In today’s edition, I’m working through the highest D scores that have been attempted on beam in 2019 (and we’ll get to the issue of getting credit for them in a moment).

As such, there may be other gymnasts who have attempted 6.4+ routines this year, but since they got awarded a 0.6 or something, they didn’t make the radar.

Kara Eaker – 6.8

Eaker received credit for the full difficulty she attemped at Classic this year with her 6.8 en route to that 15.400 total.

Her basic value—that is, if she got credit for no connections in her routine and just the skills—is 5.3, which is on the lower side in this company and means she is exceptionally reliant on hitting connections with appropriate rhythm in her routine. Kind of her thing.

Eaker’s 1.5 intention of 7 separate combinations of skills earning bonus is the highest in the world, with even the Chinese connection queens typically going for five.

Ou Yushan – 6.8

Ou has to count her dismount, which is a C, and that takes her difficulty down by a tenth because it means she cannot count her side somi (D) as one of the acro skills. Otherwise she would be at 6.9, the highest being attempted in the world.

Ou has the two single most valuable combination being done by anyone in her routine, the side somi to two side leaps, connecting three D elements for 0.2 for each connection and a tenth for series bonus. It’s a tough one to get credit for, but she did in this case.

In this routine, Ou has the highest connection value being attempted in the world at 1.6. Her base difficulty without connections is just 3.2, so she’s even more reliant than others on getting that combo credit.

Guan Chenchen – 6.7

Guan has a number of different routine options, and we’ve seen this particular 6.7 routine pop up only at Chinese nationals. The routine she attempted this month at junior nationals moves that initial switch 1/2 combination series and eliminates that orphan Korbut, which brings her down a tenth in intended D but seems a more comfortable arrangement overall.

Compared to Eaker’s routine or Ou’s routine, Guan has a bit more skill difficulty and is going for a bit less in connection value, with 1.3 total in connections instead of 1.5 and 5 distinct bonus sequences instead of 7.

Simone Biles – 6.6

The double double routine puts Biles up at 6.6, with composition that’s quite different from the two above since Biles doesn’t rely as much on connections. Her basic score with no connection bonus for this routine would 5.6, and even that would never happen because quite a bit of Biles’ connection bonus is from series like the 2 losos and the dismount, where it’s a true rebounding series and therefore not really a subjective rhythm thing in the same way. If she doesn’t fall on those series, she’s getting the bonus.

Five tenths of Biles’ difficulty here is what I’d consider “whatever the rhythm happens to be on the day” difficulty, whereas a full point of the difficulty in Eaker and Guan’s routine could be lost if it’s a pause-y kind of day, even in an overall hit routine, and 1.4 could be lost in Ou’s routine.

Biles has removed some of the highest value acro skills from her routine this year like That Damn Barani and the front pike, though especially when the new dismount is in, you don’t really notice.

Interestingly, even with the new dismount in, Biles is not showing the highest total skill difficulty on beam this year. At 3.6, her value from elements is close to the highest, but not the highest. Continue reading The Most Difficult (Attempted) Beam Routines in the World →

A D-score analysis of the most difficult bars routines of 2019 so far. Just because.

Routines are arranged in descending order of D score, and I haven’t included elements like casts and giants in the D-score breakdowns because snoozer.

Nina Derwael – 6.7

In this group of highest D routines, Derwael is performing the most difficult individual elements (the only one getting 4.0 for her skills) and is in a tie the second-most connection bonus at 0.7—so kind of a recipe for the lead in the D-score race. She’s the only person in the world right now performing 3 elements rated F or higher on bars.

The only category in which Nina doesn’t reign is in most connection value gained on bars, a title that belongs to Fan Yilin.

Fan Yilin – 6.5

What’s remarkable about this routine is that Fan is done in just two sequences of skills, requiring just two cast handstands—the lowest of any routine here. Most have four different sequences of elements, meaning four cast handstands and that many more opportunities for deductions.

Fan has no skill in her routine rated higher than E, but she gets up to second-highest in difficulty through connection bonus, which at 9 tenths is clearly the best of the bunch. The only downside is that she has to add in an extra element (9 elements of D or higher in this routine when only 8 can count) to get that CV total, which is another opportunity for deductions.

Sunisa Lee – 6.4

With Derwael, Sunisa Lee is the only other one performing a G element. That allows Lee to get up to this 6.4 plateau despite having the lowest CV of all the gymnasts reaching 6.4, with 6 tenths in bonus. The rest are at 7 or higher. Lee is also the only one in this 6.4 group performing an isolated dismount with giants beforehand. For now.

Elisabeth Seitz – 6.4

No one’s composition is exactly identical here, but they all have the same general idea (except for Fan). The same basic style and type of skills and Van Leeuwens, just in different orders. What’s interesting about Seitz’s routine formulation is that she saves the most highly valued portion of her routine—the most difficult single element and most important CV sequence—for the second half of her routine when most gymnasts try to get that out of the way at the beginning. Continue reading The Most Difficult Bars Routines in the World →

Basically this is my version of every single news organization publishing its WhAt HaPpEn WhEn SiMoNe DoInG aLl ThEm GuMnErStIcS? article. A REAL LIFE GUMNERST EXPLAINS SIMONE’S COOL JUMP.

The only way to survive this onslaught of normals trying to discuss Simone bounce-somersaulting her quiple-dumple flop-flop on the floor dance is to wrap ourselves in the warming glow of D scores.

So, I’ll be going through Simone’s D scores on each event (except for vault because just look at the list) for each day of nationals competition—because there were different things going on in each of her routines each day. It was a real adventure.

On beam on the first day of nationals, Simone performed the double double dismount, which has been given a provisional I rating, which increases her intended D score to 6.6. That’s now just one tenth lower than the D score she was attempting on beam in 2016 when the scores were all 0.5 higher.

Keep in mind that the I value for the double double beam dismount is a temporary one. It will not be official until Simone submits the skill at worlds and the women’s technical committee makes a final determination—after Donatella gets out one of those jewel-inspector glasses and is like, “SEVEN FLAWS.” The WTC can adjust the value at that point if they want, and you will lose your shit if they make it lower. Sunrise, sunset.

In that day 1 beam routine, Biles received credit for every skill and connection she attempted to get that 6.6, the double double dismount garnering an additional two tenths over her typical intended routine, which would be 6.4.

That 6.4 routine is the one she attempted on day 2, but she did not receive full credit for that routine.

In addition to performing the G dismount instead of the I dismount, there was a broken connection between the switch leap 1/2 and the back pike this time, which eliminates a tenth of connection value as well as the series bonus for that whole sequence, bringing her total D score down to 6.2. Continue reading Simone Biles Difficulty Score Analysis →