Good gravy, we have arrived. 7:30ET/4:30PT. Trials.
All eyes will be on WHO IS NUMBER 4 today, though I do think it’s also still incumbent upon Chiles and Sunisa Lee to hit most of their routines. I sure wouldn’t feel safe if I were them in an “oh I fell a couple times and now I’m 5th” kind of scenario.
As for the 4th spot, I’m still inclined to believe it’s most likely going to whoever else finishes in the top 4 in the AA, but we don’t know that for sure. Keeping track of who ends up actually adding the most to the team score will be the big assignment of the day.
News of the day thus far is that McCusker is no longer slated for beam either, so she’ll just be on bars, which is the only event she did in PT. Meanwhile, Jade Carey is off the list for floor after dealing with some sort of leg issue herself in PT.
So I guess we don’t have to think about WHAT IF JADE MAKES THE TEAM TEAM anymore.
Is one event going to be enough for McCusker to still get a +1? It should be as long as she’s still getting 15s. But will it, if she’s not even presenting options for other events and neither of your prospective +1s/alternates present backup floor at trials?
In the first half of the first rotation, we’ll see some vital bars routines with McCallum and Malabuyo both there. For everyone whose potential argument is “I finished 4th,” every hit will be critical. Jade Carey will also be on vault, and given that she’s not doing floor, I’m eager to see what difficulty she pulls out on vault. She was downgraded at nationals, and the expectation was that she would upgrade back to her usual for trials.
Quite a possible scenario that Skinner looks like the obviously superior vault specialist at trials but doesn’t get selected because Jade already has the vault spot. Exactly the concern (for USAG, not for Jade) presented in 2018 when she was picked to be able to go for that spot. What if someone else looks better when the time actually comes?
Word is that Jade warmed up the Amanar, which isn’t important for her at present because she already has an Olympic spot, but would help her position on the team look more like the ideal scenario.
Broadcast begins. SIMONE. HISTORY. OLYMPICS.
We’re confirming that Jade Carey is set in the individual spot, not doing the AA, and not going to be named to the team. So that’s done.
Nastia’s in “Golden Globes dress, saving the best one for the Oscars” tonight.
Rotation 1
Showing us that Skye Blakely tripped on her vault run and hurt herself. Yeouch and weird.
Miller – UB – she’s getting her look in the broadcast – toe full – no connection to Shap to Pak to stalder shap 1/2, just a little leg break – inbar 1/2 to jaeger, higggh, nice – late 1/2 turn on high – DLO, step back. Hit. 13.766
Fatta – VT – Blakely off vault – hits a DTY, pretty nice chest up, bounce back. 14.366
Carey – VT 1 – opens with a very nice Amanar. Questions answered there. Small step, some knees. Good.
Oh interesting just one vault for her though. But really nice Amanar. 15.200. 9.400 E score a bit high for me.
Drayton finishes up bars with a double tuck.
Jones – VT – DTY – awesome, small shuffle back, great height of course. 14.900
Jones WILL do a second vault though.
McCallum – UB – stalder full to maloney to pak to stalder shap 1/2 is very nice – toe 1/2 to piked jaeger, catches just a bit close but fine – downgrades the Downie to a Ricna – FTDT, step back. Important hit for her and should be a 5.8 D score.
GRACE’S BALL OF TAPE CLOSE UP.
13.833. A hit for her but not an overwhelming score by any means.
E Lee – UB – toe fiull to maloney to tkatchev, nicely connected – pak is clean – toe shap 1/2, leg break but caught – toe 1/2 to piked jaeger and takes it insanely close to the bar and hits basically her calves – DLO is good. Not helping her alternate quest.
Malabuyo – UB – stalder full, hangs on well to not go over – stalder shap to tkatchev, hit – piked jaeger is nice and high – some leg break on pak – stalder shap 1/2, again some legs – DLO 1/1, hop.
13.900 for Malaubyo on bars, same as her average from nationals.
DiCello – UB – stalder full to stalder shap to tkatchev is solid – Piked jaeger little close but fine – Church, hit – pak, broken connection into van leeuwen – FTDT, small hop. Should also be on 5.8 D score, like McCallum and Malabuyo.
Wong – VT – very pretty DTY, comfortably around, small movement. Good work. 9.3 E score and 14.700 total. Justice for Leanne.
13.966 for Dicello, so just slightly ahead of the other AAers.
Tim inverted the Courtneys identities again.
Chiles – UB – piked haegfer is hit – toe full to tkatchev to giant to piked tkatchev to pak, clean – maloney to gienger, a bit close but fine – FTDT, flung out but finds the stick. Good one.
Skinner – VT 1 – Hits an Amanar well, good distance, pace forward.
14.300 for Chiles, useful advantage there for her.
S Lee – UB – Nabieva to bharwaj to maooney to gienger, excellent – giant 1/2 to piked jaeger, fingertips but fine into pak and van leeuwen – giant full – FTDT, hop forward, just a little short on dismount but nailed it.
Skinner even stronger with her Cheng second vault. And 15.133 for her Amanar. Big deal for her.
15.300 for Lee on bars.
Eaker hit her Y1.5 with a hop forward. Continuing to get it a little more laid out.
Biles – UB – weiler 1/2 to maloney to tkatchev, good – toe full is fine into piked tkatchev to pak – van leeuwen – Fabrichnova and makes it look like a FTDT. Honestly one of her cleaner bars routines we’ve seen.
Well, a pretty successful rotation for all the contenders there.
Rotation 2
And we start with a fall from Carey on her Church. So there’s that.
McCallum – BB – hits candle mount – wolf triple to wolf double, clean – straddle 1/2 from side, hit – split leap, short of split to side aerial loso, large break, leg-up wobble but keeps it on – aerial to sissone to full turn to split to make sure to get her dance combo – double pike dismount is good. One large break won’t be the end of the world, but won’t match her nationals scores.
Just 11.300 for Carey on bars. But will she finishes second AA?
Jones – UB – Stalder full to maloney to tkatchev is strong – huge Downie to Pak but hits her feet on the mat swinging through on her pak, well that sucks. Double front excellent.
E Lee – BB – side aerial to loso to loso, excellent – switch to switch 1/2, check – bhs bhs layout, hits it, medium sized leg-up check – aerial to split to straddle – straddle jump 1/2 from side, hits split well – side somi, has to lean forward to save it, no connection into split jump 1/2 from side – bhs bhs double pike, bounce back. Good hit. Some checks but pretty solid.
13.866 for McCallum beam. Down .333 on nationals.
Wong – UB – toe full, a bit late but connects to maloney to pak to van leeuwen, lots of tuck to catch the VL – stalder 1/2 to jaeger – stalder – DLO is pretty, good landing. Won’t be a huge score, coutning a B element I think, but through it.
13.833 for Emily Lee. They haven’t been here for her.
Malabuyo – BB – wolf triple and wolf double are nice – arabian and falls – the first flinch of the day – bhs loso loso, hit with a small check – punch front, very deep but saves it – aerial to split to straddle is good – switch ring, flexed foot moment – bhs bhs double pike, deep chest, landed it.
13.666 for Wong on bars, so it’s an improvement from her nationals average at least.
Skinner – UB – weiler 1/2 to maloney is hit to tkatchev, solid – short cast hs – A bit close on Ray to pak, connects it – legs on van leeuwen – giant full, very late into Fabrichnova, but the Fabrichnova is strong. She’s here today.
Malabuyo still gets away with 13.000 on beam.
DiCello – BB – candle mount is fine – wolf triple to wolf double, no issue – side aerial – switch tp sissone – bhs loso loso is good – aerial to split and straddle – has a leg-up break on her side jump – bhs bhs double tuck, double tuck had to be PULLLLED around because it looked low, but she hit it, chest down.
Skinner 13.466 on bars.
13.766 for Dicello, one tenth shy of McCallum’s beam score. DiCello hopes to get her on floor.
Chiles – BB – side aerial to loso, no second loso, but solid – aerial to straddle to bhs, hit – full turn – side somi, a bit of a lean and an arm wave – switch to switch 1/2, wobble – straddle jump 1/2, secure – sissone to wolf – round off to FTDT and STUCK. OK Jordan.
14.233 for Chiles on beam. She’s through both bars and beam with more 14s. No sign of a break yet.
Simone is not having these flickering in-arena lighting. Someone get fired.
McCusker – UB – toe full, pulls it around to shapo to tkatchev, good – Downie is hit – Ricna to pak, nicely done into stalder shap 1/2, solid – higgins to double front 1/2 out, hop back. Hit. Not quittte as strong as her 1.51 from nationals day 2, but very good.
S Lee – BB – wolf triple is good, wolf double is clean – aerial to split to bhs, connected cleanly – switch ring to split leap, good back leg on switch ring, high – switch to switch 1/2 to split ring jump, a little short on switch 1/2, should get the combo – side aerial to loso loso, great – bhs bhs 2/1, that was the only problem, short of rotation with a bounce back, but amazing on the beam.
14.800 for McCusker. Good score.
Eaker – UB – piked tkatchev to pak is clean – gets loose on shap 1/2 -0 clear hip full, a bit late – 1/2 to piked jaeger – cast 1/2, good vertical – DLO is clean.
Biles – BB – wolf triple causes slight problems, lean – aerial to split to straddle, small check – bhs loso loso, hit – switch to switch 1/2 to back pike, connected and secure – side aerial, small lean – split jump 1/2 from side to straddle 1/2, close to actual combo, we’ll see – bhs bhs double double, does the Biles dismount, and it looks quite good.
Lee went 14.733 on beam.
SIMONE ANKLE TAPE CAM.
15.133 for Simone, even with the checks. Same E score as Lee.
Nice double pike beam dismount from Drayton.
After 2:
Lee – 30.033
Biles – 29.733
Skinner – 28.599
Chiles – 28.533
Wong – 28.366
Skinner has kept herself in solid AA position right now,e but DiCello and McCallum have floor and vault left and Skinner has already done vault and still has to do beam.
Rotation 3
We’re back during the rotation change to see Lee’s beam routine, which they didn’t immediately show during the TV broadcast. Probably not important.
Eeesh Leanne Wong just dove into lava on her beam dismount. Whole thing:
Wong – BB – switch to straddle was lovely – aside aerial to loso and falls – oh dear dear – L turn is good to full turn – switch ring, small arm wave – aerial, arm wave – split ring jump, arm wave – wolf jump full – and then a million lunges on her 3/1 attempt. NOT GREAT>
Really pretty floor from Malabuyo for 13.566. If she hadn’t missed on beam…
DiCello – BB – double double tuck is really solid – DLO, nice, small slide – wolf triple, hit, at least some choreo between the triple and the double? Some? – 1.5 to front full, some knees, good – switch ring to split leap full, hit – double pike, lunge back. But the first three landings were strong and it should remain a good number.
And now the TV broadcast having it’s “Oh crap Leanne” moment. Just 11.500, which is devastating.
Skinner – BB – bhs tuck full is pretty solid, small arm wave – side aerial, check – split and straddle, hit – switch to switch 1/2, small pause before back pike – may not get credit for straddle 1/2 from side, well short of split – L turn to full turn – round off and goes for the FTDT and hits it, somewhat deep.
Chiles – FX – wolf triple, hit – DLO 1/1, lands it OOB with both feet, nice in the air – DLO, small slide – switch – split leap 1.5 – solid third pass – double pike, bounce back but keeps this one in bounds.
Wow, 14.133 for Skinner on beam to 13.966 for DiCello on floor.
Skinner got nearly all her D credited on beam.
Eaker – BB – side aerial loso loso is nice – switch to switch 1/2 to korbut, beautiful – switch ring with a large leg up check – to another swingdown? – split leap to side somi is good – bhs bhs 2.5, small hop
S Lee – FX – double double tucked, nice, hop back – switch ring – double L turn definitely around, more like 2.5 – 1.5 to front full, bounce forward has to really work to get her wolf triple around, followed by the double – double back, forward and a hop, not her strongest but fine.
14.400 is better for Eaker these despite the errors.
Biles – FX – casual triple double – Biles to stag, a little low on the stag position but fine – switch full, super high – wolf triple gets it around – front full to FTDT, small bounce back, keeps it in bounds – split leap 1.5, definitely around – double double, a larger bounce back but looks like she stayed in.
Just 13.233 for Sunisa Lee on floor, which will have implications for who ends up being the highest-scoring team because you’ll want them to deliver floor.
15.366 for Simone.
A look back in on the Skinner beam routine now, which was one of her strongest hits.
A hit beam from Carey, some checks but comes back from bars.
Jones – BB – sissone to full turn is lovely – Arabian, hits it, a little deep with a check but kept it on – front tuck, step forward and some movement – hits loso series – side aerial, good – switch 1/2, not too bad on the position – hits her side leaps – bhs bhs double pike, a little close but fine, step back. MUCH improved on beam.
McCallum – FX – double double tucked, hop back but solid – front lay to front 2/1, a little short, shuffle back – switch ring and split leap full – wolf triple and wolf double, good – full in, another smaller step – doiuble tuck, chest up, shuffle back. Some steps but good. Improved on nationals.
NBC is back to Eaker on beam. Great save on that ring, but year she definitely did two swingdowns.
Big 14.166 on floor for McCallum, exactly the kind of floor score she needed. That gets her up to 5th with vault still to come, which will help her.
E Lee – FX – double double tucked, hit – 2.5 to front full, controls the landing with a lean forward to keep herself from going OOB – switch ring to switch 1.2 – double tuck, stuck landing – L turn double, leg may have dropped a bit too low – double pike, hop back.
After 3:
Biles – 45.099
S Lee – 43.266
Skinner – 42.732
Chiles – 42.166
McCallum – 41.865
Eaker – 41.832
DiCello – 41.698
Jones – 41.599
Rotation 4
Chiles opens the rotation with a casually fantastic DTY. 14.966
Skinner – FX – Moors, chest down, some clear tucking, control – double double tucked is very strong, chest just down a bit – stands up out of her wolf double attempt, so some credit risk there – full in, hit, hop back – L hop full – switch 1/2 – front tuck through to 2.5, fairly lunge lunge but that will be on the good side of the scores for her. Will give her a shotat staying top 4 today.
Biles – VT 1 -starts with Cheng, large bounce back today, super clean of course. 15.466 you know.
13.866 for Skinner on floor. Big deal for her. That probably also puts her on the highest-scoring team based on today’s scores.
Amanar second vault for Simone, huge of course, medium hop.
NBC is so pissed that she’s not doing the double pike, they hav to show the replay from Classic.
13.633 for Eaker on floor will get her up to a very respectable 55.465 AA score.
Onto the touch before the final half of the last rotation. So far it has been a big day for Skinner, and McCallum and DiCello are doing what they need to do to keep themselves in it. It may be too late for Wong, but a huge floor score here could help.
If McCallum and DiCello do normal DTYs, they’ll be a few tenths back of Skinner heading to day 2.
Interesting that Carey warmed up floor. She was removed from the start list on that event.
McCallum – VT – DTY, large-ish bounce back
Carey – FX – DLO 1/1, bounce back and OOB – L turn double, heel drops a little – full in second pass is solid – L hop full – DLO, bounce back. Easy double tuck. Normal, solid, not her D score.
14.633 for McCallum and she’s one tenth behind Skinner.
Malabuyo solid DTY with a hop back. Good day on 3 events.
Thought McCallum’s vault score was prettttty high for that large bounce.
DiCello – VT – DTY good height, a little bit of leg crossing, bounce, not quite as large as McCallum’s
Jones – FX – 1.5 twisting double tuck, hit it, large lunge forward – DLO, chest forward, little hop – double L turn is around, pretty work – double arabian, bounce forward, just does keep that in bounds – double tuck, solid landing. Much improved today on beam and floor, shame about the bars error.
So Skinner will have 1 tenth on McCallum and 3 tenths on DiCello. Tomorrow’s going to be A DAY.
13.400 gets Jones a solid AA result.
NBC has gone all Leanne Wong doesn’t exist after her beam miss, but her floor could still be significant.
Wong – FX – L turn is around – double double tucked, very secure landing but chest well down – bouncy on her popa landing – whip to triple full, slide back – L hop full and switch ring look nice – 2.5 to just a half? Weird error, hops it around to show the full twist but she didn’t do a full – double pike, bounce back –
Great first half but the second half won’t do it.
13.933 for wong on floor still, but it could have been the 14 she needed. She’ll still be close to the highest-scoring team based on today if anyone cares.
Day 1
1. Biles – 60.565
2. S Lee – 57.666
3. Chiles – 57.132
4. Skinner – 56.598
5. McCallum – 56.498
6. DiCello – 56.298
Tomorrow is going to be intense for that 4th spot. Nothing decided yet.
this is my first olympic trial i watch live as I started following gym 3 years ago. I’m crazy excited rn let’s go girls
Petrounias made it!
Addison Fatta did vault. LOL Nobody cares.
Wow, rude.
Was there a stream that started before the TV broadcast, or did the TV broadcast start at different times in different places? All I saw was Simone and Suni and clearly missed a lot.
they had the first half an hour on olympic channel
Yes. The live stream on the Olympic Channel began at 6:30 Cental Time. So depending where you live. The NBC broadcasts are tape delayed. The nice thing about the Olympic channel live stream is they do a split screen so you can see every routine.
Has anybody on the west coast figured out a way to watch live? I got the part that was on the Olympics channel but nothing online or otherwise since they switched over to NBC. So frustrating.
I can only get it through the App, not through the website (and I have Dish network, which has always given me access) – same problem yesterday.
Thanks. The app didn’t work for me (I have sling) – it was just hanging, not even letting me log in. Maybe it was my table; I’ve used the app on it before, but not often, so I really don’t know.
Never mind – looks like now it’s still on the Olympics channel for us.
Live stream on the west coast started at 4:30. I watched the whole meet live on the Olympic Channel with the app. Never switched to the NBC broadcast. I liked the split screen and being able to see every routine, and following here for scores and commentary.
Arghhhh!!! Shouldn’t be this hard to watch Trials!!!! I have Hulu and cable provider (bill almost $300/mo). Just updated online accts today but NBC streaming apparently not updated yet – have literally spent several hours onine and phone to make sure all accounts updated and active today. Why, oh why, is it so darn DIFFICULT for the average person to possibly access Trials?!!!! Shame on you USA Gymnastics, but why am I not surprised? Link says available on NBC, but that and all NBC -affiliated channels on cable NOT showing trials. Grrrrr!
Try googling twitch tv and search gymnastics. I think the streamer I am watching is called platinumtrophywife
im watching AdexIncc on twitch
Thank you both. Think I need to hire you to teach this old dog new tricks and get rid of my expensive, not so useful, cable subscription.
I used the NBC Sports app and the Olympic channel live stream, which worked for me. Another alternative is a free trial to a streaming service (Fubo, Sling, etc…)which is what I used to watch the US Championships, because my cable was out on Day 1. 🤦♀️ Also times for broadcast vary for live stream, tape delay broadcast. Live stream in my time zone was 5:30 but NBC broadcast was 7:00.
how many times do we have to scream “we don’t care about Laurent taping Simone!!!!!”
Watch the apparatus live stream on the Olympic Channel, and you won’t have to. 😉
Leanne cant make this, she is so inconsistent and unstable, she cries her eyes out after every mistake
Suni lower floor score —› Kayla advantage over Myk because Kayla can add more on floor
You have to look at the vault and floor scores combined. If Sunisa Lee repeats tonight’s performance on vault and floor, then you absolutely need a third score on both of those events. Skinner is scoring at least 0.5 higher than DiCello on vault while DiCello’s advantage on floor has narrowed to 0.2 or 0.3 over Skinner. McCallum was closer to catching Skinner on vault and floor combined but Skinner doing better and better on floor means McCallum’s advantage there isn’t enough. However, one point in favor on McCallum is that a 14.166 is very much an Olympic silver medal kind of score whereas Skinner’s 13.866 is certainly not.
From tonight’s scores, neither McCallum nor DiCello would have contributed anything on bars and beam and I think showing a 0.2 or 0.3 advantage across those two events is what they needed. Tonight alone gave Skinner the advantage plus she has 2 vaults in her back pocket.
However, tonight solidified for me that spot #4 is clearly between Skinner, McCallum, and DiCello. Wong needed a 14.2 or higher on floor to keep her name in the shuffle and scoring below 14 on floor plus having a beam disaster has nearly eliminated her.
McCusker is a very interesting case because not only does she not have beam, she didn’t quite show a routine that screams bars bronze. McCallum showed a silver-worthy floor routine tonight and if McCallum isn’t selected for the team, I might be inclined to take her over McCusker if they both perform like they did today.
I’m glad Carey at least showed one full-difficulty vault. It would be pretty frustrating if she ended up in Tokyo with no competitive routines. But…where was the second vault?? At this point, vault is her only hope and we haven’t seen a full vault rotation from her in a very long time. I still think she needs to she both vaults tomorrow to ward off the threat of “oh well, there’s always Skinner.”
I’m literally watching so many routines that would make finals at the Olympic Games if they were a part of another team. Ughhh this selection is going to be brutal. I was very anti-McKayla but if she does this again……
Biles, Chiles, Lee, Skinner (team)
Carey and McCallum (Grace could medal on floor)
Alt: Wong, McCusker,
Based on tonight alone, this is actually exactly as I would have it except DiCello would be an alternate instead of Wong. I don’t think Grace as the second individual is actually a far-fetched idea at all.
Team: Biles, Lee, Chiles, McCallum with DiCello as an alternate. I would give Skinner the +1. The problem with putting Skinner on this team is that the U.S. needs a third floor score right now. Lee’s floor just isn’t going to cut it. If you’re just looking at that event, Skinner’s 13.8 isn’t going to help. They need McCallum’s floor. DiCello has the second best floor of the three, so I’d put her in the alternate position. Skinner deserves to go though, so I’d give her the +1 position. McCusker didn’t come in and compete the all around and since Forester stated anyone not competing in the all around won’t be considered for any position, she shouldn’t get a ticket to Tokyo.
You really think they’ll just disregard Grace’s 12.45 & 13.4 FX scores from nationals? I don’t. Kayla, Leanne and even MyKayla avg higher FX scores than Grace these past 3 days of comps, her VTs as well.
Actually on average Skinner and Grace are scoring about the same on floor. Here are the averages across this year for Grace and Mykayla.
Vault
Grace – 14.533
Mykayla – 14.933
Bars
Grace – 13.308
Mykayla – 13.529
Beam
Grace – 14.054
Mykayla – 12.945
Floor
Grace – 13.395
Mykayla – 13.379
The committee will determine based on both days of championships and trials. So it looks like a Simone, Suni, Jordan is inevitable. Riley’s UB 3 day avg is 14.85, which would have beat Suni for a bronze in ’19 championships. So I still think she’s the likeliest specialist spot. Tom has backtracked his language on that spot having to be an AA’r. Not even counting the 4th team member, the ‘best’ is already going assuming the above with one possible exception.
VT: Simone, Jade; UB: Suni, Riley; BB: Simone, Suni; FX: Simone, Jade AA: SImone, Suni
Jade is not showing full difficulty as they’ve said multiple times on FX, Suni isn’t either. So although multiple people have had 14ish routines these 3 days (Kayla, Leanne, Grace, Jordan), let’s not kid ourselves that Jade isn’t likely to outscore them all in Tokyo.
So that 4th spot will be whoever can bring the most in the top 7AA pool in a 3 up situation in the team final. Based on the 3 days so far, that’d be Leanne/Kayla on VT/FX or MyKayla on VT only. The difference is so small in those 3 avgs TF contribution, I’d guess if they maintain the same 3 day avgs on VT/FX that it’ll be the best AA order amongst them. Grace’s 12.45, 13.4 on FX at nationals takes her out. MyKayla is that exception as I think her and Jade are virtually tied in VT and she could possibly medal there if Jade got 2 per’d out, Leanne or Kayla could less likely medal on FX if Jade got 2 per’d out too though.
Loving this so much and can’t wait to see what happens Sunday!
Hi Spencer. I just wanted to say that switching on the requirement to log in was a good choice, and that I hope you continue with it. It’s much more pleasant reading the comments when the trolls are absent.
Does anyone have a lineup/competition order list from day 1 or for day 2?
Back on my Mykayla for the team agenda:
1. Her vault score is much more reliable than anyone who is in contention have on floor. The scores on FX in general fluctuate so much, like Grace’s or Leanne’s or even Suni’s for that matter. Meanwhile Skinner has been scoring around 15.0 (range -0,1 + 0,2) in every competition this year since freaking MARCH camp. This is a score that you can count on. She might possibly score even higher for her Cheng with international judges (based on scoring this quad where leggy, tucked landing chengs were getting 14.8s). I presume she domesticaly gets a big portion of deductions from hight and distance, which looks different in the eyes of judges who just saw half of the Chinese team barely get over the vault.
2. Soft-skills. Other than Simone, Mykayla is the only one who had Olympic experience (as a traveling alternate, but still) and is still in the running. With the miss congeniality thing I guess teammates like her and her guidance. So she could potentially be a team leader or support Simone in that role.
3. PR. She came back from having covid and pneumonia. So she’s the perfect story of “we overcame the virus and now sports go on.” Also a good story for “reparations after Martha, we no longer discriminate, see we picked girl who is on the best scoring team #transparency”. Plus she has a lot of fans from her online content and long career (tbh probably Grace has more fans, at least on the gymnternet). Also, good one to show having “older” gymnasts continue, now that Chelsie and Laurie are out.
4. I wouldn’t really be worried about having a built in alternate on the team. In the worst case scenario (injury after qualification selection) she can get decent scores on all events. If she got the scores like on trials day 1 in 2019 worlds AA, she would’ve come 3rd. Even with domestic/international scoring difference, she would be in the top 10 (obv damn the 2 pc rule). In any other case of injury they will just bring in an alternate who is compatible with the remaining people. This is what alternates are for.
5. She is obviously great at peaking. Judging on her training videos she can improve D score on bars (+clean up her 1/1 which has been getting better). She got a huge beam score (for her) on day 1, but she can do much better execution wise (the college execution which would be no wobbles, stuck landing and hitting connections). Floor also a great score, but we would be looking for a better wolf turn cause this was a mess and either sticking that 2,5 in last pass or upgrading to a triple which she lands better, but needs to build a little more stamina to throw it at the end of the routine.
I don’t know if individuals can substitute the team in the case of injury after 1 hr to quals. If they can’t then Riley as the second individual, DiCello and Grace as alternates. If they can then Grace as second individual (FX and in case of some mistakes from opponents, beam) and Riley, DiCello as alternate.
I too, really like the idea of a second, nearly guaranteed score of 15.2 or higher on vault for the team all around. It is much more of a certainty than a high floor score which could find itself in the low 13s after a couple bad landings. The big question though remains if you want to have to rely on MyKayla for a high 13 on floor. Obviously she’s proven she can get there. She’s also shown 13.0 and lower. However, I look to 2016 trials and 2019 trials where Skinner is having the same trajectory as she is now of hitting her absolute best at trials. With another month of training before the Olympics, she could easily be hitting 14s on floor… but so could DiCello and so could McCallum.
And I also think that MyKayla’s beam could possibly be a very good number. She got over a 14 with missed connections and more arm adjustments and leans than she would have liked. That routine could consistently get into the mid 14s… but so could DiCello’s and McCallum’s.
It really is closer than we could imagine. I think it’s advantage Skinner right now, but she has to at least repeat, if not improve on, her day 1 performance.
And Carey is still throwing a wrench in things. This isn’t an attack nor am I suggesting she’s doing anything wring or deliberately malicious. But not showing a full vault set or floor routine, she’s not really giving the selection committee an indication of what she’ll look like in Tokyo. On one hand, she has zero obligation to prove anything as her spot is guaranteed, but on the other hand, she is opening the door for the selection committee to consider gymnasts based on their vault and/or floor medal potential. Grace and Kayla look far likelier to medal on floor than Jade at this very moment. In fact, Jade hasn’t shown a medal worthy floor routine at all this year. She finally showed a medal worthy vault on day 1 of trials, but only one vault. There have been murmurs of her having a small issue with her leg/foot but on the other hand we saw her doing triple twisting double layouts on floor during podium training at nationals. There just this air of mystery surrounding what Carey can do and how well she can actually do it.
skinner 2nd vt first day trials: https://twitter.com/GrilledCheesus7/status/1408581452053241857
She got a 15.233 for this. I did notice one of the arms was a little bent on the block, but it’s definitely a 2 hand block. And she pretty much stucked the landing. I personally think it should’ve been a bit higher than 15.233. like 15.3+
I think this vt would’ve score real well internationally. Skinner has been very consistent on delivering high vt score this year. If you want high consisent score in something, this is it.