US Junior Nationals Preview

I’m beginning this preview of junior nationals with a look at the overall point or value of winning a junior national championship, which has come under scrutiny in recent quads as the power of junior national championships as a predictor of senior elite success has drastically declined.

Many of the most decorated US athletes at worlds and Olympics in the last couple quads—Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Morgan Hurd—never won a junior national championship. Meanwhile, of the champions of the last 8 junior national competitions, only Laurie Hernandez has (as yet) gone on to make a world/Olympic team as a senior. Of course, Leanne Wong is still TBD. There’s a lot of “never healthy enough to compete to full potential as a senior elite” going on in that group.

US JUNIOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

2018 – Leanne Wong
2017 – Maile O’Keefe
2016 – Maile O’Keefe
2015 – Laurie Hernandez
2014 – Jazzy Foberg
2013 – Bailie Key
2012 – Lexie Priessman
2011 – Katelyn Ohashi
2010 – Kyla Ross
2009 – Kyla Ross
2008 – Jordyn Wieber
2007 – Rebecca Bross
2006 – Shawn Johnson
2005 – Natasha Kelley
2004 – Nastia Liukin
2003 – Nastia Liukin
2002 – Carly Patterson
2001 – Kristal Uzelac
2000 – Kristal Uzelac
1999 – Kristal Uzelac
1998 – Morgan White
1997 – Marline Stephens
1996 – Vanessa Atler
1995 – Mina Kim
1994 – Dominique Moceanu
1993 – Jennie Thompson
1992 – Lanna Apisukh
1991 – Anne Woynerowski
1990 – Hilary Grivich

This recent trend is a stark departure from the period of 2002-2010,  when every junior national champion went on to make at least one senior world/Olympic team, and we had a streak of Patterson, Liukin, Johnson, Bross, Wieber, and Ross as junior champions that would lead one to believe that a direct correlation existed between the junior national championship and world/Olympic success. The expectation we used to have, that those who win junior nationals immediately go to the front of the conversation for future Olympic teams, is fully gone.

It’s worth noting, however, that junior national championships not necessarily translating into ALL THE MEDALS as a senior elite is hardly a new phenomenon. If you go back to Kristal Uzelac, and Marline Stephens, and Mina Kim, we’ve seen this story before. And it’s not as though athletes like Biles, Raisman, Douglas, and Hurd weren’t on the radar as juniors. Far from it. The year before they turned senior, Biles placed 3rd in the juniors, Raisman was 3rd, Douglas was 4th, and Hurd was 5th. They were right there. Just not THE CHAMPION and not nearly at the level we would later come to see from them as seniors.

That’s why I don’t think you can make a categorical argument one way or another about the value of winning a junior national championship. Kyla Ross was perfect from an egg and continues to be perfect in NCAA ten years after her first junior national title, and Laurie Hernandez won junior nationals the year before the Olympics and had a perfect trajectory to peak exactly on time for Rio.

But at a certain point, you have to look at these recent junior national championship results and think that if the goal is senior elite success, pushing to be good enough to become junior national champion at such a young age has got to seem…optional at best? Certainly not necessary. From Ohashi to Priessman to Key to Foberg to O’Keefe, we’ve seen too many recent junior national champions who showed their best elite gymnastics as juniors rather than seniors.

So on that note, let’s talk about who might become junior national champion this year. I’m just a ray of sunshine today. Continue reading US Junior Nationals Preview

Things Are Happening – August 2, 2019

A. Pan Am Games – final thoughts

Ellie Black.

End of final thoughts.

But not really. In terms of reading into the US women’s results from Pan Ams, which I know is our favorite pastime, I’d say…don’t so much.

By the time we get to actual worlds team selection, this competition will have paled in the memory nearly as much as US Classic and will be overtaken by things that will have happened more recently, like nationals and selection camp. That goes for both hits and misses. No one will be putting a ton of weight on Pan Ams performances, whether glorious or disastrous or somewhere in between (which was the reality for most of the competitors). The short-term memory is very small when it comes to selecting teams, and that’s largely how it should be. You want to select a team based on who is performing the best in the moment, not what happened two months ago. Worlds isn’t being held two months ago.

When it comes to Hurd, Wong, and Finnegan, we didn’t see a ton from them at Pan Ams, but they did the job successfully when we did see them, so it’s sort of a “checkpoint passed, move on to the next level, let’s see how you fare there” situation for them right now. We saw a lot more from Eaker and McCusker. Eaker had two excellent days and one rough day, performing stellar gymnastics in the team competition and day 2 of event finals, reasserting that she’ll be treated as an AA contender this year rather than solely a beam specialist, but she did fall twice in the all-around final to finish out of the medals. On balance, that’s still a successful competition, and those beam scores are just so very high that she will have a major advantage in all “best-case scenario, highest-scoring team” permutations.

More is being read into the performance of McCusker, which should also be marked as a successful showing overall. I mean, she won four medals. Still, because of past questions about her consistency, that fall in the AA final, the fall in the beam final, and the OOBs in the floor final carry a bit more weight because they are part of a trend. The question then arises: should that be taken into account when it comes to worlds team selection?

My answer: Not really. This is an argument specific to the US women’s team, but let’s not pretend like the US women aren’t going to win gold in the team final at worlds and that Simone isn’t going to win gold in the all-around. They are. That scenario gives the US more luxury to select its highest-scoring potential team regardless of consistency concerns. You can pick the group of five that you believe provides the highest possible scores, and if McCusker turns out to be part of that highest potential team (still several competitions to go), then she should go to worlds. Because here’s the deal: If she hits, McCusker has among the best non-Simone chances to win event medals at worlds and the US also wins the team final. And if she doesn’t hit, the US still wins the team final. There’s not really a downside to the US selecting a potentially inconsistent gymnast with huge scoring potential. You can go for your peak possible score on every event.

The only sense in which that inconsistency would come into play is if it ends up being really close for peak team score between McCusker and another gymnast like, say, Sunisa Lee who could also potentially win a bars medal. But who’s even winning that consistency race? I couldn’t say. Or perhaps it’s significant for the second AA spot. Still, if McCusker misses in qualification, then the other AAer would go to the final instead, and if she hits…well then she earned the opportunity for a spot in the final.

Meanwhile, if Forster just goes with the AA standings from selection camp again, it really doesn’t matter what you’ve done before that, but that’s rage for another day.

B. Nationals week!

Your life is scheduled below. Note that TV coverage for these meets is slated to begin 30 minutes after the listed meet starting time, which I’ve included below. For the women, I’m assuming the actual competition won’t begin until the TV start time because they’ve been given a two hour window and that’s plenty of time to run the whole women’s meet (unless you’re the Pan Am Games). For the men…who can say. We’ve missed rotations before.

USAG hasn’t posted streaming info for the juniors yet (or potential international streams for the seniors) or podium training, but we can assume USAG’s YouTube will be on that. Podium training for the women is always the day before the men’s competition begins.

Thursday, August 8
2:00 ET/11:00PT – Junior Men
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Senior Men – NBCSN

Friday, August 9
2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Junior Women
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Senior Women – NBCSN

Saturday, August 10
2:00 ET/11:00PT – Junior Men
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Senior Men – NBCSN

Sunday, August 11
2:00 ET/11:00 PT – Junior Women
7:30 ET/4:30 PT – Senior Women – NBC

C. Nastia, come get your dad

Valeri Liukin did a word vomit with R-Sport, and I can only assume he thought that meant the interview was a secret because he said a couple baaaaads in there. From his claim that he had to leave the NTC position because of a “made-up reason” to his and the interviewer’s stupid and reductive opinions on TEH BLACKS in gymnastics, it’s…….well, don’t read it if you want to enjoy your Friday afternoon, that’s what I’ll say.

People really tell on themselves when they try to characterize Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas as the same style of gymnast. Have you watched them? Or did you just see black and stop thinking? Continue reading Things Are Happening – August 2, 2019

US Nationals Rosters

One week from today, the US national championships will already be underway, and you will already be losing your mind about some such situation. Gymternet. So by way of an initial toe-dip into the world of previewing this competition, let’s get into the rosters and start lists, which have already been released.

Senior women

In all, 17 women will compete in the senior field at nationals. This marks the smallest senior field of the quad so far, but it’s up from those 2013 and 2014 national championships when just 13 women competed in the seniors, which was an unnecessarily small field.

Simone Biles
Sloane Blakely
Jade Carey
Jordan Chiles
Kara Eaker
Aleah Finnegan
Morgan Hurd
Shilese Jones
Emily Lee
Sunisa Lee
Grace McCallum
Riley McCusker
Gabby Perea
MyKayla Skinner
Trinity Thomas
Faith Torrez
Leanne Wong

Day 1 start list

Of the group that competed at Classic, Gilstrap, Hollingsworth, Jeffrey, and Vides did not make the cut for nationals, while Malabuyo and Adams withdrew due to injury.

The entirety of the Pan Am Games team is, indeed, slated to compete at nationals. We were informed at Classic that this would be the case, though a significant consideration will be the allowance we should have for those athletes downgrading or taking it easy coming off a long, major competition. We don’t necessarily need to see two days of full difficulty, especially from those who competed in the AA final and multiple event finals (or from those who have concussions). Though at the same time, I imagine it will be somewhat hard not to go all out with such an evenly matched and competitive field heading ever closer to worlds selection.

The IEC minutes from May tell us that the national teams for both seniors and juniors will be expanding from a minimum of 6 to a definite 10, which is a change from what was initially published on the 2019 qualification chart. USAG things. It’s quite interesting (where’s that money coming from, Bankruptcy Magoo?) and indicates that more athletes will be invited to the selection camp this year than we saw last year. In 2018, the top 8 seniors in the AA were immediately named to the national team following championships, and 9 in total were invited to the worlds selection camp—Ragan Smith, Alyona Shchennikova, and Jordan Chiles were added to the group for camp, while Jade Carey and Trinity Thomas did not attend because they weren’t going for worlds. Continue reading US Nationals Rosters

Pan American Games: Event Finals Day 2

It’s the final day from Lima, where some people will continue doing some things! Exciting! Today begins with vault/beam running together, then Pbars/floor, and then HB all alone at the end.

Judging from the schedule, I’m guessing our interminable awards break will come after vault/beam, and then we’ll have the final three events, and then the second awards session that we don’t have to watch because the competition will be over.

The beam final is the one I’ve been most anticipating across these two days (see: name of website), with McCusker and Eaker, Saraiva, and Francis, and Black on her quest to Simone the meet. Should be a delight. Let’s hope no one is encouraged to compete with a concussion today chum chum chum chum.

In withdrawal news, Daniel “The Shoulder” Corral has withdrawn from the HB final, which means Genki Suzuki will take his place.

Jorge Vega (remember that guy who called him Yorg?) just missed out on making the floor final, but he’ll be the favorite here in the men’s vault final.

Lot’s of fun shots of all the coaches (I mean fans) waiting for this meet to start. Everyone here has a credential or is the mom.

Things you don’t need to do: Introduce the FIG people before every competition. They are not the athletes. The people are here to see the athletes, not Donatella. This stuff is just pointless ego stroking.

Jorge Vega: still short. News.

Also short: Flavia.

These are the insights you come here for.

Men’s Crunch-death Final and Women’s Wobblies Final

Porto – VT – Shewfelt attempt with a massive lungex8 directly off the mat and into the Pacific ocean. Kept it to his feet?

Porto – VT 2 – Kas 1/1, lunge back, more comfortable than the first vault, feet apart in the air and flexed, still a fairly large lunge

13.650 average

Orrego – BB – why do we have to wait for this routine? It is the first one. bhs loso series, smoothly done – full turn – side somi, huge break, can’t save it, tries with a few leg up corrections but falls in the end – side jump, check and arch to save it –  – side aerial, solid – switch and switch 1/2, secure but short of position – aerial to split to bhs, broke connection after the aerial – 1.5, stuck, great dismount

11.366

Toro – VT 1 – Kas 1.5, pretty solid, medium size crossover lunge – knees and what not

Toro – VT 2 – handspring rudi, high, hop back –

14.033 average

Francis – BB – neck stand mount – side somi hit with an arm wave correction – split jump 1/2 from side, well done, secure and a nice split position – bhs loso loso and she falls. Went for the big difficulty, which you know I appreciate – switch to split leap – aerial to split to bhs, will get that series credit – Y spin with a leg-up wobble converted to choreo because UCLA, Carol decided it was artistic for no deduction, and same – transverase aerial to back full, a little short this time with a hop.

Danusia fell, final is cancelled.

11.733. She and Ariana are like, “Well, we both fell, so whatcha gonna do.”

De Luna – VT 1 – Kas 1.5, well done, nice completion of the twist, small hop back and a little off line

De Luna – VT 2 – handspring double front tuck, super deep landing with a hop back, but he got it to his feet.

14.183 average

Diaz – BB – bhs loso series, step back to control it – split leap 1/2, short of split – side aerial, large break at the hips, saves it – full turn – aerial with a check – switch to switch 1/2 with a check, probably broken connection as well – switch ring, awesome save because she landed with one foot entirely off the beam – punch front full. She hit.

12.433 for mission WE’RE TRYING TO GET PERU A MEDAL. That score is very high for that routine, is what I mean.

De La Cruz – VT 1 – Kas 1.5 – nice power, quick twisting, hop to the side. Nice form overall, just some crossed and flexed feet but not too aggressive.

De La Cruz – VT 2 – handspring rudi, a little awkward on landing with a hop back but mostly nice power and height

14.183 for him as well

Black – BB – switch leap mount, hit – double turn to full turn, small check in between – punch front, solid – bhs to layout, secure, she always lands that on her toes only, but it works for her – switch to switch, back leg on that switch, some short position – side sodi, small lean – 2.5 dismount, hop forward. Solid Ellie did Solid Ellie. Nicely done.

13.566

Lopez – VT 1 – Kas 1.5 – one of the stronger ones so far, a medium-sized hop forward, but he has the form until the very end, and has the direction and distance.

Lopez – VT 2 – his double front is super super deep as well, nearly a butt scraper but he pulls it out. Very Dipa style.

14.133 average puts him just behind

Pisos – BB – bhs loso series, nice and floaty – switch to switch 1/2, short on the switch 1/2 position – aerial, just got her feet mixed up it looked like, not quite right on and falls – split leap to side aerial, very small lean – 1.5 dismount with small hop.

12.200

Nin – VT 1 – Kas 1.5, small hop forward, solid, good height, just some feet, not quite the distance or direction as Lopez, but still a solid one.

Ellie is inquiring her D score on beam.

Nin – VT 2 – exceptional Dragulescu – he nailed that one today – just a small step back and the level of cowboy we expect on this vault, which is all

And his leg didn’t even fall off! Until afterward…?

14.416 average puts him in first.

McCusker – BB – wolf triple is smooth – same on the double – split leap to aerial to straddle, pretty elements, smoothly done – bhs bhs layout, a leg-up check today but she pulls it back – switch to switch 1/2 to Korbut, still a little short on switch 1/2 but this one looked a bit better – side aerial to split to back tuck, another leg-up check on that back tuck, has to hesitate to bring that leg back down – bhs bhs double tuck and sits it down. Overcooked that dismount but just a touch and couldn’t save it with a step back.

13.333 still puts her into 2nd behind Black.

Vega – VT 1 – struggles to land his handspring randi first vault – short landing and a large lunge forward/sideward and off the mat. Knees low but did not touch. Will get the benefit of difficulty.

Vega – VT 2 – Kas 1.5 second vault is comfortable for him but his landing is kind of awkward, a step forward and then a little lean to try to avoid another step but he took it anyway. In behind Nin and in second place.

Eaker – BB – switch leap mount, hit – split ring leap, sigh but secure – Y spin, overturns it by a hair but covers with a vage – aerial to split ring jump to bhs, well connected – side aerial to loso loso is very crisp, right on – split leap to side somi, hit – switch ring to bhs korbut, solid as well – she’s on today – switch to switch side – ro bhs bhs 2.5 dismount, stuck. Nailed routine. She got that one.

Leru – VT – destructive double front attempt, never had a chance and sits it down – huge cowboy and not close –

Leru – VT 2 – Sits down his Kas 1.5 as well. So not his day on vault.

15.266 for Eaker. She’s ahead by 1.7 LOL.

Saraiva – BB – bhs mount to split jump, good elements, questionable connection – ro layout, saved with a little lean – split leap to sissone, pretty – bhs loso loso, pretty solid, did well to hit it because she didn’t get her normal amplitude – switch ring, step back check – aerial to split ring jump, small hop forward – side somi and has to grab the beam WHY – split ring leap and lands with 1/3 of one foot on the beam and falls – double pike, two steps back. SIGH.

So, your beam podium will be Eaker (winning by 1.7), followed by Black with silver, and McCusker with bronze despite the fall.

Vault podium is Nin, then Vega, then De La Cruz. Vega lost it on that first vault landing.

This isn’t going to help the “McCusker can’t hit under pressure” thing because she’s had two falls in this competition, though if she’s consistent at nationals and selection camp, no one will remember or care. She has still won medals both times she has fallen.

So this is silver, gold, gold, bronze, silver for Black in her five competitions so far. One to go. Kind of want it to be bronze on floor so she can have two of each. It will be tough because she has the two Americans, Moors, and Saraiva in this final, but doable.

INTERMINABLE MEDAL CEREMONY TIME.

The three medalists in this beam ceremony have to go up 3rd, 6th, and 7th in the floor final in about 7 minutes. Fun prep.

I don’t know why I found the beam medalists raising those little teddy bears or statues or whatever aloft so hilarious, but that’s where we are.

Men’s Tippelts Final and Women’s Pretend to Dance Final

On floor, the Brazilians, Argentinians, and Americans are competing back to back, and the Canadians are separated. Which I think is racism.

Barretto – PB – front toss – peach with a little arch in hs – solid through the middle on the diam elements and the front straddle – tippelt, clean handstand, healy – stutz to one rail attempt and totally collapses and comes off. Resumes with double pike dismount, hop.

13.033

Saraiva – FX – solid DLO, some legs apart in the air, little step – split element that they changed angles during  – full in, just a little forward with a hop – split leap 1.5, around –  back 1.5 to front full, step – drops too early on Memmel attempt – split ring, a little hoppy on landing – double pike, feet, small shuffle back

13.766

Karstadt – PB – elbows up in first hs – a hitch in his healy getting back up to vertical, some form and a hesitation – stutz is off line but pulls it back – he does not die in his work to one rail, which is nice – double pike dismount, two lunges back

13.233

Fidelis – FX – 1.5 through to double arabian, large lunge forward OOB but I think she kept her initial foot in bounds for just .1 instead of .3 – full-in, bounce back – switch leap full, not quite around for me – double tuck, another fiarly large bounce, struggle to control these landings today – switch ring and split ring, a bit two-part in the split ring – double pike, another bounce.

12.966

Calvo – PB – healy is cleanly done – Bhavsar is smoothly executed – Tippelt, same – some long pauses in handstand, and an arch or two – double pike dismount, legs well apart, short landing with a large lunge forward

13.833

Flavia Saraiva is inquiring her floor D. Ellie Black is like eff this I need to do a handstand. INQUIRY REJECTED. Obvi.

Black – FX – popa, solid finishing position – front full through to 3/1, took it right into the corner and successfully landed, just a small shuffle – 25 through to double pike, was sure not to take it OOB this time but did land pretty short with a lunge forward – split leap full – fairly indistinct in some of these split positions, as in the difference between her switch leap 1/1 and a switch side 1/2 wasn’t as evident as it should be – front 2/1, just a tad under with a crossover step

13.433. Will be tough to get her sixth medal.

Bock – PB – shudder in elbows on his first hs – healy – peach with a readjustment and back arch – front tuck 1/2 to arms is solid – stutz – front straddle to arms – Bhavsar, very smooth – Tippelt, hit – double pike, a small stagger back. Had some issues at the beginning, but the second 1/2 was quite nice.

14.033

Dominici – FX – full-in, lunge back but keeps it in bounds – popa, nicely around – doubel Arabian, another lunge, just does keep it in the corner – switch ring and split leap full, solid – double tuck, bounce back – Floor Rulfova and I’m obsessed – switch 1/2, some position deduction there – double pike, smallest bounce up in place

13.233

Vergara – PB – arm walking on first handstand, and while I was typing about that, he’s already off the bars. I just saw him leaning toward of Pisa off to the side – super huge height on a front straddle – Bhavsar, good – Tippelt to healy, solid – stutz just a bit short of vertical – double front pike, bounce back

13.133

Magistrati – FX – double pike, chest up landing, bounce back – wolf triple, gets it around for credit – popa, good – whip to double tuck, shuffle back with two steps – wolf double, also credit, just a little hesitant in both – switch ring and switch side – just a front layout, but it’s clean? – 2/1, bounce.

12.866

Nuñez – PB – peach 1/2, quickly done – diam, solid – tuck 1/2 to arms – front straddle, nice and high – bhavsar, a little less smooth than some in his catch but fine – Tippelt – stutz 1/2 – double pike, hop forward. Very nice routine.

14.433

McCusker – FX – full-in, bounce back but keeps it in bounds – front 2/1 to front tuck, overcooked the front 2/1 today and really had to pull around the layout, was not able to stag and a OOB – split leap full, nice – double pike with a bounce back and what looked like another OOB, possible both feet – triple wolf, around, just a little clunky today – switch full looked pretty good today but a bad angle to judge – double tuck, deep with a hop back. Not her best.

13.300 currently in third. Got away with just the 0.2 OOB deductions and got credit for her switch full, so as high as she could have hoped really.

Malone – PB – hip circle up to hs – Makuts, hit well – muscles up a front toss, deductions there – Tippelt, solid – diam is super smooth, nice – stutz – double pike bounce back. That one handstand will hurt but a mostly solid routine.

13.533

Eaker – FX – front lay to front 2/1 to front tuck, a little hop – 3/1 with a somewhat large lunge back, two steps – double Y is full completed – 2/5 to front full, a little off line with a hop, just keeps it in bounds – leaps are lovely of course – double pike, stuck. Still don’t love that ring 1/2 at the end, rushed and a little bouncy. But nice routine.

13.800 puts Eaker just a tad ahead of Saraiva on floor.

Souza – PB – peach 1/2 – peach – double front tuck to arms, very difficult and well done individually, but he struggles a little in the straddle cut out of it – front straddle, good – Tippelt – double front 1/2 out, hop back, not too large

14.366 gives him silver.

Black is in third. Now you’re stuck between rooting for Moors or rooting for an Ellie medal sweep.

Moors – FX – brilliant Pod, just a small hop to the side – front 2/1 to front full and just does keep the hop in bounds with a couple arm waves to save another step – I MEAN ARTISTRY – double attitude turn, glorious – switch ring and split ring 1/2 – split jump 1/1 – 2.5 with crazy legs and a hop forward and OOB. Oh Brooklyn.

PB podium goes Nuñez, then Souza, then Bock

Someone in the crowd just murder-shrieked, so I assume that means Moors score came up? No?

“I stayed ON the floor today. So that’s good.” Ellie is a gem.

FUN EXTENDED WAIT.

Now we’re dealing with a Kara Eaker inquiry. GIRL YOU’RE IN FIRST AND I HAVE TO PEE.

Kara Eaker inquiry has been rejected. OH BIG SURPRISE.

13.900 for Moors! She wins even with the 0.1 for OOB, which I thought was going to sink her gold hopes! ARTISTRY.

So it’s Moors, then Eaker, then Saraiva for the medals. Black takes 4th.

Men’s Icarus Final

Martinez – HB – Yam, good – tkatchev – 1.5 – endo – tak 1/2 pretty late – stalder – finishes double doubel layout with bounce back, not a complicated routine on the bar but no major mistakes

13.233

Suzuki – HB – Yam, good elevation, not the most extended shape – tak 1/2, nice finishing position – layout tkatchev – tkatchev – tkatchev 1/2, not too jerky swinging out of it – just late in a couple finishing positions – double double layout with a hop. Nicely done.

13.800. Solid.

Nory – HB –  tak 1/2 close – giant full – layout tjatchev to tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2, all good – layout jaeger full, best it has been in the three days – has to pull back a vertical postition from listing to the side afterward though and caught awkwardly on his subsequent release, which will be the biggest deductions – only a small hop on double double dismount

14.533, still comfortably into first

Zakutney – HB – ZLM, good – tak 1/1 is really late – high tkatchev to layout tkatchev, nice – layout tkatchev 1/2, hit – tak 1/2 – tkatchev 1/2 – DLO 1/1, stuck, a little bit of pike. The releases are great. I worry about the verticals.

13.966 and into 2nd

Cournoyer – HB – Yam, excellent height and position – small hesitation up to hs – tak 1/2 – tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2, good rhythm, right to fingertips – layout tkatchev 1/2, a little legs on catch – pretty late full turn finish position – double double layout, forward but hit with a hop, not too large

Apparently they have no idea what to do with this score.

Finally 13.833 for Cournoyer, puts him currently 3rd.

Godoy – HB – ZLM, fine – layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2, some legs on catching the second one – tak 1/2, really nice finish position there – tkatchev to layout tkatchev 1/2 – DLO 1/1, lots of piking there and a hop back but hits it.

This girl screaming just in the middle of a Stalder is an interesting choice.

14.200 still puts him into 2nd. I also officially don’t understand E scores. Because his was the highest.

Calvo – HB – Yam, a little piking – tkatchev, not the highest – tkatchev 1/2, a bit of legs – tak 1/1, quite late – tak 1/2, closer to vertical – double double layout, lunge back

13.666 for him.

Barretto – HB – ZLM – tkatchev to layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2 – tak 1/2, just a bit late – layout tkatchev 1/2, hit – tak 1/1, finished at horizontal – Yam – DLO 1/1, great stick on that dismount.

14.566! He goes ahead of Nory by just a third of a tenth! His routine was definitely cleaner.

Podium: Barretto, Nory, Godoy

And that’s the end of the Pan Am Games!