2013 World Gymnastics Championships -- Qualification

Women's Qualification for the 2013 World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp is complete and the finals line-ups are set!

It was an exciting two days of competition for the women. The US completely dominated! Simone Biles leading the All Around and getting spots in all four event finals. Kyla Ross was right behind Simone in the All Around scoring, qualifying in second and also making event finals on Bars, Beam, and FLOOR! McKayla Maroney ended up placing 6th in her first All Around meet since the 2012 Olympic Trials, however, will not be in the final due to the two per country rule. McKayla also made the Vault final, obviously, but missed out on the Floor final due to what I believe was a very low score which deserved more.

Yao Jinnan, Larisa Iordache, and Aliya Mustafina rounded out the top 5 of the All Around. Shang Chunsong, Vanessa Ferrari, and Guilia Steingruber will also complete in the All Around final, placing 6-8.

Event Finals

Vault

1. McKayla Maroney 

2. Simone Biles

3. Un Jong Hong

4. Thi Hai Thahn Phan

5. Guilia Steingruber

6. Oksana Chusovitina

7. Yamilet Pena Abreu

8. Chantysha Netteb

Bars

1. Yao Jinnan

2. Kyla Ross

3. Huidan Huang

4. Rebecca Downie

5. Aliya Mustafina

6. Simone Biles

7. Ruby Harrold

8. Sophie Schreder

Beam

1. Larisa Iordache

2. Shang Chunsong

3. Kyla Ross

4. Anna Rodionova

5. Simone Biles

6. Vanessa Ferrari

7. Carlotta Ferlito

8. Aliya Mustafina

Floor

1. Simone Biles

2. Sandra Izbasa

3. Larisa Iordache

4. Vanessa Ferrari

5. Mai Murakami

6. Kyla Ross

7. Guilia Steingruber

8. Ellie Black

My favorite non-American gymnast, Aliya Mustafina, had a rough day. She fell on her Vault and on her new whip whip to Double Arabian pass on Floor. However, she did qualify for All Around, Beam, and Bars finals and you can never count her out of anything!!! I hope she comes back in the finals!

P&G Championships Recap & World's Preview

Okay, so clearly this is just a tad late, but the end of my summer was just insane. Just going to post a few of my thoughts on Nationals and upcoming World Championships!!

JUNIORS

Polina Shchennikova, Veronica Hults, Nia Dennis, Laurie Hernandez

Bailie Key, Amelia Hundley, Norah Flatley, and Alyssa Baumann

Bailie Key had an amazing two days during the Championships to become the Junior National Champion. She scored in the 15+'s several times and became the Beam and Floor champion! She also had a beautiful vault night one that scored a 15.1. Bailie has beautifully elegant gymnastics, and she is a joy to watch. I cannot wait until she moves up to the Senior Elite level!

Lauren Hernandez ended up placing second, which is much improvement over last year's Nationals where she placed 21st! I love this girl, she is just explosive! She took home a silver on Bars and Floor Exercise and tied for bronze on Beam!!

Amelia Hundley placed third, taking the Uneven Bars title, and bronze on Floor. She scored consistently in the low to mid 14's except for her beam routine on night one, on which she fell to a 12.9. 

Nia Dennis finished in fourth place and took silver on the vault. Norah Flatley finished fifth.

Brenna Dowell, Kyla Ross, Elizabeth Price, McKayla Maroney, Maggie

Nichols, Kennedy Baker, Madison Kocian, Peyton Ernst, Lexie Priessman,

Simone Biles, and MyKayla Skinner.

Simone Biles Gold, Kyla Ross Silver, Brenna Dowell Bronze.

I am so so so proud of Simone! I know that she was probably disappointed in herself after the meet she had at the Secret Classic, but I knew that she was capable of not only having an amazing meet, but winning the National Championship!! She was leading after night one by a close margin, and it stayed close between her and Kyla up until about the last rotation, when it was clear that Kyla couldn't get the score she needed on Bars (I think she would have needed a 15.6?) to beat Simone. She did not win any event titles but she took silver on ALL FOUR APPARATUSES. This girl is so amazing.

I think that Kyla had great meets both nights, I just think that the difference between her and Simone came down to their degrees of difficulty. Simone had much more planned than Kyla, who focuses more on execution and being able to do all of her routines perfectly to get the maximum execution scores. One of her highlights for me was her amazingly perfect DTY vault on night one. I mean it was PERFECT. Kyla won the Bars and Beam titles, scoring a 15.450, and a 15.500!! She had a great meet!

Brenna Dowell took the bronze in the All Around as well as on the Uneven Bars. She also did amazing on Vault both nights, scoring in the mid 15s. Other than her Beam routines scoring in the 13's both nights, she had a good meet, the rest of her scores in the 14s.

McKayla Maroney is BACK. She only competed on Vault and Floor but she ended up taking both of those titles! Her vault scores were 15.700 and 16.000 (obviously, the only 16 in the competition) and on Floor she received scores of 14.850 and 15.250! 

This was Elizabeth Price's first meet back since her injury. She only competed on Vault and Uneven Bars. Night one she had a horrible mishap in her bars routine, which resulted in a very low 12.250. Other than that routine though, she did very well! In finals on Vault she scored a 15.150 on Vault and a 14.800 on Bars. I wish that she was healthier at this point.

Peyton Ernst finished outside of the medals, but overall I thought she looked great! It was close between her and Brenna for bronze, and they both had two scores in the 13's. I really really like Peyton and she seems to be really calm when competing in front of a big crowd. I really like that.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

The 2007 World Championships team (ONE OF MY FAVORITES EVER) and the Fierce Five were inducted into the Hall of Fame during the P&G Championships! I love love these pictures so much and congratulations to all of them, they more than deserve it!

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

This is an individual World's so there is no Team Final. There is Qualifications, All Around, and Event Finals. The key is to bring not only All Around gymnasts, but gymnasts that could win the most individual medals for the country.

The nominative list was just posted today and it says that Kyla and Simone will compete in the All Around, McKayla will do Vault and Floor Exercise, and Brenna will do Uneven Bars and Balance Beam. However, the World's selection camp I believe is the 12th-the 16th, so anything could happen. I think it will remain set though unless something major occurred.

P&G Championships -- Gymnasts I'm Most Excited For!

The WAG P&G Championships begins in exactly one week from today in Hartford, CT!

It's hard to believe that they are finally here, it seems that I've been waiting forever for them! 

There are so many girls that I'm so excited to see, so I'm sharing the Juniors and Seniors that I am most excited to watch during Championships with you all :)

SENIORS

Kyla Ross

Kyla is my favorite gymnast this quad. I was waiting all through this year for her new routine upgrades, which I believed would make her a legitimate contender for the All Around, and ultimately, the World Championship team later this year. I was basically thrilled with her routines at classics. Her DTY vault was polished and perfect, her bars was also looking very polished (no split legs on her Shaposh!), and her new floor exercise routine is AMAZING!! Had she not fallen on the last pass, she would've had a good score. Her beam was the only real area where I saw some missteps and hesitancy, but Kyla is Kyla and I'm sure by next week it will be much better. 

McKayla Maroney

I'm not sure whether or not McKayla is planning to do the All Around. With it being an individual Worlds this year, she doesn't really need to. Her specialties are vault and floor, and that would be how she would make the team. I know that she has been training all four though, so I guess we will see. Either way, I'm excited to see her on vault and floor again and see any improvements from Classics, where actually she was great! 

Simone Biles

I hope (and believe) that Simone will have a much better performance at Championships than she did at Classics. I love all of her routines and all of the huge difficulty that she throws. Her double layout half out on floor is possibly my favorite FX pass I've ever seen in my life!! I still believe that she is a major contender for the Worlds team, and I can't wait to see her come back and dominate these meets.

Lexie Priessman

Lexie did not compete Beam at Classics, and I don't know if she is planning to at Championships, but I hope so. Her floor routine at Classics was AMAZING and it won her the floor title at that meet. Her vault and bars also scored in the 14s. 

Peyton Ernst

Peyton proved to be a true All Around threat at Classics, when she won the silver medal and scored in the 14's on every event. She also won the balance beam title at Classics. It will be interesting to see if she can have two great competitions in a row.

Maddie Desch

Maddie only competed on the balance beam at Classics, but had a solid routine. This verified her to compete at Championships. She was 2nd in the All Around at the VISA Championships last summer in the Junior division, and she's one of my favorite first year seniors this year.

Elizabeth Price

Championships marks the return of Elizabeth Price!! I'm so super excited to see what she is planning in her routines and I hope she does really well! 

JUNIORS

Amelia Hundley

Amelia had a great meet at Classics, finishing 2nd in the Junior All-Around. Her bar routine was great, and her floor exercise really impressed me! Her scores were consistently in the mid to high 14's. 

Lauren Hernandez

Laurie won the floor exercise title at Classics. This girl is full of energy, and I loved watching her routine!! I really hope that she can clean up her beam routine a bit, because I really love her artistry on the beam and think she could really score well if she can avoid falling.

Norah Flatley

I can't wait to see Norah compete again next week. As I said in my previous post, she is full of amazing talent. I believe she got the highest score on beam at the Classics out of both the Junior AND Senior division. She really is like a mini Shawn on that beam. When she hits on her other events, she is going to be unstoppable.

Sydney Johnson-Scharpf

Sydney didn't have the highest scores at Classics (I think due to her D scores being a little low), but I was drawn to her routines. She has so much personality and expression in them, she is just the cutest little gymnast! I can't wait to see more from her at Championships and especially in the years to come as she adds more skills and difficulty.

Bailie Key

I just love Bailie Key. I was so happy for her when she won the All Around at Classics (at which time she was sick). She was definitely deserving, scoring 15+ on both vault and balance beam. I absolutely LOVE her flight series on the beam. Not a big fan of her FX music but I love the choreography in her routine. 

Can't wait for next week!!

Who are you most excited to see at Nationals?

2013 Secret Classic

I'm finally getting to write a post about the Secret Classic that took place last Saturday!

I was super excited for this Classic, in a different way than in the past two years. In 2011 and 2012 it was all about the gymnasts perfecting their routines and seeing who would make that London Olympic team. Starting off a new quad is totally different. There is so much new talent, a new Code of Points, and new routines and skills. Everyone is just really debuting those new routines and skills, so for me, it's less about perfection and more about getting out there and making some mistakes so they know what they need to improve on.

I entered a contest by the girls from Triple Twist, to predict the podium for both Juniors and Seniors. For the Juniors, I picked Bailie Key, Amelia Hundley, and Norah Flatley (in that order). For the Seniors, I chose Simone Biles, Kyla Ross, and Lexie Priessman (in that order).

JUNIORS

Gold - Bailie Key (Texas Dreams)

Silver - Amelia Hundley (Cincinnati Gymnastics)

Bronze - Veronica Hults (Texas Dreams)

My Junior podium prediction was actually pretty good!

Bailie impressed me on every apparatus, most especially Vault and Beam. I also think her Uneven Bars routine could have a lot of potential as well! Amelia had a very consistent competition scoring wise. My favorite events for her were her bars routine and most especially her floor. I love loved her double layout!! I'm super proud of her!! I haven't really followed or seen much on Veronica Hults, however, I loved her beam and bars routines in this competition!

Individual Event Winners

Vault - Nia Dennis (15.250)

Uneven Bars - Veronica Hults (14.550)

Balance Beam - Norah Flatley (15.200)

Floor Exercise - Laurie Hernandez (14.650)

Other thoughts: There are so so many exciting Juniors that I love!! Norah Flatley has SO much potential. She looks like a mini Shawn Johnson on the beam! I can totally see it. Her other routines will come with time and she is going to be unstoppable someday. Same with Sydney Johnson-Scharpf. Laurie Hernandez reminds me of a firecracker! Just so much energy! And of course the top All Arounders (Bailie, Amelia, and Victoria) were absolutely wonderful as well! I cannot wait to watch these ladies develop their routines/skills and move up to the Senior level throughout this quad.

Seniors

Gold - Kyla Ross (Gym-Max)

Silver - Peyton Ernst (Texas Dreams)

Bronze - Brenna Dowell (GAGE)

Clearly, my senior podium was a bit more off. I was not aware that Lexie wasn't competing the All Around because of an injury, and Simone had an uncharacteristically bad meet; I really did think she would beat Kyla and that's saying a lot because Kyla is my favorite!

Peyton led after the first two rotations, but Kyla had great rotations on both Vault and especially Uneven Bars, and she ended up taking the title. Kyla started out on beam, and she delivered a consistent routine. I saw a couple new connections, I don't know if she is planning to add more by Nationals. Her new floor exercise is AMAZING! I love the new music even though I loved the Phantom music too. She has upgraded a lot on Floor, her double arabian to stag was just incredible! Unfortunately, she fell/hands down on her last pass, and that was definitely reflected in her score. She executed a perfect DTY on vault, and was Uneven Bars champion with a huge 15.400! Brenna's highlight was definitely vault, putting up a huge 15.550, second only to McKayla Maroney's 15.600.

Individual Event Winners

Vault - McKayla Maroney (15.425)

Uneven Bars - Kyla Ross (15.400)

Balance Beam - Peyton Ernst (14.700)

Floor Exercise - Lexie Priessman (14.800)

Other thoughts: I am very happy that Maddie Desch qualified for the P&G Championships with her Balance Beam routine. I absolutely adore Simone Biles, and I know she will have better days. The skills and her routines definitely look awesome though, the falls and mistakes are just what hurt her. The difficulty is definitely there. I'm sad that MyKayla Skinner had a bad meet as well, but I'm super happy that she got silver on the vault and also I LOVE her beam routine. McKayla Maroney's floor exercise was good enough to win her a bronze medal on that apparatus. She looks AMAZING, and I love her double layout!! Lexie's floor exercise is also STACKED. It's absolutely incredible!!

Favorite Leos

I decided that after every meet, I'm going to share my top 3 leo loves with you all.

Here they are for this meet ...

3. Simone Biles

2. Kyla Ross

1. McKayla Maroney

Very excited for Nationals, can't wait!

Russian Dominance at 2013 Universiade

Other than the Americans, my favorite gymnastics team internationally is Russia. Though they are often the US's fiercest competition, I am always cheering for them after the United States, and their gymnastics as a whole is just simply elegant, powerful, and beautiful.

This summer's Universiade takes place in Kazan, Russia. Yesterday was the WAG Qualification, Team Final, and All-Around and Event Finals Qualification. The Russian team of Aliya Mustafina, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Maria Paseka, Tatiana Nabiyeva, and Anna Dementyeva took the gold medal by 10 points!

Aliya Mustafina (who is my favorite international gymnast) qualified in first place to the All-Around, with Ksenia Afanasyeva right behind in second place. Aliya was also the top qualifier to the Uneven Bars final, and will also be competing in Beam and Floor finals as well!

Afanasyeva will also be in the Beam and Floor finals.

I hope so much Aliya wins All-Around and all the EFs she's in. Floor is not likely, but she had top scores on Beam and Uneven Bars in qualifications (15.0 and 15.2, which I believe were the highest scores of the day)! Love seeing the Russian team so happy!