The final day of competition in Cottbus—and the final day of Olympic qualifying events until February of 2020—brings us the remaining five event finals.
Competition order:
Men’s VT: C Van Wicklen; Y Sharamkou; H Yonekura; I Radivilov; Tseng WS; Shin JH; A Nin Reyes; J Vega Lopez
BB: E Nedov; L Zimmerman; A Bachynska; S Scheder; U Ashikawa; D Varinska; A Sakaguchi; Li Q
PB: You H; B Bevan; F Arican; L Dauser; P Pakhniuk; A Likhovitskiy; V Poliashov; O Verniaiev
Women’s FX: A Radivilova; M Pihan-Kulesza; D Golgota; C Fragapane; L Mori; K Bui; A Bachynska; T Volleman
HB: C Van Wicklen; A Rostov; Hu X; Zhang C; R Leru; I Georgiou; A Nin Reyes; H Miyachi
Before we start, we have the “little boys doing the worm” portion of the proceedings once again. As is tradition.
Today, we’re beginning with dual finals, and then will end with HB by itself.
BEAM & MEN’S FLYING DEATH
Nedov – candle mount, held pretty well – bhs bhs layout, really solid, good height – aerial to split to sissone, comfortable – split jump 1/2 from side, lean forward correction – switch, very small check – switch ring, a bit low on the bag leg but secure – front tuck, solid – round off, double pike, short with a lunge forward, but nice hit routine!
13.366 to start
Van Wicklen 1 – opening with the Dragulescu – can’t get it today – stumble back and flops onto his side. Well, that puts a damper on his Olympic spot hopes – nearly falls into the cameraman and that lady sitting there, which seems safe. 13.333.
Van Wicklen 2 – Goes for the Kas 1.5 as his second vault and it’s solid – 14.233
13.783 average
Zimmerman – ro loso mount, well hit – bhs loso loso, only a small adjustment back – swtich to switch 1/2 to bhs, pretty good speed in that mixed series – side aerial, hit – full turn to immediate sissone, which is totally pointless for D score but fun – side somi, good – straddle 1/2 from side and it all comes apart, fall – 2/1, short, hop forward
12.433 and second place
Sharamkou 1 – really strong Kas 1.5 landing, only a small hop in place – some mushy knees to take – 14.533
Sharamkou 2 – he’ll also go for the Dragulescu as his second vault, but it goes excellently – nearly stuck, very strong, small step – the usual amount of cowboy and flexed feet. 14.966
14.749 average
Bachynska – good candle mount – fhs front tuck, step forward and a bit of arm wave adjustment – beautiful switch but hesitates connecting to switch 1/2 to split jump – aerial, check – pretty split ring jump to bhs, well performed elements, but lots of lost CV so far – split leap to side aerial – switch ring, gets the back leg quite high on hers, but once she does, the front leg has dropped pretty far – double tuck, a hair short with a step. No major breaks. Good.
13.300 puts her behind Nedov. She did get a 5.7 D though.
Yonekura 1 – He also opens with a Kas, but he goes for the 2.5, just a bit under-rotated with a hop to get facing forward, though will probably get credit for the VT – knees and whatnot. 15.100, and he did get credit
Yonekura 2 – handspring randi as his second vault, which is not nearly as strong – a staggering landing – multiple sideward steps and off the mat, but the difficulty will help a lot. 14.200
14.650 average and into 2nd place behind Sharamkou
Scheder – bhs loso and immediately falls. Lovely subsequent aerial and switch elements – side aerial, just a little lean – side somi, squeezes to avoid check – actually pretty split position on split 1/2 from side – gainer layout, short with a hop forward
12.300 for Scheder, 4th place
Radivilov 1 – Dragulescu – fairly solid but a hop from one side of the mat to the other on landing – I’d also say even more extreme cowboy and flex than Sharamkou as well. 14.766
Radivilov 2 – Tsuk double pike is quite nice – small hop back, great distance – 14.933
14.849 and into first place. Got Sharamkou on difficulty there.
Ashikawa – bhs loso series, so low to the beam but solid form and secure landing – split ring jump, lovely extension, may have been a Yang Bo attempt but I’d like to see a little more oversplit on front leg for Yang Bo – side aerial, strong – split jump 1/2 from side, comfortable – switch to sheep, non-horrible sheep – side somi, well held – double turn, overturns with a check, not a large check but her first seriously notable issue – 2/1 dismount is comfortable, small hop. That was exceptional.
13.700 and 1st place, well deserved
Tseng 1 – hits Tsuk double pike, medium-sized bounce back – just a tad off line, legs pretty well together, some feet – pretty piked shape 14.900
Tseng 2 – double front second vault, not as good – larger bound forward on a less difficult vault – better initial tuck form than the Draglescus though, so that’s worth noting. 14.266
14.583 average, 4th place
Varinska – bhs bhs layout series, very solid, just pikes down the layout a bit – switch ring, strong – switch to sissone, lovely positions – full turn, just does avoid a check – aerial to split ring to split jump where the split jump was the weakest skill with a back leg – side somi, nice – split leap to side aerial, non-phoned-in split leap, which I appreciate – 2/1, small step back.
13.533, second place behind Ashikawa
Shin 1 – Kas 2.5, great height on that vault – allows him to maintain non hidey twisting form throughout – large lunge back but hopefully a reward for the position in the air. 14.666 So not really.
Shin 2 – handspring front 2/1 second vault – lovely shape in the air again – another fairly large bound forward which will destroy all hope. 14.433
14.549 average and 5th place of 6 so far
Sakaguchi – side aerial to immediate loso – a little off to the side with a check – double turn, hit but a little under twisted – switch ring, secure – efficient wolf to split – aerial, short with a leg-up correction – split jump 1/2 from side – side somi, another leg-up check which she sort of does like a flamingo, which I’m enjoying – looks like she went for a 3/1 dismount and stumbled wayyyyy back and sits it down – almost dismounts into Courtney Tulloch
12.000
Nin Reyes 1 – Tsuk full in attempt and he’ll get credit for completing it because it looks like he just avoided knees down? But it was so low that it’s borderline, large lunge forward.
Fake Olly just said that Shin was “well hung” and we’re going to need to talk about that.
Pretty strong Dragulescu second vault for Nin Reyes – 14.800 for that and 14.754 for average and into second place. Not wild about that after his basically a fall on the first vault.
Li – switch mount, good – switch with a small check – round off to a huge layout with an equally huge break but keeps it on the beam – ooh tentative aerial, breaks a series intention, but lovely individual skills like that Onodi – she’s really fighting it on the balance and confidence though with these hesitation breaks – immediate straddle and split jump 1/2s from side position were nice – 2/1 dismount, super well stuck
Will her D score save the large break and all the rhythm issues?
13.400 and 3rd place for Li Qi. Eeenteresting world cup implications there.
But that was not a 1st-place level routine today.
Vega Lopez 1 – under-rotated on his handspring 2.5 attempt – feet facing to the side on landing – I wouldn’t give it – crossover step to get himself facing forward – so low on landing, all crunched over. 14.500 is wayyyyy too high.
Vega Lopez 2 – Pretty nice Kas 1.5 second vault – step forward – stmall step. 14.466
14.483 average and 7th place
Beam – 1. Ashikawa, 2. Varinska, 3. Li
Ashikawa wins beam! Here for it. Best routine of the day. Varinska in 2nd (presumably getting her points redistributed because she’s already qualified), so then Li would get 2nd-place points and Nedov 3rd-place points.
Vault – 1. Radivilov, 2. Nin Reyes, 3. Sharamkou
I take some issue with the podium because Nin Reyes basically-almost fell on his first vault and Sharamkou was stronger. Radivilov can;t get ranking points here, so Nin Reyes gets a big result, and Sharamkou will also love his points total. Does’t super help clarify the current mess that is the men’s vault standings, thoug, because Nin Reyes didn’t have any point so far. Yonekura (4th place) will then still feel kind of OK about his position, even if he’s not nearly in the impervious place many of the other leaders on men’s events from yesterday appear to be.
Whenever I complain that there isn’t enough gay representation in media, remind me that men’s acro pairs exists.
As far as the weird presents that medalists get at events, that glass globe is pretty cool. I want one.
WOMEN’S FLOOR & MEN’S PBARS
Brinn Jesus Christ. And I mean your hair, not the giant one on your back.
Radivilova – memmel turn, borderline whether she got two around, nice position – 1.5 through to 3/1, step to the side and OOB – annnnd sits her double Arabian – actually nice split jump 1.5 – double pike, staggered landing but solid – good leaps throughout, but you know, a fall.
12.100
You – double back to arms – and now the piked version – peach 1/2, hit – Tanaka (?) to straddle cut – I truly loathe salto elements on PBars, of which this routine is entirely composed, but he’s doing them accurately – they’re just too awkward and impossible to make not awkward, especially to arms – double front 1/2 out, stuck, great.
15.400 BYE EVERYONE.
MPK – 2.5 to front pike to immediate split – I know everyone loves this Pink Panther routine, but it’s…going to the well too many times? Like I’m fine with her getting a new routine now – double arabian, some cowboy to an awkward stag, but hit – quad turn attempt, will get triple credit – some feet positions on these splits – held-leg double L was a little short – Good hit routine but room to end up taking a lot on leaps and whatnot.
Also, there was a pink lemonade I had as a kid called Pink Panther, and now any time I think about Pink Panther I get a sour taste in my mouth because brains are so weird.
13.233
Bevan – I had some buffering problems at the beginning of his routine – but a good front straddle and tippelt in here – ooof, stutz and his legs go crazy, lots of hand adjustments and full tuck position to save it
14.200
Golgota – solid full in – chest up on landing, medium bounce back – double arabian step forward, bad angle to judge if it was OOB – attempted switch side full – falls out of held-leg double turn – double pike, pretty solid, some feet – double wolf – split leap full, some feet – double tuck and clatters down face-first in a Romanian artistic representation of Romania.
12.166
Arican – diam and stutz, nice – peach to one, healy down, peach 1/2 is not good, lots of leg form and hand adjustments – hits Makuts – stutz – diam – double front 1/2 out, stuck. The end was great. Certainly not his best because of the whole wild peach 1/2 thing.
14.666. He’s like ONLY A TRASH FOOL WHO’S NOT AS HOT AS ME WOULD GET A SCORE SO LOW.
Fragapane – DLO 1/1, supppppppper low, lunge forward, saves it – DLO to immediate wolf jump, ankle cruncher but aren’t all her landings – split leap full – switch 1/2, rushes that and there are position deductions – double arabian, a bit too deep but pulls it out – double pike, solid. A hit.
I feel like every time a gymnast goes on DWTS/Strictly, the gymternet is like “SHE’LL COME BACK A MUCH BETTER DANCER” and it never actually happens, but it kind of did with Fragapane.
13.366 and 1st place for the moment
Dauser – diam and stutz, good – Makuts – little arch in hs on high – comfortable with healy, nice vertical positions on all his pirouetting elements – front in 1/2 out with a bounce back. Good one.
15.166, 2nd place
Mori – whip to full in, bounces back and OOB – switch ring is nice – switch side 1/2, solid – memmel to illusion, memmel should get credit – 2.5 to front layout, legs get crazy in front layout – 3/1, some form, small step back, keeps it in bounds – switch full, around – she looks tirrrrred int eh corner at the end – double pike, short, lunge forward.
Lots to take there – not necessarily the “moving into first place in the Olympic standings” coronation she’d have been hoping for, but she is into first place for the moment. 13.400
Pakhniuk – slightly awkward on Makuts – peach 1/2 a little short of vertical – lovely amplitude and line on the little things – stutz to one and back, diam – double front 1/2, bounce back. Nothing too major, not his cleanest work.
14.766, 3rd place.
Bui – split jump 1/1, around, a touch of back leg – nice DLO, smallest slide back, keeps it in bounds – double tuck, bounce back – split leap full – 2.5 to front pike, stuck – switch – switch full – double pike, a bit short, covers it into choreo. Well, it was the best floor routine we’ve seen today easily, but was there enough D to move into first?
There was! 13.500
Likhovitskiy – peach to tippelt, good – some vertical positions could be a littel crisper – stutz is nice – double pike, step back. No major issues but not nearly the content of the others at this point for him.
14.233 and 5th place.
Bachynska – full in, just a bit short with a hop forward – double arabian, against just a hair short but a good landing – I’d give memmel turn – switch ring and split ring leap both pretty – double pike, a bit short, hop – nice expression in this routine – popped that double tuck right up, cowboyed more than you’d like to get it around but did get it around
And now she’s into first! 14.533. I’d have had Bui ahead.
Bachynska is still eligible for points, so she’s going to end up with 30 here and Mori with 25 once everything is redistributed, which means Carey can hold onto her lead on floor for the moment. (I had a dumb error in talking about that in the meet preview, Mori needed to win here to move into 1st.)
Poliashov – very crisp handstands on pirouetting elements, comfortably completed – just an extra hand placement on a peach 1/2 – lovely work on bhavsar – front straddle to double front 1/2 out, stuck, nailed it, excellent routine. That would be my leading routine but of course he’ll be 2nd.
15.366. So close! Into 2nd place.
Volleman – double tuck to front tuck, solidly landing, some legs aparts in doubel tuck – initial turn is a triple – 1.5 to front full, knees – held-leg double to illusion – 2/1, some legs, large bounce back – switch 1/2, solid – attempts quad turn or some such and falls out of it pretty dramatically – I’d also say that was a repeated element with the triple turn earlier. Shouldn’t challenge the top places.
12.833, 6th place
Verniaiev – peach 1/2 with 800 hand placements and a littel walking – the rest of it is lovely – his tippelt and bhavsar have sublime amplitude as always – toe point and control in stutz to one – double front 1/2, out, stuck. The remainder of the routine was literally perfect
15.400! Same as You, Oleg with better E.
Floor – 1. Bachynska, 2. Bui, 3. Mori
Bui ineligible for Olympic spots, so it’s Bachynska was 30 and Mori with 25, Carey will stay in first by a small bit. Bachynska staying alive in her quest for the Olympics with that 30-point result. Meanwhile, Romania is over. Fragapane with 20 points, but since she’s starting late, that doesn’t help a ton.
PBars – 1 Verniaiev, 2. You, 3. Poliashov
Oleg ineligible, but still significant that he defeated You when it comes to the intra-China tiebreak. You didn’t win this event. That means this result also works for Poliashov in his quest to…let’s be real…finish 2nd behind You, and then You gets kocked out because of one-per-country, and then the spot goes to Poliashov. That’s pretty much the plan at this point.
MEN’S WHEEEEEEEEEE!
Van Wicklen – Yam, some shape – Kolman is caught – layout tkatchev – tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2 – late tak 1/2 – DLO 1/1, stuck landing with an arm wave. Good routine. His finals thus far had not lived up to qualification, but that was mostly a case of did-what-he-could-do
14.033. Broke 14! An American!
Rostov – Cassina, hit, some crazy legs at the end – nice Kolman – layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2 – large leg break on tak 1/2 – follows with actually really solid finishing position in the full turn, for a full at least – DLO 1/1, hop back. Good.
14.166, 1st place
Hu – Liukin, nice! layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2, great amplitude – stalked tkatchev, too close – oooooof goes over the wrong way on a tak full (?) attempt – and he’s way off rhtyhm now – has another crazy-leg, wrong-way tak attempt and now rests against the bar to recorrect – DLO 2/1 dismount, small hop back.
12.733
Zhang – huge open Kovacs – Cassina and can’t catch, flops to the ground loudly –
China’s fabulous victorious run not really extending to today’s competition.
Zhang resumes with a good Kolman and layout tkatchev, very extra arms, which are the best part – tkatchev 1/2 – tak 1/2 that’s fine – 1.5 pirouette that’s a 1.5 pirouette – double double layout dismount, stuck
12.666
Leru – Liukin attempt and can’t catch – well this final has turned pretty splatty – I also feel like Fake Olly is overusing “unintentional dismount” at this point – resumts with tkatchev to layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2, a little jerky swining out of final element there but otherwise good – tak 1/2 – layout tkatchev 1/2 – DLO 1/1 is pretty, and a stuck landing.
12.166
Georgiou – tak 1/2, late – Cassina, catches – Kolman, also caught, so it’s a win – layout tkatchev – tkatchev – tak – DLO 1/1, clean, step back – the cleanest routine of the final.
14.166, tied with Rostov, ahead on execution.
Nin Reyes – for a moment I thought it was absolutely preposterous that he somehow caught that sideways Cassina, but he didn’t really, he just swung through for a moment so that he could flop to the ground even more dramatically – Resumed, also had a crazy moment on a tak 1/2 but hit the rest – double double layout, hop forward
11.866
But now it’s Miyachi time. Certainly a huge opening for him to win as long as he stays on.
Miyachi – Double twisitng layout Kovacs and tuckecked Kovacs, hits them both – and he’s well ahead of my typing now, but he’s hitting all his crazy releases – stuck dismount. Obvious victor.
He could have played it safe and won. He did not. And he definitely won with that.
14.933 and he wins by a million.
What this means for Olympic qualification is that with Tin Srbic’s points being redistributed, Miyachi would have 90 to Epke’s 85, and Epke would need another win at a remaining event to get to 90 himself. Translation: This one isn’t over yet, but it’s definitely a 2-person race.
- Miyachi, 2. Georgiou, 3. Rostov
Aleister Crowley yet lives!
CVW…no! That makes me so sad. That’s going to make the rest of these even higher pressure for him, if he keeps at it.
Well he did get over a 14 on HB, which is pretty good for US men. Also with his 25 pts on VT from previous competition, he still should go for it IMO.
With only 3 meets left in the series and most of his VT competitors ahead of him probably going to qualify a person on another apparatus from the same country, he has a good shot.
Really impressed by Ashikawa and Sakaguchi, Sakaguchi’s error on the dismount notwithstanding. Really nice work on BB. Where have the Japanese been hiding them?
Audrys Nin Reyes doing the cross before his vaults is a big mood for men’s vault in general
Why is the Jeopardy music playing LMAO
Boy Erased on floor? What was that?!
I cannot believe that is Brinn Bevan now! I can’t decide if he wants to model for Nascar or advertise for a mobile home company. I’m dying.
That small top knot and tiny goatee looks horrendous. If you’re going to do that urban macho Bohemian thing, it needs to be a lot more. His face and body is too thick for the chic version of that, so please just do something else!
Who are any of these gymnasts? It’s like going to a Star Trek convention and they trot out someone unrecognizable to sign autographs and he’s “Guy in red shirt from Season 1 episode 4”. And nobody cares.
People that have the remotest of chances to get qualified for the Olympics, since they probably can’t get on their team or don’t even have a qualified team. The well known ones are there for prize money or have such depth on their teams, they want that sixth spot.
I’m just shocked no one got injured today, although it was hard to watch men’s VT — some of them came very close.
To anonymous at 6:53am: that is so disrespectful. Just because you haven’t heard of them or just because they’ve never been on a worlds or Olympic team doesn’t mean they’re not world class gymnasts. In fact, this competition had performances that would have won gold medals at this past worlds. PLUS, this competition is pivotal in deciding who actually gets to compete at the Olympics.
There is a world of supremely talented and dedicated gymnasts beyond the 5 or 6 people per country who we see annually at the worlds or Olympics.
For you to make a comment like that just shows how ignorant and unappreciative you are of the larger gymnastics world.
This world cup actually had a solid roster and a bunch of big names? Just say you only follow female american gymnasts and Sam Mikulak and go lol
Really?
Ew.
My hopes for the winners:
VT: Paseka (I am hoping Jade tries and gets on the main team)
UB: Fan (with Ilyankova, Agafonova, or Spiridonova getting one of Russia’s extra spots)
BB: Nedov (I like Li Qi but I think one of Shijia/Yushan/Tingting who doesn’t get on the main team should get the beam spot)
FX: Pihan-Kulesza (with Bachynska getting a spot from AA at Euros)
If Jade wins VT she is not eligible to be a member of the 4 person team, which is looking highly likely now that Paseka bombed this one.
She can denounce the spot before it is officially awarded, which means the US can still qualify 1 through AA cups and 1 from Pan Ams.
Not that she’ll do that without guarantees that would basically go against everything that the official USAG process is supposed to be.
I’m not sure where the “Jade can denounce the spot” rumors started, but I’ve yet to see anything definitive from the FIG on this so I wish people would stop saying it as though it were fact.
Jade absolutely can’t just opt out of her apparatus sorld cup spot and make the US magically become eligible to win a non-nominative spot at Pan Ams. That is not how it works. I don’t think withdrawals are made official until after the qualification process is finished. If Jade wins the spot, she is not making the team because the US is not going to be down one gymnast just to have her on the team. She is good, but only Simone is essential.
It’s in the official rules, they have until two weeks after the 2020 continental championships.
https://www.gymnastics.sport/publicdir/rules/files/en_Olympic%20Qualification%202020%20GA%20GR%20GT.pdf
If she doesn’t take the spot after the continental championships then the US has lost the spot – it will be reallocated to the next athlete in line for vault. The US doesn’t just pick up the continental spot.
I’ve yet to see anything official that suggests she can decline the spot before the continental championships and somehow allow the US to still get two extra non-nominative spots. That is pure fan speculation.
It’s official they can decline two weeks after continentals…no one is denying that. However, if Carey declines after continentals then the USA is out of a spot…they are not eligible for Continental allocation because they will have gotten one from Carey and likely one spot from World AA Cup. No where in the criteria does it state that an athlete can withdraw themselves from consideration after they have accumulated points. It states that athletes will be deemed ineligible after 2019 Worlds, but we don’t know how FIG is going to redistribute the points, as it would likely have been done by now. Perhaps the FIG is just going to void the ineligible athlete’s points and not redistribute.
Additionally, whoever thinks that USAG is going to let Jade just randomly say in February that she’s taking herself out of the running for World Apparatus is CRAZY. USAG, which is in bankruptcy right now, spent thousands of dollars for Carey and her father to attend three World Cups. They won’t be letting that happen after dishing out all that cash, especially when USAG didn’t want to go after Apparatus +1 but had no choice.
Finally, Carey could take herself out of the running, but her points still are intact and it is unlikely that anyone would pass her 85 points unless Yu Linmin (60) does, but I don’t see that happening as Fan Yilin just got herself 90 points and essentially has the spot wrapped up- you can only secure one apparatus slot per country.
Paseka would need to win the last three meets and get 90 points to pass Carey. No one else has a chance at knocking Carey off the top of the standings unless they win the last three events.
Additionally, Forster said that once Carey has the spot, she will become ineligible for the main team. That will be on March 11, 2019. While the official invitation won’t be sent to Carey until after Continentals are over, it will be obvious who won the spots. If Carey has #1 on VT after Doha, USAG will deem Carey ineligible for the 4 person team because she has auto-qualified to the Olympics. He stated he won’t allow her to compete for a spot at Olympic Trials.
Paseka is highly unlikely to win 1st on the last 3 and she would have to in order to beat Jade since Jade would win a tiebreaker with her 85.
Jade is going and this conversation got old months ago, way before Spencer and Jessica discussed the 1 in 1 million chance alternative possibilities out of sheer boredom.
I feel like CvW’s best shot at getting to Tokyo is not actually vault world cups but getting named to the 4 person team. Not that vault isn’t a good thing to try.
Considering Sam and Yul are locks for the Olympic team (barring injury), the rest of the team will need to be built around them. I can’t see USAG trying to prioritize anything other than a high team placement because right now no one other than Sam has a realistic individual medal chance.
If someone does manage to breakout as a potential event medalist, then USAG might consider taking that person plus the third-best all-arounder to round out the team. Otherwise the team simply needs to be the 4 men who over the course of the qualification process have the highest potential team total score.
I would love to see Van Wicklen or Whittenburg breakout and become a medal threat but they don’t currently have the difficulty or consistency right now for that to be a possibility. I do think Van Wicklen has a shot at making the 4 person team based on his Cottbus performance.
Based on how he performed at this year’s Worlds, I see Modi going also. He did 4 events in TF. He also was able to get above a 14 on HB, which the US needs.
That would mean the 4th person needs to be TF usable on FX, VT, SR, HB.
CVW could meet that spot, though his SR is weak. Whittenburg is another one that could be an option for the team, but his HB is rather weak.
I think Modi, Bower, and Wiskus are in serious contention. I wouldn’t be surprised if the team ends up being Mikulak, Moldauer, and any two of Modi, Bower, and Wiskus.
Unfortunately, the US saw very little, if any, benefit from the specialists brought to the 2018 and 2019 worlds. And with the team being 4 instead of 5 people, a specialist has to be able to provide an even more consistent and significant boost to the team score.
Van Wicklen and Whittenburg need a solid all-around program with at least 2 consistently stellar events to be in contention.
I wouldn’t be so quick to assume Yul is a lock. He probably is if he is healthy, yes, but sadly, that hasn’t looked like a given in a while.
THANK YOU BEAMSCORING! Yul literally got on the 5 person team with 0.09 above Allan per their own little charts for Worlds selection. After Yul failing on PH at Worlds in Q and TF, coupled with Allan increasing his scores internationally on FX … I seriously do not see Yul as a lock, I actually see him more likely to get a spot off the team.
If you look at Sam, Akash, Shane, Allan and Yul as the best AA’rs, you see that Yul actually has the least to offer for top 3 scores. You’re better off choosing Sam, Akash, Shane and Allan or swapping one of them out for a specialist like CVW, Trevor or Donnell. Because it’s 4 up in qualifications, I’m not sure they’ll take a specialist, especially considering all 3 of them have been pretty inconsistent — they need better than a 50% hit rate on multiple apparatuses.
beamscoring- No one is a lock for MAG, not even Sam Mikulak if he starts having TQ type meets during Nationals and Trials.
Moldeaur makes sense to the team and hopefully with some rest after Worlds and no longer competing NCAA every week from January to April, hopefully he will be refreshed. He battled nagging injuries all year while continuing to do both elite and NCAA last spring, which I think led to him at less than peak in the fall. He essentially had to be in peak form all year long due to NCAA. Now he can be better paced to peak in time for Trials/Olympics.
With a 4 person team, if you use him for VT and HB, the only top 4 scores he could provide, that doesn’t offset what several other higher AA members could provide. His best chance is VT finals and he has a decent chance there. I actually still see Trevor or Donnell getting chosen above CVW for the team, if they choose a specialist at all.
BRING DONNELL
not because he’s done anything to merit it lately but just bc I like him
thanks
Donnell maybe, if he gets back to his old form, but I can’t believe Trevor Howard is much of a contender after he contributed very little to the team in Stuttgart.
Do not know if Spencer reads those comments, but if he does, he should check the FIG updated World Cup ranking lists https://www.gymnastics.sport/site/rankings/ranking_mag.php
The FIG has corrected their points given in Baku to Cunningham and Tantalidis and has also given points correctly to Klavora and Tomas Rodrigues in Cottbus FX. Meaning that they are now following their World Cup rules Art 16. This does not necessarily mean that they are going to follow Art 18 as well, but if they are, it would mean that they would re-distribute the points of those who became ineligible due to active participation with teams that qualified, but not re-distribute the points that have already qualified individually, which would be insane, but at least according to the rules as they are written.
I wish piibunina had a blog. There’s really not enough actually-informed gymnastics media out there.