On the eve of championships, let’s check back in with the national apparatus rankings to see who is hanging around each list heading into the meet. I’m including the top score this year for athletes on the nationals roster, and using scores from only Winter Cup, Classic meets, and international events.
Vault – 1st Vault
| 1. Simone Biles | 15.400 |
| 2. Joscelyn Roberson | 14.650 |
| 3. Amelia Disidore | 14.250 |
| 4. Tiana Sumanasekera | 14.233 |
| 5. Leanne Wong | 14.150 |
| 5. Kaliya Lincoln | 14.150 |
| 7. Skye Blakely | 14.100 |
| 8. Addison Fatta | 13.900 |
| 9. Dulcy Caylor, Katelyn Jong, Charlotte Booth | 13.700 |
Looking to break in at nationals:
Jade Carey – With the Cheng she performed in podium training yesterday, Carey will view that 14.250 that currently sits in third as little more than child’s play. A hit Cheng in competition would almost surely lock Biles/Carey/Roberson as the top 3 vaulters in the US, at least given additional hits from Roberson at championships as well.
Jordan Chiles and Shilese Jones – Chiles and Jones, then, will not necessarily aim for a top-3 placement on vault with their DTYs, but they need something close. A vault that says “I’m the next best scorer on vault and also have other vital events, so you’re very happy to use my vault too.” Besting 14.250 would express that sentiment well.
Bars
| 1. Zoe Miller | 14.850 |
| 2. Skye Blakely | 14.350 |
| 3. Myli Lew | 14.250 |
| 4. Nola Matthews | 14.067 |
| 5. Elle Mueller | 14.033 |
| 6. Simone Biles | 14.000 |
| 7. Jordan Chiles | 13.900 |
| 8. Leanne Wong, Katelyn Jong, Charlotte Booth, Alicia Zhou | 13.750 |
Looking to break in at nationals:
Shilese Jones – While Jones has undeniable all-around contributions, her most important event for any team permutation remains bars. In podium training, Jones showed her same intended composition from 2022 and said in media that she planned to add upgrades/changes to her beam and floor routines here, but not on bars. So that puts her at a max 6.4 D (if she connects the Pak to Van Leeuwen), which is also what Zoe Miller performed at Classic. So for Jones, the top bars spot is attainable, but anything vaguely close to Miller’s mark would be a win for her given other events where she should have competitive scores.
Suni Lee did not petition to compete bars and floor here, so she’ll be waiting for selection camp to try to break into the bars top 3—something that is probably necessary for her since a big beam number and a vault alone may not break into the highest-scoring team. She did, however, do quite a bit of bars in podium training, showing the same collection of skills she showed in training at Classic.
The standard for bars-specific gymnasts is typically beating Simone’s score (you’re not a bars specialist if they can just put up Simone instead). Simone went 14.000 at Classic but that was with a wonky toe full, so she has the opportunity to pick up a couple tenths.
Beam
| 1. Simone Biles | 14.800 |
| 2. Suni Lee | 14.500 |
| 3. Joscelyn Roberson | 14.300 |
| 3. Skye Blakely | 14.300 |
| 5. Tiana Sumanasekera | 13.967 |
| 6. Ashlee Sullivan | 13.800 |
| 7. Nola Matthews | 13.300 |
| 7. Malea Milton | 13.300 |
| 9. Kayla DiCello | 13.200 |
| 10. Lexi Zeiss, Michelle Pineda | 13.100 |
Looking to break in at nationals:
Ehhhh. The peak scoring standard has already become pretty tough on beam, but beam tends to be so variable—not just because of falling but because of the connection bonus on a given day—meaning one doesn’t necessarily have to be at 14 every single time to make a beam case. For Roberson for instance, that 14.300 from Classic is a great number, but the score isn’t always at that level—so it’s not like you need a 14.3 right now to be considered a top beamer. Although if Roberson repeats that 14.3 again a couple times, maybe you will.
The variability of beam makes it perhaps the best place this year for a Leanne Wong or Kayla DiCello, or more of a specific beam specialist like Tiana Sumanasekera, to come through with a top-3 result that they could pair with other events in the high 13s to start making a case.
Floor
| 1. Simone Biles | 14.900 |
| 2. Joscelyn Roberson | 14.150 |
| 3. Kaliya Lincoln | 14.000 |
| 4. Tiana Sumanasekera | 13.700 |
| 5. Leanne Wong | 13.500 |
| 6. Ashlee Sullivan | 13.350 |
| 7. Nola Matthews | 13.300 |
| 8. Elle Mueller | 13.266 |
| 9. Amelia Disidore | 13.250 |
| 10. Lexi Zeiss, Kayla DiCello | 13.150 |
Needing to break in:
The whole gang — Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Shilese Jones. All three of those gymnasts will style themselves floor contributors in a team-final scenario, so we’ll see a bit of a fight over who can score better than the others to make that floor case.
With a bunch of athletes sitting around that 14.0 mark, the difference between those who are top 3 on floor and those who aren’t will be minimal. If you’re even 13.950 at selection camp, you probably need to rely on other events to get into a top-scoring team despite being a top floor scorer.
The race for 2nd AA
Top US all-around results (1 per gymnast) for athletes at nationals, 2022-2023—using US Nationals, Classic, Winter Cup, or international competition.
| 1. Simone Biles | 59.100 |
| 2. Shilese Jones | 57.200 |
| 3. Jordan Chiles | 56.150 |
| 4. Kayla DiCello | 55.950 |
| 5. Jade Carey | 55.650 |
| 6. Skye Blakely | 54.700 |
| 7. Leanne Wong | 54.400 |
| 8. Lexi Zeiss | 54.199 |
| 9. Joscelyn Roberson | 54.050 |
| 10. Tiana Sumanasekera | 53.900 |
That 57 from the first day of nationals last year speaks to Jones’ peak scoring potential across the four events, and based on podium training, the routine composition looks there for a repeat national silver medal. But it requires hitting.
Chiles and DiCello currently sit in those third and fourth spots based on their result from nationals last year but will face challenges. Carey, for instance, is almost always hovering around a mid-55 at national meets, and while she won’t have the highest numbers on bars and beam, she’ll always be there forcing others to hit.
A number of athletes on this list will pretty much expect to set a quad-best mark with a hit all-around here. Blakely’s three-event scores this year would project an AA total into the 56s even with just a medium-iffy floor result, which would dramatically eclipse her 54.7 mark, while Wong hit 54.1 at Classic with a large beam dismount error, and Roberson was on 54.0 with a bars fall—though Roberson did not perform a same-bar release in training yesterday so may just be eating a loss of 0.5 on bars anyway. Regardless, all of them will look to zoom up this list.