2021 Worlds

Worlds Training News

The first day of podium training at worlds is in the books, and here’s what we’ve learned:

  • No AA for Murakami. Murakami Mai trained only beam and floor on day 1, sitting out vault and bars (which also takes her out of medal-favorite status on vault). She said expects this to be her final competition. Do not recognize, do not accept.
  • While Rebeca Andrade has not done her podium training session yet, she has confirmed that she will not compete floor at worlds, which takes two of the three pre-meet medal favorites out of the all-around. Now, Melnikova looks like the one to watch for the world title, with Kayla DiCello moving up the ladder as her most compelling challenger, and the medal outlook improving for Wei Xiaoyuan and, dare I say it, Leanne Wong if she can hit four events on the same day.
  • The United States didn’t officially give anything away regarding its lineups by having all four gymnasts train all four events in their podium session. But, with McClain leading off the group on bars and floor and Frazier leading off on beam, it did seem that the first athlete up in PT would be the one to sit on that event in actual competition. Which would mean that DiCello and Wong would compete the all-around—an actual…sensible and logical team decision from the US? I don’t know where I am.
  • China had only two athletes—Wei Xiaoyuan and Qi Qi—perform floor in podium training, which would indicate that Wei will be China’s only all-arounder here. They’ll then have Qi aiming for vault and floor medals and Li Shijia and Luo Rui aiming for bars and beam medals. At this point I pretty much expect to see every member of China’s team make at least one final as long as bars and beam aren’t splatfests, which I wouldn’t say about any of the other countries (at least those that brought full squads).
  • Here’s an updated look at the pre-worlds AA rankings, now removing the athletes whom we believe won’t compete the all-around:

Updated World Championships All-Around Rankings

VT Peak UB Peak BB Peak FX Peak TOTAL
Angelina Melnikova RUS 14.733 15.066 13.733 14.433 57.965
Leanne Wong USA 14.800 14.150 14.450 14.233 57.633
Kayla DiCello USA 14.833 14.600 14.050 14.050 57.533
Wei Xiaoyuan CHN 13.366 15.166 14.500 13.800 56.832
Alice D'Amato ITA 14.750 14.700 13.300 13.100 55.850
Hatakeda Hitomi JPN 14.100 14.600 13.566 13.566 55.832
Carolann Heduit FRA 14.600 14.100 13.500 13.550 55.750
Naomi Visser NED 13.625 14.533 13.767 13.667 55.592
Maria Minaeva RUS 13.666 14.500 13.466 13.633 55.265
Georgia-Mae Fenton GBR 14.375 14.075 13.450 13.225 55.125
Asia D'Amato ITA 14.550 13.933 13.133 13.166 54.782
Vera Van Pol NED 14.500 13.633 12.900 13.550 54.583
Rose Woo CAN 13.600 13.700 13.400 13.200 53.900
Anastasia Bachynska UKR 13.833 13.433 13.700 12.800 53.766
Celia Serber FRA 13.800 13.450 13.300 13.150 53.700
Maria Ceplinschi ROU 13.650 13.167 13.433 13.300 53.550
Lee Yunseo KOR 13.400 14.333 12.841 12.966 53.540
Filipa Martins POR 13.566 14.300 12.800 12.666 53.332
  • Chances having improved dramatically for people like D’Amato (actually both), Hatakeda, and Heduit, with very realistic spots in the lead group in the AA final up for grabs, and potentially even medals depending on how things go in the falls department.
  • In other news, Elze Geurts did in fact perform two vaults. Given the depleted vault field, she seems a solid choice for the final, where Andrade, Melnikova, Devillard, and Qi will be the front runners and any manner of things could happen after that.
  • In conclusion, Becky Downie trained a 6.6 D score on bars
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