Favorite Routines of the Quad: Beam

Anastasia Grishina 2013 Europeans AA

Remember when Grishy was looking like a star of the quad? Those were the days. The jaw-dropping moment of this is the lovely Onodi+illusion. This is just a gorgeous and lovely steady routine.

Norah Flatley 2014 Pac Rims EF

Norah Flatley on beam is just an otherworldly experience. She just looks so unhurried. She had two beautiful acro series, and her arabesque is such a beautiful touch.

Eythora Thorsdottir Hamburg 2014

A very weak dismount because she was coming back from injury, but this was a lovely elegant routine with so many unique combinations. Eythora just shows so much of the originality missing from beam recently in this routine. I just eat up her dance+acro combinations.

Kyla Ross 2015 P&Gs Day 2

Kyla Ross angry beam is basically all you need in life.

Pauline Schaefer 2015 DM EF

Pauline is such a gorgeous beam worker, and I love her original choreography. She has her lovely original mount and incredible original acro skill in this routine. I also love her dismount- it's been abused this quad, but when performed like this, it's magical. There's nothing out of place in this routine, and I just love it.

Maile O'Keefe 2016 P&Gs Day 1

Beam extraordinaire Maile O'Keefe. She's got the legendary Dudnik acro series and a layout series just to top things off. Her work is just so off-the-charts and steady. She will hopefully be a great addition to the arsenal in 2018.

Flavia Saraiva 2016 Anadia EF

Flavia is just so delightful. Beam is my favorite event of hers, especially when she hits like this. This routine is full to bursting- she's got her double LOSO series, her roundoff+layout, and the beautiful forward series. And add to that her charming choreography from her lovely 2014-2015 floor, and it's just a completely wonderful routine.

Ragan Smith 2016 Secret Classic

The errors in the dismount were sad, but it was super exciting to see after waiting with baited breath so long. But otherwise, it was about as perfect as she can get. I love her standing full and amazing stretched layout.

Sanne Wevers 2016 Nationals

The most uniquely difficult and smooth as butter routine in existence. I could watch Sanne work beam forever.

Favorite Routines of the Quad: Bars

Aliya Mustafina, 2013 Worlds AA

Gotta love the Seitz and the Mustafina dismount. That's one of those things you've just gotta love about Aliya, how she'll just pull out a randomly different routine every now and then to keep you on your toes. And as always, the classic Aliya swing.

Roxana Popa, 2014 Blume Memorial

Oh, how I miss pre-hey-your-ACL-is-torn-by-the-way Roxana. Her bars work especially was super exciting, and all the connections in this routine just make it so dynamic. There's just so much flight and movement between the bars in this routine! And the inbar Geinger in its pure form.

Rebecca Tunney, 2014 Europeans EF

Long live the Church+Bhardwaj! There's just so much flight and not a second of wasted time in her routine.

Lisa Katharina Hill, 2014 Stuttgart World Cup

Another routine with a Bhardwaj- unique transition work is a pretty sure-fire way to get on this list! I also love her long combination into the Gienger combining pirouettes, transitions, and different kinds of circling elements. There's just so much variety in this routine!

Brenna Dowell, 2014 P&Gs, Day 1

There is just so much in this routine! I'm a fan of everything but the kitchen sink bars routines, and I love how much variety and excitement she is able to pack in. All of the combinations are just amazing, and the Tweddle+Ezhova especially!

Amelia Hundley, 2015 Pan Ams EF

I just really love the way Meals works bars. I find there to be something Aliya-esque in her swing. She never seems to be fighting with the apparatus, and it almost seems as if time has slowed slightly while she performs.

Shang Chunsgong, 2015 Worlds TF

You've just gotta love a good ol' release fest. And it's especially nice with Shang's gorgeous eponymous skill. I also like that she's got some good ol' pretty Chinese one-armed pirouettes going. I was never a pirouette fest fan, but I do wish they hadn't disappeared so much. Shang's issue on bars is her swing can sometimes be a bit labored, but that wasn't a problem here.

Fan Yilin, 2015 Worlds EF

Such a difficult routine and so well done. Lots of movement between the bars, pirouettes, and a great inbar Gienger! Definitely my favorite of the reigning world champions.

Becky Downie, 2016 Europeans EF

So many fabulous releases and combinations! And with Becky's beautiful presentation to top it off. This is a monster of a routine. The Chow+Shang is so breathtaking, but then, so is everything else in this routine.

Jessica Lopez, 2016 Sao Paulo World Cup EF

So many inbar Giengers this quad! One thing I love about JLo's bars is how she works and turns through inverted grip. And her lovely open Jaeger! I also love her double front, there's just something so compact about it.

Ruby Harrold, 2015 Worlds EF

And my favorite UB routine to end! Both a Maloney+Bhardwaj and a Van Leeuwen+Zuchold. The Zuchold is just the ultimate of cool transitions (which, in case you can't tell by now, I'm a sucker for). Not pristine, but just plain cool.

Favorite Routines of the Quad: Vault

Dipa Karmakar, 2014 Commonwealth Games, Event Final Vault 2

Yes, this vault is rather terrifying, and possesses none of the qualities of a vault you would usually find in a list like this of mine. But like I said in my favorite vaults post, I was more in the moment when watching this vault than in pretty much any other piece of gymnastics in history, so it will always be in my heart.

Ellie Black, 2014 Commonwealth Games, Event Final Vault 2

She just appears to be floating in this vault, especially in the landing.

Bailie Key, 2014 Pac Rims, Team/AA Final

Just beautiful form throughout, and such a light, upright, stuck landing. Too bad she had to get injured, 2014 Bailie was just such a wonderful gymnast.

Hong Un Jong, 2014 Worlds, Event Final Vault 1

When she competed through 2013, her vaults were so helicopter-ish, but since 2014 she has just been the floatiest of floaty vaulters (okay, maybe not the most ultimately floaty vaulter, but very floaty nonetheless). Her Amanar went from a storm center to effortless.

Simone Biles, 2015 P&Gs Day 1, Vault 1

Why this scored lower than day 2, we'll never know. But regardless, about as perfect as any gymnastics has ever been.

Rebeca Andrade, 2016 Olympics

Just look at that wonderful Amanar.

Giulia Steingruber, 2016 European Championships, Qualifications Vault 1

Such an utterly effortless Rudi. She just flies on this vault.

Zsofia Kovacs, 2016 European Championships, Qualifications Vault 1

Also known as the DTY so leisurely I couldn't tell she twisted twice.