Not interested enough to actually follow men’s qualification from Euros? Still vaguely want to keep up with the names and the news and how the hot ones are doing and whatnot? I hear you. Here’s a quick overview of what went down at men’s qualification today.

• Russians Artur Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagornyy qualified first and second into the Best Little Muscle Gorilla-Man final by a US WAG kind of margin, confirming their statuses as the heavy favorites to go 1-2. World champ Dalaloyan is the default pick for gold, but it wouldn’t take much of a missed day from him for Nagornyy to move ahead.

• Qualifying in 3rd place into the all-around final with a solid margin over the rest was Ahmet Onder from Turkey, very capable of winning that medal if he’s hitting during the final, but also very capable of suddenly being all “oops, my arms are a jelly” and allowing an opportunity for…like anyone? Perhaps 2017 bronze medalist James Hall or form favorite Marios Georgiou, who qualified in 4th.

• Russia advanced two competitors into every event final, also suffering a whole heap of 2per along the way with Nagornyy missing out on vault and floor despite finishing 3rd and 8th on those events, Dalaloyan getting pushed out of horse, and Poliashov getting pushed out of the PBars final. The punishment for finishing third among the Russians on any event is a one-week stint scraping Valentina’s bunions.

• Floor proved the deepest event and most difficult final to make in this year’s European class, but Artem Dolgopyat of Israel nonetheless qualified with a substantial lead. If he hits well in the final, Dalaloyan is likely the only one who can beat him, especially since Nagornyy went all OOB-festival to miss out. Shatilov also advanced to the final, so you’re going to be fine.

• Dom Cunningham did qualify among the top 8 on floor, but sadly a knee injury suffered on vault has cast doubt over the rest of his competition as we await news on its severity.

Continue reading European Championships – Men’s Qualification →

A few notes on what transpired at the first day of men’s selection competition yesterday, as we prepare for the final day of the selection process tomorrow at 3:30pm MT.

1) Mikulak and Moldauer are way ahead of everyone else. I wouldn’t use the scores, particularly for those two, as any kind of indication of their real-life scoring potential since they were high, occasionally to a comical degree. But compared to the rest of the selection field, they really are that far ahead of their teammates.

2) Marvin Kimble did not make his case. We’ve been waiting to see what level of competitiveness Kimble would show after missing nationals. His performances on the three events he competed on the first day were not yet at selection standard, particularly his critical HB routine where he got destroyed for an E score in the 6s—despite not falling—because of all the crazy form and late finishing positions.

Now, I’m still somewhat disposed to consider Kimble for the worlds team because of how disastrous everyone was on HB and what he potentially could score there. Even with a weak performance, his 12.950 wasn’t too different from the rest of the squad. That’s how dire things are on HB. Give me a possible 14 with the risk of a 12 over a guaranteed 13.2. I acknowledge, however, that a repeat of his HB performance on day 2 should eliminate Kimble from contention. But, if he manages a 14+…

Also hurting Kimble was the lowish score on rings, an event he would have been counted on to contribute to this team. He needed a 14 there. Right now, the US is left looking for a third good rings score, and that alters some of the selection dynamics. If only you had someone like Donnell Whittenburg competing…oh wait. Continue reading Men’s Selection, Day 1 →