Continue reading Things Are Happening – May 23, 2023 →

I’m here in the arena for the first day of men’s competition, where we will see who the bonus system has given an 80.96 million in the quest for a national title.

If you’re looking for me, I’m directly under the rings. I have been placed right next to rings and pommel horse, obviously in some sort of cosmic prank.

We’re introducing the USAG rebrand, where the logo is now a different shape than it used to be, representing that everything is fixed.

Intros now. Because like 1.5 people train at the OTC now, the top men are more dispersed into different rotation groups than they usually are.

The meet DJ is stationed right below the flag, so during the anthem, it looked like everyone turned and saluted the DJ. As it should be.

Brandon Wynn is explaining addition to us.

Rotation 1

Ah Chow nearly sits a front double pike on floor but pulls it out. Ends up falling on dismount.

Whittenburg – PB – healy, good – peach to peach half, a little position but fine – diam, slightly late it looked from my angle – front straddle – double front 1/2 out, small hop. Good.

Hit for Malone on rings.

Hong – VT 1 – successfully lands his Ri Se Gwang, chest pretty far down with a hop to the side, but it’s hit. 16.630. You know, like you get.

Hong – VT 2 – Kas 2.5 is strong, by that I mean hit, lunge to the side and out of the area. Some legs.

Burkhart clipped the rings with his foot on his dismount but it didn’t seem to affect the skill.

Wiskus hits his Kas 1.5 on vault with a step back.

I have basically no view of pommel horse because it’s behind the rings athletes, which is my definitely real excuse for not live blogging it and there’s no other reason.

Dallas Hale with a good stick on a Kas 1.5

Loos with a good rise from Maltese to planche on rings. Plance positions look very solid – good stick on double double dismount. Strong routine.

Moldauer 14.789 on horse, for what it’s worth.

Richard – HB – Cassina, hit, caught a little close, Kolman, has more than enough time – layout tkatchev – tkatchev to piked tkatchev, a bit close on the last one – rybalko – tak full gets crazy in body position but pulls it out – take 1/2 – nearly collapses in hop full, lots of elbow form – DLO 1/1, hop.

Hit double double tuck rings dismount for Young. Hop back

Walker – Rings – good planche work to start – vertical handstands Yamawaki jonasson to L sit, comfortable – double double tuck, sticks it with an arm wave. Crisp routine

Karnes hits a Kolamn on HB – layout tkatchev to tkatchev – tak – stalder – DLO 1/1, some piking large lunge forward

Lasic-Ellis has a big lunge back on his rings dismount.

Christopolous with hands down in his final pass on floor.

A couple stuck passes from Simmons on floor, including a nice DLO – finishes with a 2.5, some legs, hop to the side.

And that ends the first rotation. Asher Hong’s vault number puts him in first. There was no bonus applied to his second vault score.

Moldauer has the top non-vault score with his 14.789 on horse, featuring .489 in bonus.

Rotation 2

Cormier – FX – goes for the 4/1 first pass, a little under rotated but hit – 2.5 to double front, stuck landing – double double tucked, hit, hop back – loses some leg position on fare work – 2/1, stuck – 2.5 to a struggle, looks like he tucked a layout to get it to his feet – 3/1 final pass, lunge forward

Loos – VT – nearly sticks his handspring randi, ends up with a little hop forward

Hong – PB – peach, pause before bhavssar, solid – tippelt, smooth hs – makuts, works through it – healy, looked like a little muscle u – hits diam and stutz – double front 1/2 dismount, lands a bit in a ball position but hits it

Drake – JB – hits Yamawaki – Kovacs, somewhat close but swings through it – layout tkatchev – tkatchev – blind to front stalder

Walker – VT – a bit more ragged in his randi than Loos but also hit, lunge back –

Drake finishes with a pretty smooth DLO 1/1, floaty, a bit of pike, hop.

Richard – FX – 2.5 double tuck, nice, small hop – front full to double front, very deep, lunges forward – some air flare work for you – double double tuck, small shuffle back – 2/1, forward, step – 2.5 to front layout, clean layout position – 3/1 dismount, step to the side.

Wiskus hits his double front PB dismount. He goes 15.149, which will put him in 5th place for now.

Bischoff can’t get up to handstand on his PH dismount, he’ll get back up and try again –

Watanabe is here. Feel like the FIG president shouldn’t say, “I’m looking forward to your victory in 2024” but you know. He showed up, he gave you a wave. Feel bestowed with glory.

Lasic Ellis lands deep on his handspring double front on vault, lunge back.

Phillips – VT – Y2.5, hop forward, good direction.

Artlip of Penn State giving you a butterfly for your sins.

Malone – VT – Kas 1.5 is hit, nearly able to hold onto the stick, step with an arm wave and a bit of direction.

Whittenburg – HB – tak full, late – tak 1/2 – giant full – layout tkatchev, hit – stalder ybalko, some crazy legs and late finish position – zou li min – Yam, high – DLO 2/1, stuck landing. Nice. The usual leg form things and late positions, but a really solid hit for him.

Flores finishes out the rotation on rings with a stuck double double.

Hong retains a large lead over Loos, then Walker, then Moldauer, then Wiskus. Malone in 9th, which reflects rotation order more than anything else.

Rotation 3

Hong – HB – Falls on his Kolman, can’t get his hand over – resumes with a clean Kovacs – layout tkatchev – german giants, gets out of them – double double layout, fine. 12.300

Bock sits his vault.

Wiskus – HB – somehow catches Cassina, low and legs but successful? – Kolman is more comfortable – layout tkatchev – tkatchev – tak 1/1 is very late – tak 1/2, solid – hop full – DLO 2/1, chest forward, hop.

Young holds onto his double pike PB landing

Liang falls on floor, even with fitting shorts. His drawstring is OVERT now. Like, yes buttheads, it is secure.

Walker finishes PBars with a clean stutz and a stuck double front.

14.095 for Wiskus with .895 bonus.

Lasic-Ellis large lunge forward and additional step on PBars landing double front.

I have no idea what’s happening but MyKayla keeps yelling “turkey sandwich.”

Whittenburg – FX – front 2/1 to double front, falls. Drag. Big double double lay –

Phillips – PB – diam 1/2, hit – stutz, loses some body position, arm placements – diam, good, secure – makuts work is hit well – front straddle to arms – step back on dismount. One shaky moment, otherwise very nice.

Moldauer with a hop to the side on his Kas 1.5 landing

Nedoroscik seriously eats MyKayla’s turkey sandwich on one pommel in this routine – huge leg break on a Russian travel but keeps it going for a hit.

Malone looked very crisp on PB from this angle, hop on double front.

Pretty and stuck double pike from Sun on PBs.

Landon Simpson just landed a pass fully to his side-back on floor.

Burkhart with some crazy legs in a diam but his front straddle to long swing is very nice – double pike, hop.

Walker, Hong, Moldauer, Malone, Wiskus are now the top 5.

Rotation 4

Wiskus – FX – double double, lunge back, in bounds – 2.5 to double fron is a big struggle, lunge forward OOB – front 2/1 to layout, small hop – 2/1, small hop – randi, short landing, step – does stick a strong 3/1 final pass.

Walker – HB – tak 1/1 quite late – tak 1/2, slightly crooked – Kolman is strong – one arm giant for the fans – layout tkatchev – tkatchev – Yam, high, some pike – DLO 2/1 is fairly rough, short landing, large lunge forward.

Pretty Stalder positions from Lasic Ellis – excellent stick on double double layout. Really good.

Phillips hits Cassina and Kolman on high bar – crazy tak full and now has a very strange dismount, hand must has slipped? he bailed out in the air and went to his back. He’s showing the judges his grips

Diab sticks a nice DLO on floor. 2.5 to front lay, small hop. Stuck 2/1. Finish 3/1 hop back.

Walker is still ahead of Wiskus, but we have some major players to come.

Malone – HB – zou li lin is good – Cassina, nice and high – Kolman, comfortable – layout tkatchev to tkatchev to piked tkatchev – 1/2 to tak 1/1, good finish as far as tak 1/1s go – tak 1/2, solid – full turn – DLO 2/1, small hop. Excellent work.

Whittenburg stays on pommel horse,w hich will be the win.

Looks like Moldauer fell on PBs but it was when Malone was going on HB and I didn’t see on what.

Burkhart falls on Yamawaki.

Hong – front full to double front pike, hop forward – DLO 2/1 is absolutely fab, stuck – front tuck full to double front, stuck landing but deep – wide arm handstand – 2.5 to front lay, nearly holds the stick, small hop – 3/1 dismount, a little under, hop forward. 14.726

15.716 for Malone on high bar like you get. 1.116 in bonus.

Loos – HB – Yamawaki, hit – tkatchev to tkatchev piked, good – somehow works out tak full, lots of legs and crooked but he somehow ended up going the right direction – “WHAT THE HECK” direct quote from the gymnasts watching – and then he goes on to fall on dismount.

Malone moves into first, followed by Hong, Walker, Moldauer, and Wiskus.

Walker hit first pass – with a hop forward on 2.5 to double front – just a front lay front full third pass – 2/1 is stuck – 3/1, a little short, hop. 14.100

Fall on vault from Cormier. He’s being helped off by training staff but smiling, and now walking under his own power, so that seems encouraging.

Whittenburg has one handstand hesitation on rings but otherwise very good of course, double double layout dismount, hop back.

Malone – FX – front full to double front pike, stuck – 2.5 to double front tuck, deep, lunge forward – double double tuck, hop back – front 2/1 to layout, hop – 2/1, little hop – 3/1, bounce back. 14.616 with .366 bonus.

Moldauer – HB – tak 1/1 – tak 1/2 pretty late – Kolman is hit, legs – rybalko – DLO 1/1, pretty open, stuck landing.

Fred Richard is wearing the OOFOS on the floor. Someone knows who Business Daddy is.

Loos had a chest down stagger back in his first pass on floor but was otherwise solid –

Hong with a fall on pommel horse. 12.200

Richard with a Kas 1.5 vault, small hop.

Bock lands a double double layout HB dismount, some knees, lugne froward. He had some issues swining out of a Kovacs earlier.

Wiskus with a pretty solid horse routine.

Now it’s Malone, Walker, Hong, Moldauer, Wiskus – Walker taking second over Hong now after Hong’s pommel horse.

Rotation 6

Whittenburg – VT 1 – lands his Ri se gwang – hop to the side. Strong. 16.380

Whittenburg – VT 2 – Kas 1.5 second vault – a little under, hop, some legs but fine.

Diab – Rings – up to planche, some position hesitation, hip angle and lower legs – roll to maltese – front pikes to maltese – straight planche position, lower to cross – good final hs – DLO 1/1, pikes it down a little, hop back.

Watched the judges in action there just taking that to pieces.

Moldauer – punch rnadi, little hop – front 2/1 to front 1/1, holds the stick – double front 1/2 out, very solid – good flare work – 2/1, bounce back – back 2.5 to just a front pike, over with a lunge forward – 3/1, a bit crunched over, hop.

13.750 for him on floor, so he will lose to Donnell in the all-around on the bonus system rankings.

Looks like it was a scoring error on Diab’s rings routine and he did get 15.245. His whole fan section was next to me going full Sanne to see if they could figure out what happened to his D score when it was originally posted as 4.2.

14.450 for Hong on rings.

Wiskus – good maltese position, a bit more hesitation in the next one – yamawaki jonasson to l sit is comfortable – some hs arching – gaining some swing in the rings there – double double tuck, some chest, step forward. 13.900

That will put Wiskus ahead of Moldauer but behind Whittenburg.

Colt Walker is off early on his horse routine. Resumes and has a second fall in Russian travel.

So, no surprise here that Brody Malone is in first, his score with the crazy bonus is 88.942. Hong is second, which is a very strong result for him. The big surprise right now is Whittenburg in 3rd with a fall on floor, even if we do have to parse the bonus, ahead of Moldauer and Wiskus.

Ouchers. Walker at 9.600 on horse which drops him all the way to 10th.

We’re a go for the first day of event finals at the Commonwealth Games starting with men’s floor, where Giarnni Regini-Moran was the top qualifier followed closely by Northern Ireland’s Eamon Montgomery and the new all-around champion Jake Jarman.

We have an unsurprising batch of withdrawals from the rings final already, with Ilias Georgiou (who was hanging on by a thread in the team competition) and Jesse Moore (who was injured in the AA final) both withdrawing. They’re replaced by Daniel Lee of Jersey, who has put up a fantastic competition so far, and Samuel Dick of New Zealand.

But now, floor.

Clay Mason-Stephens has emerged in one of those Australia dangly hats. This is the attitude we’re looking for from the Commonwealth Games.

Men’s Floor

Dolci – CAN – front full to front doubel pike, solid, small movement – double double, good position – front lay to front 2.1, pleasant twisting form – double front tuck, small hop forward – 2.5 to tuck 1/2, solid stick – 3/1, small hop. Nothing large given away in those landings, but small hops on all. 14.166 big number.

Regini-Moran – ENG – double front pike 1/2, stuck – double double, shorter landing, hop forward – 2.5 to front lay to front tuck, a bit over on 2.5, low on front lay only does a front tuck out – double front tuck, small hop – front 2.5, stuck – 3/1, also stuck to finish. 13.966 not bad but not in first. Same E score as Dolci.

Barber – WAL – front 2/1, stuck – double arabian full out, and well done – double double has a step back – 2/1, stuck with a lean forward – 2.5 to front layout, good stick – double arabian final pass, large crossover step. Really good tumbling and enough sticks, don’t expect the E score to match the first two though. 13.800.

Baines – SCO – front 2/1 to pretty layout, hop forward – front full to just a front tuck, but a kick out and stuck landing – 2/1, stuck – double arabian, bounce forward. And he’s done. Not much D there but it was the prettiest. 13.566 but nearly manages a 9 in E.

Cemlyn-Jones – WAL – front 2.5, stuck – doubel front pike is veryvery short, sits it down – 2.5 to front full, hop – 2/1, little hop – short of wide arm handstand position – front 2/1 to 1/2, stuck nicely – 3/1, hop. Our first miss of the final. 11.366

Montgomery – NIR – double double tuck, hop back – front full to double front, nice stick, some cowboy – front 2.5, small hop – 2/1, shuffle back – 2.5 to front layout, clean and stuck – front 2/1 to layout 1/2, also stuck – 3/1 is pretty short with a large hop to the side. That could be medal decisive, the rest was pretty strong. 13.666 and out of the medals with the 7.766 E score.

Jarman – ENG – DLO 2/1 is hit, some piking – triple double tuck, small hop back – back 1.5 to front lay to front 2/1, small hop – 2/1, a bit of movement – front full to front 2.5, hit – 3/1, solid, against just a small rebound as on most of the elements. He’ll have the difficulty. 14.666 is a huge number, easily into first.

Mason-Stephens – AUS – front double pike, small hop forward – front full to double front, stuck – double double tucked, crunched over, a bit of movement – 2.5 to front layout, misses his punch into the layout, has to arch it a bunch and falls – 2/1, stuck – double arabian, short, lunge back. 12.366

Men’s Floor:
Gold – Jarman
Silver – Dolci
Bronze – Regini-Moran

Jarman was a clear step above in tumbling difficulty with the triple double, with the DLO double full, so there was no catching him. Dolci glorious to watch but would have had to stick everything basically.

Part B will see us move on to pommel horse and women’s vault. I see that we’re still doing mid-finals medal ceremonies instead of doing all the sentimental hogwash at the end.

Pommel Horse and Women’s Vault

Tamane of Canada starts the horse final, hits his legs against the horse on his initial Russians between the pommels, and then off completely on a Russian travel. 10.833

Nayak VT 1 – IND – Tsuk 2/1 is the highest D we’ll see, but it’s rather short, chest down, lunge sideward and out of bounds. 13.633

Nayak VT 2 – IND – handspring front tuck full attempt, upgrade from qualification, a couple large lunges forward, looks like knee scraped the mat as well. Should have the most D of the final, but the E probably won’t get her there. 11.766. So they did say that was a knee down fall.

12.699 average.

Marios Georgiou is up second on horse, was going beautifully until his hand slipped on a forward travel right at the end of the routine. But after dislocating-we-think his thumb on horse en route to the team bronze, it seems he retained all phalanges this time. So that’s something. 13.166

0 for 2 on horse.

Denommee – VT 1 – CAN – VERY good Y1.5, stuck landing, good direction, just some knee bending in the air. 13.566

Denommee – VT 2 – CAN – handspring pike 1/2, another great landing. Couldn’t have done better. She’s getting deducted for a bit of knee and foot form, but very good. 12.900

13.233

Fraser up 3rd on horse, he was first in qualification, just a fantastic routine, good body extension, legs together, elevation over the pommels.

14.833 his huge.

Kennedy VT 1 – SCO – opens with a Yfull, pretty large bounce back, some foot flexing – that’s a downgrade from her 1.5 in qualification. I think an in-the-moment adjustment. 12.866

Kennedy VT 2 – SCO – Tsuk back layout, bounce back, some legs on block. Solid. 12.400

12.633 average is 3rd.

McClenaghan up 4th in the final, will need to upgrade closer to his max D to beat Fraser. Didn’t do everything in qualification. He was looking so damn good as usual but then has a massive leg break toward the end and did not get his intended dismount. Not going to do it.

14.133 and into 2nd.

Daries – VT 1 – RSA – good height on yfull – pikes it down to find the landing, bounce back. 12.800

Daries – VT 2 – RSA – handspring front pike, comes up somewhat short with a lunge backward and OOB to save herself. 12.300

12.550 average is 4th.

Spence VT 1 – CAN – Y1.5 is pretty solid, good distance, medium hop forward and knees. An NCAA 9.850. Or famous team 9.900. 13.500

Spence VT 2 – CAN – Tsuk tuck full, larger bounce back there, solid tuck position. 12.600

13.050 average and into 2nd. Similar Es to Denommee but she didn’t stick.

Moore did not withdraw from this final because pommel horse, a bit lower and more piked than Fraser or McClenaghan, but really good difficulty andddddd it was almost great. Can’t get up to handstand on dismount and falls off. 13.366

2 for 5 so far.

Godwin – VT 1 – AUS – Tsuk 1.5 is good, only a small step back, much better than her vault in the AA, when I thought she had taken herself out of gold initially with a short landing. 13.700

Godwin VT 2 – AUS – handspring pike 1/2 – a somewhat locked landing with a bounce back, good direction. 12.766

13.233 is first on the tiebreak! I would have had Denommee ahead personally.

Hall is up 6th in the horse final, a couple large leg breaks in Russian travel but gets through with a hit routine, he’s not going to have the E score because of that leg break and because of general swing position but successful. Limps away because of life.

13.433 into 3rd. Actually only barely ahead of Moore’s fall.

Whitehead VT 1 – AUS – way way short on her 1.5 and falls, she was struggling on that in the AA as well. 11.866

Whitehead VT 2 – AUS – ro 1/2 on front pike, deep and a large lunge to the side and OOB. 11.933

11.899 and 7th.

Rampersad up 7th on horse, he was the final qualifier into the final, keeps on trend with a large leg break on travel – but pulls it back together. Not the same D as a Hall but managed a solid one.

14.000 and into 3rd!

Archer – VT 1 – SCO – DTY isn’t quite as good and qualification, a large step back and then an additional step, but the difficulty will keep her competitive with that. But .3 OOB for just 13.266

Archer VT 2 – SCO – goes for the Tsuk full but it’s fairly piked, chest forward with a step. Not quite what she needed. 12.900

13.083 is just enough to get ahead of Spence and into bronze position.

Dick finishes the horse final with a serviceable routine. He’s not going to be way up there with a shorter set and a generally lower position, but good hit.

13.466 with a solid 8.466 E but just 5.2 D. That’s good enough for 4th.

Women’s Vault
Gold – Godwin
Silver – Denommee
Bronze – Archer

A second gold for Godwin there, a solid silver for Denommee with the best landings in the final and did out-execution Godwin but the tiebreak on vault is the best single vault score which Godwin had, Archer uses her difficulty and hangs on for 3rd ahead of Spence, who got her bronze in the AA final.

Pommel horse
Gold – Fraser
Silver – McClenaghan
Bronze – Rampersad

A couple mistakes from McClenaghan meant that it was always only ever going to be Fraser for gold. Big surprise was Rampersad’s bronze. Pommels gonna pommel.

Uneven Bars and Ringydingies

Lee starts on rings, having been promoted into the final after a withdrawal, won’t have the difficulty to contend for a medal here, but very solid hold positions, double double dismount is short with his lunge forward.

12.900

Rooskrantz – UB – RSA – good first hs – shaposh to pak, legs together well – van leeuwen, small leg break, good hs on high – blind change to piked jaeger, legs look good – Ray to gienger, catches somewhat close – toe full, a bit late – FTDT, step back. Should score well.

13.433, similar to qualification.

Samual Dick is second on rings, also promoted into the final after qualifying in 11th, also making the most of it, cross position looked high but good handstands, has an issue on his FTDT dismount, also short with a lunge forward.

12.900 as well, behind Lee on the E tiebreak.

Achampong – UB – inbar to inbar 1/2 to jaeger, a little floppy on jaeger but hit – stalder tkatcehv piked to pak, hit – toe full, leg break and pause in the middle – stalder shap 1/2, some legs, caught – FTDT, chest down, hop forward. Similar to what we’ve seen thus far from her, leg separations and body position moments that can take the E down, but big difficulty and a hit.

13.433 and behind Rooskrantz on execution.

Fraser up 3rd on rings, very good flat maltese and cross positions, smooth and comfortable handstands – double double dismount, step back.

14.100 into first by more than a point but down on qualification by a fair margin.

Archer – UB – maloney to bail, good legs together – toe on to toe shoot, close catch, casts out of it fine – blind to jaeger, high, some loose back position early in the release – giant full, good finish position – DLO 1/1, lunge forward. Well, that was pretty much as well as she can do.

12.366

Kaji finishes up this first group on rings, good crisp positions, small hesitation in handstand, but otherwise very comfortable, DLO full, some piking, bounce back.

14.266 is ahead of Fraser and into first. Showed 0.3 more on D.

McDonald weiler and can’t get it up into the half turn, stops aghainst the bar – shap – nice high tkatchev into pak – van leeuwen, legs together – toe full, late – FTDT, hop back. Really nice second half but a large error on the first element.

12.533

Tulloch up 5th on rings, certainly has the difficult to demolish the field. And does, more difficulty and smoother positions. Only issue is DLO 1/1 landing, step back and an additional small step.

14.400 into first.

Godwin – UB – weiler to weiler 1/2 to maloney to pak is all comfortable, good legs – short hs – van leeuwen is solid – blind to piked jaeger, hit – cast 1/2, little bit of legs – giant full – DLO, pinged off but got it, hop up.

13.500 goes into first. On her way to another medal.

Karnejenko up next on rings, not quite as flat and crisp in holds as Tulloch or Kaji, a hesitation on his final handstand, slightly bringing the rings together, could cost him, but just a small step back on dismount, which is a smaller error than most so far.

13.766

Spence – UB – good hs – toe full to maloney to pak to van leeuwen, great sequence, thought a larger leg break on VL – hits jaeger, cast 1/2 a bit late – just a double tuck dismount and it’s almost a disaster, steps back to save it.

Pilakouris 7th on rings, when he goes, rings looks as hard as it is because of all the shaking, but he shows good difficulty, DLO 1/1 with step, some piking. Solid hit.

14.300 puts him in 2nd.

Fenton – UB – opens with the toe-on tkatchev pike 1/2 into yezhova – maloney to pak, feet but solid, legs together – van leeuwen is nice – clear hip to giant full – FTDT, stuck with a stagger. That’s the best we’ve seen so far.

13.900 and first place.

Dolci finishes the rings final, and the big check in his column is the first stuck dismount of the final. As we know, that’s what rings is and nothing else. Shh, don’t tell anyone. Very smooth routine. E score will be huge, but does he have the D?

13.966. I thought his E would be higher. But he didn’t have the D anyway.

Lalonde – UB – stalder full to shap to pak, a bit of back but really nice position overall – van leeuwen, good legs togther – blind to jaeger, pretty – toe tuck 1/2 dismount, step back. Really pretty work. That will be such a high-scoring NCAA routine if she goes that direction. She could get 10s.

13.333 is 5th. Justified top E score of the final.

Rings:
Gold – Tulloch
Silver – Pilakouris
Bronze – Kaji

Bars:
Gold – Fenton
Silver – Godwin
Bronze – Rooskrantz

Fenton the clear class of the bars field. Godwin with her fourth medal, 2 gold 2 silver, in four finals. Rooskrantz comes through with a big bronze on bars. Well done after the miss in the AA