Start list:
Our pre-meet withdrawals belong to Malabuyo and Nguyen, neither of whom appeared at podium training. Malabuyo has a fractured tibia, and it’s just the worst. Shania Adams is also a full scratch now.
It appears from the live scores Trinity Thomas is not doing vault and floor (as expected) and that Skinner is not doing bars. Also possibly no all-around from Sunisa Lee. Continue reading US Classic – Senior Live Blog
We have a couple hours to wait in between the junior and senior sessions, so I’m compiling some notes on the juniors for those who don’t want to read back through the whole live blog. This is in progress, so join me and catch back as I think of more things.
Konnor McClain is the champion. No major surprise there. Almost like it might have been a good idea to put her on the junior worlds team or something. Why no, I will not let it go. Her exceptional beam routine was the highlight, hitting both the Arabian and the back full too comfortably than should be legal. McClain’s one issue came on bars, where an accidental tucked Maloney and an extra swing/cast lowered her score. And she still won. Continue reading US Classic – Junior Notes
Start list:
Withdrawal alert: Sienna Robinson has pulled out of the competition.
Keep an eye on beam and floor in the first half of rotation 1 because you’ll have Blakely on beam and McClain on floor among the very top contenders. As well as people like Saltness and Matthews on beam and Lippeatt on floor. Continue reading US Classic – Junior Live Blog
Podium training has concluded for the senior women, so now it’s important (highly important, most important, national security) to break down what we saw and the prospective D scores emerging from all of that seeing.
The Simone
So yeah, Simone did floor. The Biles + layout was there (easy). The triple double was there (and she had too much power for it). A DLO 1/1 + split jump was there. We need to talk about that and what Simone’s floor composition might potentially be this year.
If you add in those upgrades to last year’s routine, we end up with something like this as a very baseline composition option (with comparison to last year included).
| Simone Biles – Floor |
|
| 2019 | 2018 |
| Triple double – I (presumably) | Double double layout – I |
| Biles + Front layout – G + B = 0.2 CV | Biles + Stag – G + A = 0.1 CV |
| Switch leap – B | Switch leap – B |
| Split leap 1.5 – D | Split leap 1.5 – D |
| Double layout 1/1 + Split jump – H + A = 0.1 CV | Front full through to full-in – C + E = 0.2 CV |
| Wolf turn double – D | Wolf turn double – D |
| Switch leap 1/1 – D | Switch leap 1/1 – D |
| Double-twisting double tuck – H | Double-twisting double tuck – H |
| CR – 2.0 | CR – 2.0 |
| Acro – IHHGB – 3.4 | Acro – IHGEC – 3.2 |
| Dance – DDD – 1.2 | Dance – DDD – 1.2 |
| CV – 0.3 | CV – 0.3 |
| Total D – 6.9 |
Total D – 6.7 |
Now, the idea of Simone counting a B element on floor is…come on. It’s Simone. She could add in any number of C dance elements at minimum to get to 7.0—or we could see even more, like the front full from last year coming back, connected to a double double to get her up to 7.2. There’s been no indication that she’s doing that, but…she could.
I’ve just assumed that the triple double will be an I-rated skill because the WTC never gone higher than that and it seems to fit in the logical progression of how other elements have risen in value (DLO 2/1 being worth 0.1 more than the DLO 1/1), but you can certainly justify inventing the concept of a J element for this skill. Because triple double.
We also saw a not-full-difficulty beam set from Simone that did not include That Damn Barani (chorus of angels) or a front pike, so that composition will be interesting to watch tomorrow as well. It’s PT.
Other Notes
Hurd: The beam upgrades from Morgan Hurd were fascinating, as we saw a back full + split jump + sissone as well as the aerial + split ring combination that she attempted at the Tokyo WC but didn’t get. If she gets those combinations, that would give her a minimum 0.3 upgrade over the 5.7 routine she attempted at Tokyo. Morgan is coming for your 14s on beam. Continue reading US Classic Podium Training
