be all and end all and who wouldn’t want that opportunity if it was presented to them, but she may not.
I have absolutely zero insight into the situation and no idea if Gymnastics Canada is just saying “no way”, if Pedrick is not interested, or if it is some combination of the two. Hence why I left it ambiguous as “whatever reason.” Just like it’s too bad that Brittany Rogers is retired but we can’t force her out of retirement so she is also “not an option.”
And it’s not like Pedrick is exactly the savior of Canadian vaulting. She presumably fell in prelims at Universiade because she only scored a 12.5. She scored a 14.25 when she hit, which yes, is better than the 13.5-13.6 that Woo brings to the table but Woo has also scored 13.2 and 13.433 on bars this year internationally, and could pinch hit on beam or floor if necessary. (And yeah, as you noted, Onyshko isn’t the bars gymnast she used to be. Highest international score this year…13.166.)
Just to add a little more data to “why not Emma Spence?”, she is competing in Szombathely this weekend and her first vault scored 13.550, bars 12.500, beam 12.300, and floor 12.550. So that is definitely not a bars routine worth taking – for comparison, at Pan Ams, Woo scored 12.600 and 12.950 and Moors scored 13.100 and 13.000. And vault is pretty comparable…Woo had 13.550 and 13.500 at Pan Ams.
The better bars gymnast in Szombathely is Jessica Dowling, but her score of 13.050 also doesn’t beat what Moors can put up. Onyshko also didn’t beat Moors on bars at Pan Ams, so Moors seems to be Canada’s third best bars gymnast at the moment, scary as that seems.
So in the absence of having any scores that say “wow, you must take me for bars and vault” (why did Rogers disappear just when Canada needed her two events), I can totally see why Canada said, let’s just take the next best all-arounder.
I completely get why Brittany Rogers didn’t come back. Although she would’ve made the 2018 and 2019 worlds team easily, the 2020 Canadian team looks extremely like Ellie Black, Ana Padurariu, Brooklyn Moors, and Zoe Allaire Bourgie plus Shallon Olsen as an individual. Since it’s unlikely that Canada will get two individual spots, there unfortunately isn’t really a spot for her in the long run.
I don’t know about it being unlikely for Canada to get two individual spots. I’m giving them 50-50 odds.
I also predict Shallon makes the team and Brooklyn ends up being an individual. The team you list is super weak on vault.
Also, that’s assuming everyone stays healthy. We’ve already seen Ana and Zoe have serious injuries in the past couple of years and Brooklyn has had to pull out of meets due to injuries. Shallon has had amazing luck with injuries so far and Ellie also has with the exception of one injury in early 2017, but you never know. While it’s easy to say those are the five Canadian Olympians, they all have to stay healthy to get there.
How would Canadá get a second individual spot? Apparatus WC seems unlikely, they will qualify a full team at worlds, so no individuals there. Pan Ams is one spot. That leaves AA WC – maybe , if they send Ellie to all 4, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.
I think I need to see a breakdown of which countries will be trying to get a spot this way. US will almost certainly nab one of the 3. China likely won’t need to (likely to qualify one through apparatus – bars or beam, and one through Asian champs). Russia, France, GB, Germany, Italy can’t count on a spot from euros, so they will be vying for one of these (presuming they all qualify full teams).
Canada finished second at the AA World Cups last year sending Ellie to two, Ana to one and V Woo to one.
The World Cups will be more competitive this year than last with everyone sending their strongest AAers but done count Canada out. I have them in the mix with France, Japan, Russia as having a shot at getting one of the two remaining non-US spots. I give them at least a 33% chance of getting one of those spots. It’s not a 100% chance but people are talking like it is a zero chance.
The remaining two team members of Team GB should be GMF and Amelie Morgan.
VT: (Fenton) Kinsella, Morgan, E Downie
UB: (Kinsella/Morgan) Fenton, E Downie, B Downie
BB: (B Downie) E Downie, Kinsella, Morgan
FX: (Fenton) Morgan, Kinsella, E Downie
Not using Morgan is a damn blasphemy and a waste of VT and BB tenths, and then Fenton over her in UB is more tenths than James over her in FX, I think.
When was the last time they competed in a competition. We don’t know the status of Amelia, Taeja, GMf. One of these will be the alternate. Amelia is a solid AA but I think she is slightly injured. Gmf and Becky both bars with over 14 but so inconsistent. GB can’t afford 2 bars fall. Taeja has shown some great upgrades on floor and vault and compliments Becky well. Her floor is also medal worthy.
China is looking very strong this year! If they take Li Shijia, Liu Tingting, and Qi Qi, they have three vaults and two on every other event (Liu competed DTY at the last trial).
Needed: UB, BB, FX
Contenders: Tang Xijing, Luo Huan, Zhang Jin, Yin Sisi
I would take Luo or Yin for sure since they can shore up UB the best, and I believe Xijing has emerged as more consistent over Zhang this year, especially on BB/FX. I also think Luo gains more over Tang on UB than Zhang does on FX, and she herself is a much-needed force of consistency.
The major medal contenders are Li and Liu in AA and whichever two make BB finals, but Qi Qi could sneak in for VT/FX and Liu and Luo could make UB final with a hit!
Congrats to Chow and Team China has for improving the leg event situation (five 5.4+ vaults compared to 2 last year, six floor routines with 5.2+ D-score)-they’ve come a long way from Luo’s FTY in TF last year. I think China is probably the favorite for silver with the Liu/Li/Tang/Luo/Qi lineup!
Things can change so much. Luo Huan, force of consistency. Unimaginable to read even in 2017.
I do still think Zhang Jin is not nearly inconsistent enough that she is a risk China should not take. It should definitely be her and Luo Huan, with Tang Xijing getting the nod over Luo if her DTY is looking better than Li Shijia’s (and LTT’s? Will hers pan out this time?) and her UB is looking good enough.
UB: Luo (6.0)>Tang (5.9)>>>>>Zhang (4.5)
BB: Luo (6.2)> Zhang (6.1)> Tang (6.0)
FX: Zhang (5.6)>>Tang (5.2) = Luo (5.2)
If they are confident in the 3 vaults of Liu, Qi, and Li, they should definitely bring Luo since she is the true UB/BB specialist here. I could honestly see any combination of the three but bringing both Tang and Zhang is overkill (since one of them will not even vault in QF over the three locks) and it leaves UB a bit weak since Tang and Li would both go in TF. BB of course you could put whoever hits the most up along with Liu and Li, and then FX would be fine with Qi, Li, and Tang/Zhang!
I hope China doesn’t get screwed on execution as badly this year, especially if they’re bringing what looks like their strongest team in awhile.
Just as an example – in Doha’s AA finals, Chen Yile and Luo Huan with fully hit programs and 0.2 and 0.5 D score ADVANTAGE were scoring 1.0+ behind Nina Derwael … who has perfectly fine execution but is no shining beacon of perfect form or impressive amplitude.
It’s infuriating to watch non-Western gymnasts get such low execution scores when their performance quality is better AND they have higher difficulty. It has been a problem since 2013 and it gets worse every year.
Jade was listed as an alternate by the Brazilian federation. There’s been some speculation regarding the seriousness of the injury she sustained at PanAms and it looks like it was more serious than most thougt.
I am not sure how fit Amelie Morgan is for 4 pieces as she was injured at the beginning of the summer and in a boot. It may be unrealistic to see her as an AA’er at Worlds this year but presumably she has a very solid beam to offer. Not sure what the deal is with Frags but it appears she didn’t compete at the recent trial so injury is a strong possibility. It is a tough decision who will contribute to the highest team scores. James scores pretty consistently high on floor and without Frags is a score GB could do with whilst Fenton has bigger high score margin potential on bars if she hits. Fenton’s inconsistency may go against her if she is there primarily for bars. Unfortunately both B. Downie and Fenton have world class bars when they hit but are also known to be inconsistent. GB can’t afford 2 falls on one apparatus when it’s 3 for 3 especially if they have a solid floor routine pretty much guaranteed to hit. I think it will come down to how fit Morgan is, and whether her beam is more important to the team than either Fenton’s bars or James’ floor. Tough call.
Completely agree re bars. I’d go with Taeja for the same with reasons as you (floor isn’t always a given either, nothing is with GB 😂). But I expect them to go GMF because they seem to love doubling down on bars and also using same gymnasts over and over. I just don’t think they’re separate enough from the pack to be guaranteed qualification if they have a terrible day.
That seems strange that Sweden doesn’t have Tonya on the rooster. She did so well at youth olympic games and her national champion score was 0.4 higher than what Jessica had when she won the year before. Are we not allowed to send three or what could be the reason?
You definitely are allowed to send three, as you had three on Definitive Registration and have three on the Draw (mixed group 15, subdivision 2 starting on VT).
I don’t get it either, just send all three of them and let them battle it out for the qualifying spot(s)… Tonya just had her senior international debut last week and it doesn’t look like she performed as well as she is able, but on gymnastik.se they said that that competion was the start of her qualifying process to worlds, so who knows… Can they add places for Sweden now? I don’t think Tonya should replace either Jonna or Jessica! But why not let her go too, so she can gain some experience?
Yes, they can, as this would not affect the draw. It is possible to be late with nominative registration. The country would not lose its drawn spots. The federation would just be fined 1000 CHF for missing the deadline.
Am I right in thinking that fragapane is on the Paris roster with Ellie downie? I’m sure I have seen that somewhere
Yes. That should at least answer our questions as to if she is OK! I am wondering if she is holding out for a +1, but that’s a dangerous strategy if you’re European- with only 2 for the whole of Europe in continetals, it’s going to be brutal, and I don’t know if GB can make individual or AA cups happen either.
A note re: Belgium, Rune Hermans is not in the mix anymore, permanently, not just currently. She retired a while ago. Very sad because she brought really good results even though she got a bit overshadowed by Nina and Axelle often.
USA will be definitely interesting. Not on the nominative roster is Riley McCusker, Kara Eaker, Mykayla Skinner, and Jade Carey all of whom could sneek in and make the Worlds Team. I hope that take Kara for her BB alone! I hope Forester is not just taking top 6, but even if he did, USA will still win by more than 10 points! Such a deep, deep field.
US simply named top 6 on the nominative roster. The team will not be decided until selection camp.
I’m with ya, i do hope Forster doesn’t use AA standings to determine the team. As Spencer points out, this disregards strategy to building the biggest score/maximizing medals tby taking your top scorers on each event. Though it is interesting when aa standings coincide with top event scores…
I’ve come around to top 6 for this Worlds (though I’d say with averaging two scores: camp, and then the gymnasts’ preference of one full day at either classics or nationals).
I agree it’s not the best strategy, but the US is going to win this year no matter what. As long as you can construct a team that is strong on all the events with that top 6, then IMO you should take the option that is more transparent and fair to the gymnasts.
(I also don’t like Eaker that much and don’t want her on the team for a single beam routine with which she has questionable consistency and relies on kind judging. If she is hitting her AA program to the best of her ability, she should be up there in the top 6 anyway, even with her relatively low D scores.)
There is nothing not transparent or not fair about taking the best scores on each event for a competition. Everyone knows what mathematics are.
I do agree Kara’s beam routine is not worth it just for that (nor do I think it’s ever particularly been such an asset), and that she doesn’t have the other events. Not taking Jade would be preposterously silly, however.
“There is nothing not transparent or not fair about taking the best scores on each event for a competition. Everyone knows what mathematics are.”
I know you’re very knowledgeable but there’s no need to be so dismissive. Taking the best scores on each event for a competition is not necessarily what happens with a team coordinator determining the strategy – when you take a mix of gymnasts based on TF potential, sometimes you also choose gymnasts based on their relatively likelihood to make or medal in an EF. Sometimes you incorporate a gymnast’s consistency or lack thereof into the calculation. Sometimes you think about whether you have a backup routine on an event. All of those end up being less transparent. All of these are considerations that appear to have factored into past team selection.
You ~could~ just choose the top 6 gymnasts who make up the highest TF score, but that’s just as un(der)precedented as top 6 AA.
By real problem, do you mean if the top ranked at selection camp are not the ones you want? Or do you mean also consider someone who wins an event even if they weren’t in the top AA? It’s hard to imagine a team put together from the list of those invited to camp that wouldn’t bring home at least 4 gold medals – including team and AA. Of course competition is about crushing the opponents, but a somewhat random pic based on current performance would at least make it interesting. However, I would not be surprised if the committee did just that so they wouldn’t get criticized by going back to the closed door just kidding about there being any benefit to training to peak at the right time.
Well, looks like the US has come out with their list of criteria and it will not be just top scorers. Now the discussion will be how much weight goes into all those other factors listed – so no matter who gets picked people will be able to second guess the decision… I can’t wait!