Morgan Hurd- "Game of Thrones" or "Avovra" (Anna Bessonova hoop 2008/Tabea Alt 2017)
I've not been the biggest fan of Morgi's routines since 2014, though I definitely preferred this year's routine to her previous ones. I would prefer to see a return to the older thematic feel. "Game of Thrones" would be a clearer return to the feel of her 2014 routine-- am I the only one who gets a medieval vibe from it? I think it brings the quieter drama which she could really build from. And I just love the medieval-ish style for her. "Avovra" is more in line with the heavy drama of her 2017 routine, but I think it's more in line with what I want to see from Morgan. It's not so string-heavy as her recent musics, which I think is what's tripping me up with her recent routines. It's got a darker style, which is what I want to see for her. Again, the music has a less packed sound, and I really think Morgan does a good job elevating that kind of sound and brings almost a mystical edge to her routines.
Emma Malabuyo- "Hedwig's Theme"
Emma is just such a charming performer. She has a lightness to how she performs on floor and there's always a humor and joy to her routines. I think "Hedwig's Theme" would be a perfect fit for that style she brings. It's light and frothy but also mysterious, and I think she would bring a really, well, enchanting performance to the music. It would be yet another delightful routine from Emma. Of course, I would also down with Morgan Hurd using this, partly because it has the some of the same mystical sound, but mostly because MORGAN WITH HARRY POTTER MUSIC!
Maile O'Keefe- "Renegade" by Kevin "K.O." Olusola (Macy Toronjo 2017)
Now with Maile, we're getting into the heavier drama. I feel like with Maile, she's always had aesthetic enough routines, but never really broke out of her shell as a performer. I think this music is sort of an in-between with her old 2014 music and this year's music. I think her style is suited to the darker, heavier drama, and she and the music could elevate each other.
Ragan Smith- "Promenade (Walking the Dog)" or "Seaside Rendezvous"
I think both of these pieces would be a good return to Ragan's 2014-2015 playful but mature style (why is it that her routines got more immature as she got older? is it because they had to do so to keep up their look at how cute and little she is schtick, or because they had to keep up the schtick?) "Walking the Dog" gets a little jazzy, which I think Ragan could play with really well. It's light and playful, and I think she could put in a lot of unique touches. "Seaside Rendezvous" would bring out some of the good in Ragan's 2017 choreographic style. It would be a real crowd-pleaser routine, and I think Ragan broken out of the "must be cutesy!!" box would do great things with this.
Riley McCusker- "Pirates" (Ellie Black 2012/2013)
I wasn't a huge fan of her 2017 routine, and definitely not as big a fan of her 2017 routine as her 2016 routine. However, I'm not opposed to moving in a bit more of that direction. I think this music would bring a bit of the 2017 style while maintaining the best of her 2016 choreography's style. I think Riley (and MG Elite in general) has some tendency toward moving to hit poses, and this music allows for that while elevating the music. It's also nicely light and bubbly, which I think would be really good for her.
Adeline Kenlin- "Once and for All" from Newsies
I got the desire for Adeline to use a showtune for floor after a random set of circumstances led me to realize that her 2017 floor goes really well to Dumbledore's part to the end of "Back to Hogwarts" from AVPM (it was the polished album version if you want to try at home). I picked this one because it has the driving beat from those sections of "Back to Hogwarts," which seemed to work for her, and it also embodies the pretty melodic elements of her 2016 routine and some fighting elements from her 2017 routine. I'd also be down for "At the End of the Day", for similar reasons with more similarities to her 2016 routine, and "Defying Gravity", which doesn't have the elements from her old routines but I still think she could do something with.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Favorite Routines from Worlds (BB and FX)
Beam
Pauline Schaefer, Qualifications
UGH this is gorgeous. Pauline is just such a beautiful beam worker. I love her skills such as the double spin and the Schaefer, but I'm also a huge fan of her choreography. It actually adds something, which the gymnastics world in general seems to be doing better at this year.
Ellie Black, Qualifications
She's a powerhouse on beam. I said in my favorite beam post that while I prefer elegant beam work in general, there's just a "killed it" quality about well hit powerful beam work that, say, Vika will never be able to manage, and I love it! I'm also a big fan of the "gallop" choreography-- it's weird and I love it! Just in general, she surprisingly artistic. And she stamps out her skills!
Asuka Teramoto, Qualifications
Asuka is such a pleasant beam worker. I was disappointed she messed up and couldn't get vindication in the final, but it was lovely here!
Floor
Claudia Fragapane, Qualifications
It's too bad she couldn't hit this well in the final, even though she was still able to medal. I've always been a Claudia fan, but she really is a whole new performer this year! And she's cleaned up so much! I will always love how she does tumbling+dance combos that should by all rights be hideous and makes them look fab. And say what you like about the rest of her execution, I will always appreciate the non-cowboyed double Arabian!
Ellie Black, All Around
This was such a passionate and powerful performance! Ellie is also just one of my favorite floor workers. I love her unique combination tumbling and how much of it is forward! Her first pass is my favorite. I also love her dance. It's always forceful and different and kind of... angsty? This performance especially, she put everything she had into it.
Morgan Hurd, All Around
Another all-heart performance. You could definitely see her excitement in those landings, but she was exuding so much joy here! I also love her upright landings. Everything about this routine (well, minus the landings) is exquisite!
Nina Derwael, All Around
I LOVE BELGIUM ON FLOOR! They just always have such weird choreography. And Nina didn't disappoint! I especially love the part in the straddle. Her landings here were also much more secure than in qualifications.
Jade Carey, Event Final
Yes, the artistry isn't... good. But her tumbling! I could watch those passes on loop! They're GORGEOUS!
Mai Murakami, Event Final
I'm so glad she made a change to this routine from the Christina Aguilara screaming! The tumbling here was impeccable! The performance was everything it could be. She makes this routine. What a deserving routine for the championship!
Brooklyn Moors, Event Final
This routine is just lovely. She also includes the Semenova, such a beautiful turn! It's a gorgeous routine, and that tumbling isn't shabby either. I mean, look at the Podkopayeva! This one especially, to me, she really seemed to put everything into the performance.
Pauline Schaefer, Qualifications
Ellie Black, Qualifications
Asuka Teramoto, Qualifications
Floor
Claudia Fragapane, Qualifications
Ellie Black, All Around
Morgan Hurd, All Around
Nina Derwael, All Around
Jade Carey, Event Final
Mai Murakami, Event Final
Brooklyn Moors, Event Final
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Gabby and Gymternet Whipping Boys
It was obnoxious and unnecessarily mean for a long time, but it didn't seem to be anything more harmful than pettiness.
For a while now, the gymternet has been caught up in the internet trend of being more enthusiastic about what we can trash and shred than, you know, what we like and enjoy.
There was Mykayla, who, make no mistake, has absolutely posted things she shouldn't have on social media. But can we really claim the moral high ground when we comb through everything we can reach-- including hunting down her family's accounts-- to find ways to crucify her? And why, if it was the problematic stuff she's posted, was so little of the focus of the crusade on that as opposed to the cocky stuff she's posted?
There was Ashton. Again, people were bound to take issue with her political posts. But hating on her for crying? There were comments on the confession accusing the gymternet of double standards with defending Nina because she's white (oh don't worry I'll get to Nina) where people were saying "No it's because Ashton supports Trump!!"... so that makes you being a hypocrite morally superior? But hey, at least you're admitting your double standards.
People were all over Maddie for a while for saying "let's be nice to each other regardless of who we voted for."
Various Russians have been in and out of the firing range for months.
Nina is the most obvious example of a gymnast just seeming to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. For no apparent reason other than people were looking for a new whipping boy, they jumped on the first at all questionable thing they found and shredded her for it. I mean, just look at the floor final for proof it's not arbitrary. Look at how everyone was responding when the champion was hugging people and quietly celebrating while Vanessa was still on the floor being seen to by the med staff. No double standards here at all...
But that's all just pettiness.
Add the Nassar scandal to our harpy mentality, and now you're playing with fire.
I've been worrying that we were going to end up crucifying one of his victims for how she dealt with this. I didn't think it was actually going to happen.
And enter Gabby.
Now, I am not saying her tweet was right. I am not saying you need to forgive and forget or that your opinions of her should go back to what they were two weeks ago. What I AM saying is this should serve as a wake-up call to the gymternet for our toxic mentality.
Because now we know Gabby was a victim too. And the gymternet spent days trashing her for the way she's handled the scandal. And some are so far down the rabbit hole they're even accusing her of lying.
Again, the fact that she was a victim doesn't make what she tweeted okay. But it does mean she deserves our compassion. And because we're all so sure we know these women as people from what they post online, it didn't even occur to most that she could have been a victim.
And from so many of those same places, we're seeing no apparent acknowledgement or concern that Gabby was abused (I'm referencing especially the comments with that post). Gabby's story shows precisely why the "S/HE IS CANCELLED!!" stuff is so wrong.
Can you really claim moral superiority?
I just want to leave with these two comments on how we need to treat the Nassar scandal:
And, to leave on a better note, Nassar is going to prison. May he rot in his cell.
For a while now, the gymternet has been caught up in the internet trend of being more enthusiastic about what we can trash and shred than, you know, what we like and enjoy.
There was Mykayla, who, make no mistake, has absolutely posted things she shouldn't have on social media. But can we really claim the moral high ground when we comb through everything we can reach-- including hunting down her family's accounts-- to find ways to crucify her? And why, if it was the problematic stuff she's posted, was so little of the focus of the crusade on that as opposed to the cocky stuff she's posted?
There was Ashton. Again, people were bound to take issue with her political posts. But hating on her for crying? There were comments on the confession accusing the gymternet of double standards with defending Nina because she's white (oh don't worry I'll get to Nina) where people were saying "No it's because Ashton supports Trump!!"... so that makes you being a hypocrite morally superior? But hey, at least you're admitting your double standards.
People were all over Maddie for a while for saying "let's be nice to each other regardless of who we voted for."
Various Russians have been in and out of the firing range for months.
Nina is the most obvious example of a gymnast just seeming to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. For no apparent reason other than people were looking for a new whipping boy, they jumped on the first at all questionable thing they found and shredded her for it. I mean, just look at the floor final for proof it's not arbitrary. Look at how everyone was responding when the champion was hugging people and quietly celebrating while Vanessa was still on the floor being seen to by the med staff. No double standards here at all...
But that's all just pettiness.
Add the Nassar scandal to our harpy mentality, and now you're playing with fire.
I've been worrying that we were going to end up crucifying one of his victims for how she dealt with this. I didn't think it was actually going to happen.
And enter Gabby.
Now, I am not saying her tweet was right. I am not saying you need to forgive and forget or that your opinions of her should go back to what they were two weeks ago. What I AM saying is this should serve as a wake-up call to the gymternet for our toxic mentality.
Because now we know Gabby was a victim too. And the gymternet spent days trashing her for the way she's handled the scandal. And some are so far down the rabbit hole they're even accusing her of lying.
Again, the fact that she was a victim doesn't make what she tweeted okay. But it does mean she deserves our compassion. And because we're all so sure we know these women as people from what they post online, it didn't even occur to most that she could have been a victim.
And from so many of those same places, we're seeing no apparent acknowledgement or concern that Gabby was abused (I'm referencing especially the comments with that post). Gabby's story shows precisely why the "S/HE IS CANCELLED!!" stuff is so wrong.
Can you really claim moral superiority?
I just want to leave with these two comments on how we need to treat the Nassar scandal:
 |
| Source: The Gymternet-- You Asked, the Gymterner Answered |
And, to leave on a better note, Nassar is going to prison. May he rot in his cell.
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Favorite Routines from Worlds (VT and UB)
I was planning on doing this post in the week or so after my Worlds post, and... well, you see how well that plan worked out.
Vault
Giulia Steingruber, Qualifications
She is just such a dynamic vaulter. I love the way she flies! It's also astounding that she made it to this point in her gymnastics so quickly in her return. Plus, a non-Yurchenko entry is always a bonus.
Jade Carey, Qualifications
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0CJ-koOQJs
Well, the video isn't available for embedding, so I'll just have to link it. Still a wild landing, but my oh my, that vault is gorgeous. It's just so easy for her!
Oksana Chusovitina, Event Final
What a gorgeous vault from the queen. She has cleaned up so much and it's just mind-boggling! I was definitely one of those people calling for the judges to overscore her into the gold! Ah, we can't have everything in life.
Ellie Black, Qualifications
She's not the cleanest vaulter, but I just love Ellie's work here. She just seems to fly. It's wonderful.
Bars
Diana Varinska
I love everything about this routine!! It is breathtaking and exciting and jam-packed! Just a fabulous set.
Anastasiia Iliankova, Qualifications
Look at the Hindorff+Pak+Maloney+clear hip 1/2+Ezhova combination! It's all that I love and all that I need. And she wasn't super close on the Shang here!
Elena Eremina
She just flies through this routine. Absolutely lovely. And the big combination work in the Nabieve+Pak+Chow 1/2! I just love gusty combinations like this.
Nina Derwael, All Around
There's so much flight in this routine! And so much intricacy! She just soars through this whole mind-blowing exercise.
Georgia-Mae Fenton Qualifications
Can you tell what style of bars routines I love? Once again, such breathtaking flight! And I love the different kinds of skills she has in combination!
Vault
Giulia Steingruber, Qualifications
Jade Carey, Qualifications
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0CJ-koOQJs
Well, the video isn't available for embedding, so I'll just have to link it. Still a wild landing, but my oh my, that vault is gorgeous. It's just so easy for her!
Oksana Chusovitina, Event Final
Ellie Black, Qualifications
Bars
Diana Varinska
Anastasiia Iliankova, Qualifications
Elena Eremina
Nina Derwael, All Around
Georgia-Mae Fenton Qualifications
Sunday, October 29, 2017
It was the best of Worlds, it was the worst of Worlds
Yeah, I'm aware I'm quite a bit late on the Worlds post game, but what with midterms and an appendicitis scare and then having to work on my extended assignments from said appendicitis scare, the post-Worlds week wasn't really open for blogging. And then, because of the neurotic person I am, I needed to get super ahead on my work when I got back into school so I wasn't having panic attacks. I'm so sorry. This was ridiculous.
My feelings about Worlds were constantly swinging between "This Worlds is a flaming trash heap" and "This Worlds is freaking awesome!!"
So much of the actual competition was breathtaking and glorious. So many of the finals came down to the wire and the gymnasts competed so much incredible gymnastics.
But the injuries. And it's not just that there were a ton of injuries. It's not like a bunch of gymnasts who had no business trying decided to bust out Prods or anything. That would have been bad and frustrating also, but ultimately it would have come down to foolish decisions. But in this case, SO MUCH of it came down to the organizers' fault. The lighting sucked, the mats were super hard (and when the athlete delegations tried to bring in softer ones the organizers refused), the PT was rushed, and the whole issue with the floor. And then, separately from the organizers but still belonging in this section, Casella pressuring Ferrari into the meet when she was clearly not ready and she snapped her Achilles.
I'm also not behind this beam scoring. There's no point in scoring so many gymnasts in the 7's in E when only two routines score above an 8 in E, they are by the same gymnast, and they are 8.133 and 8.033, respectively. That's why Tim's whole "The best should be able to do better than 1.2 in deductions" thing is valid... because otherwise, you're doing just as bad a job of differentiating the gymnasts; all the scores might as well have been .5-.7 higher, it really wouldn't have made much difference. With the two-part system, the E judges should be taking advantage of the system to use a wider range of scores and provide better differentiation, not just give most hit routines scores packed together in a lower range. In a less everything-looks-abysmal-for-no-real-necessary-reason situation, the vault final scoring also illustrated this problem. There was a .7 difference between the E scores all the non-fall vaults, and when not counting Wang Yan's weak Rudi, it was only a .5 difference. That's not what the judges are supposed to do.
And then the digital flags. No. The gymnasts deserve real flags. Have the federations provide them if you need to, it shouldn't be that hard.
However, on some other non-actual-gymnastics but kind of "controversial" discussion topics, I liked the medals! I'd way rather have a big donut medal than medals that are mostly glass like we've seen at some winter Olympics and other competitions or the really dinky ones we've seen some places. They're different and kind of fun! In addition, I thought the intros here were a bit overdone, but I like the general intro idea. It's the biggest meet of the year and these gymnasts don't get a ton of recognition for their extremely hard work and super impressive accomplishment, so make a big deal of them here!
Okay, onward to the actual competition.
The Men
The worst of Worlds: Obviously, the massacre subdivision. That was horrible. To move to a less grave aspect of the horrible subdivision, it was such an anticlimactic end to Kohei's streak. He didn't retire on his crowning gold after an eternal unbroken streak, nor was he finally toppled by a scrappy challenger, he just was taken out of competition. Oleg's exhaustion was showing by this point, and as someone who manages to delude myself into believing this will be HIS. TIME. every competition, I always end up sighing in acceptance of the inevitable. And then Yang Hak Seon injured himself right before vault. Ah. What with papers and looming midterms, I really wasn't as focused on the men, but I don't remember being too devastated by anything else. I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting, though.
The best of Worlds: KENZO!! What a lovely, lovely competitor. Gorgeous gymnast, and seems to be a wonderful man. His vaulting was life-giving! And speaking of his vaulting, the Chellsie-Nastia finish in the vault final was one of the most ridiculous things that I've witnessed since becoming a serious fan of this sport. Has any final in the two-part system had such a close finish? Both breathtaking vaulters, though in their own ways. Always what you want to see! I was also very pleased when Oleg made it to the PB podium. Always love to see him leave with a medal! Max Whitlock succeeding is also a great addition to any competition. And, of course, we need to talk about the fabulous cap to the ridiculous saves this year, Epke's hand-slip morphed into a one-arm giant! Hit. And if you can't hit, make your mistake into something memorable. Bart was all of us in this moment! And speaking of Bart, I was also a major fan of him getting the authorities to check the floor and then... not taking his second opportunity to go. You win! I know it was for rational reasons, but it's still mighty amusing.
Women's Qualifications
Obviously, the injuries here (Larisa!!) were the down side. As well as almost the entire competitive beam field imploding. I wanted Sanne to add a World title to her Olympic one! Qualifications was less of a massacre for the women than the men, though, so that was an improvement. It was just hard to get out of the shadow of men's sub 3. Other than the Lari injury and beam implosions, not too much noteworthy happened in women's quals. I think the only other real exciting thing was JAPAN!! They are coming to slay this quad, and I am ready.
Womens' AA
The worst of Worlds: Once again, the biggest disappointment was Ragan busting a tendon in her ankle moments before competition. I think we were all pulling for her here, even those who weren't really interested in seeing her on the podium. In addition, there were of course a number of falls which no one wanted. I think it's reasonable to say the biggest of those was MAI!! Ugh, she had such a great day otherwise. And then Melka's floor was also really unhappy, too.
The best of Worlds: On the other side of Ragan's injury, it was good to see Ioana Crisan handle being thrown into the final at the very last second so well. Also, the competition was so tense and exciting! It was exactly the opposite of how competitions with Biles were exciting, and I really got into it! Of course, seeing Morgan win was like Christmas coming early. Her gymnastics was lovely and her joy was infectious! And even though the other two medalists did have large errors, they were also able to continue the streak of no-fall podiums! From only 2008 until 2013 to five years straight, I'm really appreciating this turn-around. There were also so many gymnasts tying or breaking their country's record for best finish! I loved all the big gymnastics we got to see, with Lena and Nina on bars, Tabea on beam, Mai on floor... it was full of big moments. Of course, we all want a final with all top-level competitors where everyone hits, but sometimes this kind of tension is what you can have.
I'm happy with this outcome. Obviously, Morgi winning was all I really wanted. I do think her floor score was a little cooked compared to Ellie's, but Ellie's everything else was a little cooked, so it evened out, and I think the more deserving gymnast won. It's not the best thing, but sometimes, in gymnastics, two wrongs do make a right. I also like Elena in third, and was pleased to see her do so well. Of course, it was annoying that Mai would have won without her fall, but the ones who did the best came out on top.
Womens' VT
The worst of Worlds: Overall, this was one of the more generally positive finals. Sae's and Shallon's falls were rather gnarly, but ultimately both gymnasts were okay after, so it was only disappointing in terms of performance and not depressing like a lot of the other disappointments. The judging was also rather screwy and failed in the job of, you know, actually differentiating the athletes (what?).
The best of Worlds:One of the biggest positives that stuck in my mind from this final was Chuso's vaulting! I love how she was able to clean up so much AT FORTY-TWO! May she never leave us. I also loved seeing Giulia do so well after such a short return, Jade's wonderful form and power, and while Wang Yan doesn't always have the strongest and cleanest vaults, I do appreciate how she doesn't terrify me so many vaulters frequently can. And while Bee Farm's vaulting isn't the nicest, it was good to see her hit when her back was basically taped together. Should we be begging Russia to stop encouraging her to compete at this point? I think so.
As for the result, I would have been okay with any combination of the medalists. I think if I was picking the podium, I would have done 1. Jade, 2. Giulia, 3. Masha, but I have no real complaints about the actual result either. Sometimes in gymnastics, multiple placing permutations are equally valid, and sometimes it comes down to a closer result but the outcome is more definite. Such is our wacky sport. Ultimately, while all the medalists had strong-enough performances, no one here really had a champion-worthy performance. Jade would have had it not been for that landing, and it's completely legitimate that she gave away the title there. Hopefully we'll see her back with a stronger hit in the next years (and an upgrade-- that Amanar is way too easy for her! she could legit get the TTY!)
Womens' UB
The worst of Worlds: Obviously, the big negative (in athlete performance) here was Ashton's... well, I hate to use sensationalist language on here in reference to a bad performance, but her meltdown. I mean, that's a routine she can do in her sleep! And apparently she exacerbated a shoulder injury, and finished her routine through tears. I felt so bad for her! She had been so crapped on in the lead-up to Worlds and then that had to happen. And the biggest downside of the final was the pettiness after. What ridiculous nonsense to be pillorying gymnasts for. And with the targets, people were definitely just looking to attack. "Ashton crying was unreasonable if she wasn't injured!" Seriously, calm down. And then the Nina issue. Yes, how dare she smile to herself when she realizes she just won Belgium's first World medal. Yet no one seems to mind how everyone was hugging the floor medalists while Vanessa was still on the ground being attended to by the med staff. Nope, no hypocrisy here at all. Not picking and choosing who to hate based on our already held biases, never. Some people in this fandom just really need to grow up.
Okay, gymternet rant over.
The best of Worlds: Onward to what I loved. Because outside of the Ashton sadness, this is probably my favorite bars final. Maybe with 2015 as an exception, because that was hilarious and all kinds of magical and had basically no falters, but I LOVE the style of bars we saw in this final. All I really cared about going in was that Elena, Anastasia, Nina, and Diana hit, and I got that. (Well, there was the Shang thing in Iliankova's routine, but details.) So many unique and gutsy combinations with big releases! So many connections combining multiple categories of skills! These are the bars routines we deserve! (Actually they're probably more than we deserve, tbh.) I seriously don't get how people are complaining current bars routines are boring? Are we watching the same competitions? They're so breathtaking!
So yeah, I was paying zero attention to scoring, so... Lena and Ilya wur robbed!!!!11! Fan shouldn't have medalled!!1!111! (I seriously have no legitimate opinion here. I paid NO ATTENTION to such trivial things as "quality".)
Womens' BB
The worst of Worlds: This was certainly one of the less bad beam finals we've had at this level in a long time, but there were still spots of sadness. Of course, no one wants to see the falls. I was especially sad to see Teramoto fall when I wanted her to get vindication for her fourth in 2014. I was less sad about Ellie's fall because she didn't seem too upset after medaling in AA, but she can be such a powerhouse here that I would have liked to have seen her hit the way she can, and she would have had a chance for a medal. And of course, it was sad to see Mai in fourth again. And while it wasn't as bad as some have been, it also didn't really have any super great routines either. There were a lot of falters.
The best of Worlds:But PAULINE WON YOU GUYS!! We of course had to deal with the tragedy of Sanne not qualifying, but one of the two I wanted to return to the podium was able to walk away with the title! She is such a gorgeous beam worker, and one of the few who has real choreography which added genuine artistic quality to the routine. It was also great to see Tabea able to pick up a second medal for Germany. I would love to see Germany put themselves at the top! And of course, MORGI! I'm loving this new steady Morgan we're seeing. Elena coming through and finishing off her competition with no falls and all hit beam routines was also super exciting, and I'm really looking forward to what she'll do for the Russian program.
I don't think there's too much controversy here. I've seen just a very little claim of robbing on Elena's part from Russia stanning, and I'm sure you'll find the same for Morgan, but that's just the fringes. I'm with what seems to be the consensus from what I've seen, which is being fine with the outcome.
Womens' FX
The worst of Worlds: Of course, with the bad, we need to talk about Vanessa. I, like everyone, am furious with Casella. One of the few injuries here that was actually the fault of decision-making on the part of the athlete team. And his manipulation to get her to go for difficulty she wasn't ready for yet. He appeared to be literally the only person who didn't see what a stupid decision he was pushing her to. When I watched the final, I was just thinking "Well at least Vanessa's got an epic routine to go out on", and then that happened. Absolutely shameful. I really don't think I can say much else negative about this final, but what a terrible negative it was.
The best of Worlds: MAI! MAI MAI MAI!! She finally got her Worlds medal. And what fabulous vindication for when she was robbed in 2013. It's such a fantastic total package routine. Speaking of total package routines, Brooklyn Moors is also how lovely. I'm not sure why, but I didn't have the same adoration for this routine until the last time I watched it yesterday, and... why? It's gorgeous. And the Podkopayeva! The difficult and intricate front tumbling! THE SEMENOVA! Lovely, lovely, lovely. And speaking of the Canadians, I also appreciated seeing Ellie Black again in this floor final. She may have stumbled, but I just love her floor work. Jade's tumbling was gorgeous. I could watch those passes on loop. Of course her artistry is quite lacking, but I think people are a bit over the top where criticizing her is concerned. No, it's not good. But her choreography has a fair enough correlation to the music, and she does it cleanly. I do hope we see good improvement there. It's her one barrier to being a total package floor worker. I also love the new Claudia we saw here. Her stumble on the first run was disappointing, but she's cleaned up A LOT. While I loved her old choreographies, she's like a whole new performer and it's fab. Another floor worker I love.
I loved this podium! Mai finally winning, Jade's gorgeous tumbling getting rewarded, and CLAUDIA MEDALLED! However, I really wouldn't have hated it if Thais had medalled ahead of Frags. Frags is one of my favorite on floor, but... there was that stumble.
My feelings about Worlds were constantly swinging between "This Worlds is a flaming trash heap" and "This Worlds is freaking awesome!!"
So much of the actual competition was breathtaking and glorious. So many of the finals came down to the wire and the gymnasts competed so much incredible gymnastics.
But the injuries. And it's not just that there were a ton of injuries. It's not like a bunch of gymnasts who had no business trying decided to bust out Prods or anything. That would have been bad and frustrating also, but ultimately it would have come down to foolish decisions. But in this case, SO MUCH of it came down to the organizers' fault. The lighting sucked, the mats were super hard (and when the athlete delegations tried to bring in softer ones the organizers refused), the PT was rushed, and the whole issue with the floor. And then, separately from the organizers but still belonging in this section, Casella pressuring Ferrari into the meet when she was clearly not ready and she snapped her Achilles.
I'm also not behind this beam scoring. There's no point in scoring so many gymnasts in the 7's in E when only two routines score above an 8 in E, they are by the same gymnast, and they are 8.133 and 8.033, respectively. That's why Tim's whole "The best should be able to do better than 1.2 in deductions" thing is valid... because otherwise, you're doing just as bad a job of differentiating the gymnasts; all the scores might as well have been .5-.7 higher, it really wouldn't have made much difference. With the two-part system, the E judges should be taking advantage of the system to use a wider range of scores and provide better differentiation, not just give most hit routines scores packed together in a lower range. In a less everything-looks-abysmal-for-no-real-necessary-reason situation, the vault final scoring also illustrated this problem. There was a .7 difference between the E scores all the non-fall vaults, and when not counting Wang Yan's weak Rudi, it was only a .5 difference. That's not what the judges are supposed to do.
And then the digital flags. No. The gymnasts deserve real flags. Have the federations provide them if you need to, it shouldn't be that hard.
However, on some other non-actual-gymnastics but kind of "controversial" discussion topics, I liked the medals! I'd way rather have a big donut medal than medals that are mostly glass like we've seen at some winter Olympics and other competitions or the really dinky ones we've seen some places. They're different and kind of fun! In addition, I thought the intros here were a bit overdone, but I like the general intro idea. It's the biggest meet of the year and these gymnasts don't get a ton of recognition for their extremely hard work and super impressive accomplishment, so make a big deal of them here!
Okay, onward to the actual competition.
The Men
The worst of Worlds: Obviously, the massacre subdivision. That was horrible. To move to a less grave aspect of the horrible subdivision, it was such an anticlimactic end to Kohei's streak. He didn't retire on his crowning gold after an eternal unbroken streak, nor was he finally toppled by a scrappy challenger, he just was taken out of competition. Oleg's exhaustion was showing by this point, and as someone who manages to delude myself into believing this will be HIS. TIME. every competition, I always end up sighing in acceptance of the inevitable. And then Yang Hak Seon injured himself right before vault. Ah. What with papers and looming midterms, I really wasn't as focused on the men, but I don't remember being too devastated by anything else. I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting, though.
The best of Worlds: KENZO!! What a lovely, lovely competitor. Gorgeous gymnast, and seems to be a wonderful man. His vaulting was life-giving! And speaking of his vaulting, the Chellsie-Nastia finish in the vault final was one of the most ridiculous things that I've witnessed since becoming a serious fan of this sport. Has any final in the two-part system had such a close finish? Both breathtaking vaulters, though in their own ways. Always what you want to see! I was also very pleased when Oleg made it to the PB podium. Always love to see him leave with a medal! Max Whitlock succeeding is also a great addition to any competition. And, of course, we need to talk about the fabulous cap to the ridiculous saves this year, Epke's hand-slip morphed into a one-arm giant! Hit. And if you can't hit, make your mistake into something memorable. Bart was all of us in this moment! And speaking of Bart, I was also a major fan of him getting the authorities to check the floor and then... not taking his second opportunity to go. You win! I know it was for rational reasons, but it's still mighty amusing.
Women's Qualifications
Obviously, the injuries here (Larisa!!) were the down side. As well as almost the entire competitive beam field imploding. I wanted Sanne to add a World title to her Olympic one! Qualifications was less of a massacre for the women than the men, though, so that was an improvement. It was just hard to get out of the shadow of men's sub 3. Other than the Lari injury and beam implosions, not too much noteworthy happened in women's quals. I think the only other real exciting thing was JAPAN!! They are coming to slay this quad, and I am ready.
Womens' AA
The worst of Worlds: Once again, the biggest disappointment was Ragan busting a tendon in her ankle moments before competition. I think we were all pulling for her here, even those who weren't really interested in seeing her on the podium. In addition, there were of course a number of falls which no one wanted. I think it's reasonable to say the biggest of those was MAI!! Ugh, she had such a great day otherwise. And then Melka's floor was also really unhappy, too.
The best of Worlds: On the other side of Ragan's injury, it was good to see Ioana Crisan handle being thrown into the final at the very last second so well. Also, the competition was so tense and exciting! It was exactly the opposite of how competitions with Biles were exciting, and I really got into it! Of course, seeing Morgan win was like Christmas coming early. Her gymnastics was lovely and her joy was infectious! And even though the other two medalists did have large errors, they were also able to continue the streak of no-fall podiums! From only 2008 until 2013 to five years straight, I'm really appreciating this turn-around. There were also so many gymnasts tying or breaking their country's record for best finish! I loved all the big gymnastics we got to see, with Lena and Nina on bars, Tabea on beam, Mai on floor... it was full of big moments. Of course, we all want a final with all top-level competitors where everyone hits, but sometimes this kind of tension is what you can have.
I'm happy with this outcome. Obviously, Morgi winning was all I really wanted. I do think her floor score was a little cooked compared to Ellie's, but Ellie's everything else was a little cooked, so it evened out, and I think the more deserving gymnast won. It's not the best thing, but sometimes, in gymnastics, two wrongs do make a right. I also like Elena in third, and was pleased to see her do so well. Of course, it was annoying that Mai would have won without her fall, but the ones who did the best came out on top.
Womens' VT
The worst of Worlds: Overall, this was one of the more generally positive finals. Sae's and Shallon's falls were rather gnarly, but ultimately both gymnasts were okay after, so it was only disappointing in terms of performance and not depressing like a lot of the other disappointments. The judging was also rather screwy and failed in the job of, you know, actually differentiating the athletes (what?).
The best of Worlds:One of the biggest positives that stuck in my mind from this final was Chuso's vaulting! I love how she was able to clean up so much AT FORTY-TWO! May she never leave us. I also loved seeing Giulia do so well after such a short return, Jade's wonderful form and power, and while Wang Yan doesn't always have the strongest and cleanest vaults, I do appreciate how she doesn't terrify me so many vaulters frequently can. And while Bee Farm's vaulting isn't the nicest, it was good to see her hit when her back was basically taped together. Should we be begging Russia to stop encouraging her to compete at this point? I think so.
As for the result, I would have been okay with any combination of the medalists. I think if I was picking the podium, I would have done 1. Jade, 2. Giulia, 3. Masha, but I have no real complaints about the actual result either. Sometimes in gymnastics, multiple placing permutations are equally valid, and sometimes it comes down to a closer result but the outcome is more definite. Such is our wacky sport. Ultimately, while all the medalists had strong-enough performances, no one here really had a champion-worthy performance. Jade would have had it not been for that landing, and it's completely legitimate that she gave away the title there. Hopefully we'll see her back with a stronger hit in the next years (and an upgrade-- that Amanar is way too easy for her! she could legit get the TTY!)
Womens' UB
The worst of Worlds: Obviously, the big negative (in athlete performance) here was Ashton's... well, I hate to use sensationalist language on here in reference to a bad performance, but her meltdown. I mean, that's a routine she can do in her sleep! And apparently she exacerbated a shoulder injury, and finished her routine through tears. I felt so bad for her! She had been so crapped on in the lead-up to Worlds and then that had to happen. And the biggest downside of the final was the pettiness after. What ridiculous nonsense to be pillorying gymnasts for. And with the targets, people were definitely just looking to attack. "Ashton crying was unreasonable if she wasn't injured!" Seriously, calm down. And then the Nina issue. Yes, how dare she smile to herself when she realizes she just won Belgium's first World medal. Yet no one seems to mind how everyone was hugging the floor medalists while Vanessa was still on the ground being attended to by the med staff. Nope, no hypocrisy here at all. Not picking and choosing who to hate based on our already held biases, never. Some people in this fandom just really need to grow up.
Okay, gymternet rant over.
The best of Worlds: Onward to what I loved. Because outside of the Ashton sadness, this is probably my favorite bars final. Maybe with 2015 as an exception, because that was hilarious and all kinds of magical and had basically no falters, but I LOVE the style of bars we saw in this final. All I really cared about going in was that Elena, Anastasia, Nina, and Diana hit, and I got that. (Well, there was the Shang thing in Iliankova's routine, but details.) So many unique and gutsy combinations with big releases! So many connections combining multiple categories of skills! These are the bars routines we deserve! (Actually they're probably more than we deserve, tbh.) I seriously don't get how people are complaining current bars routines are boring? Are we watching the same competitions? They're so breathtaking!
So yeah, I was paying zero attention to scoring, so... Lena and Ilya wur robbed!!!!11! Fan shouldn't have medalled!!1!111! (I seriously have no legitimate opinion here. I paid NO ATTENTION to such trivial things as "quality".)
Womens' BB
The worst of Worlds: This was certainly one of the less bad beam finals we've had at this level in a long time, but there were still spots of sadness. Of course, no one wants to see the falls. I was especially sad to see Teramoto fall when I wanted her to get vindication for her fourth in 2014. I was less sad about Ellie's fall because she didn't seem too upset after medaling in AA, but she can be such a powerhouse here that I would have liked to have seen her hit the way she can, and she would have had a chance for a medal. And of course, it was sad to see Mai in fourth again. And while it wasn't as bad as some have been, it also didn't really have any super great routines either. There were a lot of falters.
The best of Worlds:But PAULINE WON YOU GUYS!! We of course had to deal with the tragedy of Sanne not qualifying, but one of the two I wanted to return to the podium was able to walk away with the title! She is such a gorgeous beam worker, and one of the few who has real choreography which added genuine artistic quality to the routine. It was also great to see Tabea able to pick up a second medal for Germany. I would love to see Germany put themselves at the top! And of course, MORGI! I'm loving this new steady Morgan we're seeing. Elena coming through and finishing off her competition with no falls and all hit beam routines was also super exciting, and I'm really looking forward to what she'll do for the Russian program.
I don't think there's too much controversy here. I've seen just a very little claim of robbing on Elena's part from Russia stanning, and I'm sure you'll find the same for Morgan, but that's just the fringes. I'm with what seems to be the consensus from what I've seen, which is being fine with the outcome.
Womens' FX
The worst of Worlds: Of course, with the bad, we need to talk about Vanessa. I, like everyone, am furious with Casella. One of the few injuries here that was actually the fault of decision-making on the part of the athlete team. And his manipulation to get her to go for difficulty she wasn't ready for yet. He appeared to be literally the only person who didn't see what a stupid decision he was pushing her to. When I watched the final, I was just thinking "Well at least Vanessa's got an epic routine to go out on", and then that happened. Absolutely shameful. I really don't think I can say much else negative about this final, but what a terrible negative it was.
The best of Worlds: MAI! MAI MAI MAI!! She finally got her Worlds medal. And what fabulous vindication for when she was robbed in 2013. It's such a fantastic total package routine. Speaking of total package routines, Brooklyn Moors is also how lovely. I'm not sure why, but I didn't have the same adoration for this routine until the last time I watched it yesterday, and... why? It's gorgeous. And the Podkopayeva! The difficult and intricate front tumbling! THE SEMENOVA! Lovely, lovely, lovely. And speaking of the Canadians, I also appreciated seeing Ellie Black again in this floor final. She may have stumbled, but I just love her floor work. Jade's tumbling was gorgeous. I could watch those passes on loop. Of course her artistry is quite lacking, but I think people are a bit over the top where criticizing her is concerned. No, it's not good. But her choreography has a fair enough correlation to the music, and she does it cleanly. I do hope we see good improvement there. It's her one barrier to being a total package floor worker. I also love the new Claudia we saw here. Her stumble on the first run was disappointing, but she's cleaned up A LOT. While I loved her old choreographies, she's like a whole new performer and it's fab. Another floor worker I love.
I loved this podium! Mai finally winning, Jade's gorgeous tumbling getting rewarded, and CLAUDIA MEDALLED! However, I really wouldn't have hated it if Thais had medalled ahead of Frags. Frags is one of my favorite on floor, but... there was that stumble.
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Worlds Predictions and Fantasy Podiums
The time has come, the time is now, to talk of Worlds and things, of hits and hopes and average scores, of champions and swings, of who has upgrades under wraps, and what the judges think. Calloo, callay, we'll sing today, of champions and swings.
AA Prediction
1. Ragan Smith
2. Larisa Iordache
3. Angelina Melnikova
Compared to Larisa, I have more confidence in Ragan that she won't 1.fall apart, 2.be downgraded a bunch, 3.get hammered in execution all over the place.
AA Fantasy
1. Rebeca Andrade
2. Ragan Smith
3. Ellie Black
REBECA!!! And I would also just love for Ellie to medal, especially at home!
Update: Well, now Rebeca's out, put in Larisa or Morgan for bronze.
VT Prediction
1. Maria Paseka
2. Shallon Olsen
3. Rebeca Andrade
The Chengmanars in front, of course. I always want someone with beautiful vaults to win, but Bee Farm always seems to get it.
VT Fantasy
1. Rebeca Andrade
2. Giulia Steingruber
3. Jade Carey
Once again, REBECA!! How gorgeous are her vaults! Giulia because duh, and then I just want Jade Carey to do the level-10-to-World-medalist-in-under-a-year thing. Because of course.
Update: Again, now Rebeca's ACL destroyed all our hopes again, slot in Jade Carey for the prediction and Chuso for the fantasy.
UB Prediction
1. Nina Derwael
2. Fan Yilin
3. Anastasia Iliankova
While bars is absolutely stacked, these three look to be coming in the clear frontrunners. I moved Iliankova into third because of the injury/rough training stuff.
UB Fantasy
1. Nina Derwael
2. Anastasia Iliankova
3. Diana Varinska
Can you tell what kind of bars routines I like? So many breathtaking gutsy combinations! So many Ezhovas! So many Tkatchev halves! So incredible!
BB Prediction
1. Ragan Smith
2. Liu Tingting
3. Larisa Iordache
Once again, I don't trust Larisa as much in certain key medal-getting areas. Liu's routine depends more on finicky combinations, so I'm wondering more about her D score. But then there's the wolf turn/side jump issues with Ragan's routines.
BB Fantasy
1. Sanne Wevers
2. Pauline Schaefer
3. Luo Huan/Morgan Hurd
All I want is Sanne and Pauline to medal on beam. That's it!! They just have such lovely, lovely work. #makebeamartisticagain I couldn't decide between Luo and Morgan-- I'm allowed one tie, right?
FX Prediction
1. Mai Murakami
2. Larisa Iordache
3. Ragan Smith
Mai seems to have the momentum this year. She's beyond due for a World floor medal! Larisa's apparently busting out a Silivas, so slot her in. And Ragan consistently does hit routines that get good scores.
FX Fantasy
1. Claudia Fragapane
2. Yesenia Ferrera
3. Mai Murakami
I'm still waiting for Frags to get her floor medal. And she's grown so much as a performer! I just love this routine. Same for Yesenia! Please let her get her medal here. And again, Mai's just overdue.
AA Prediction
1. Ragan Smith
2. Larisa Iordache
3. Angelina Melnikova
Compared to Larisa, I have more confidence in Ragan that she won't 1.fall apart, 2.be downgraded a bunch, 3.get hammered in execution all over the place.
AA Fantasy
1. Rebeca Andrade
2. Ragan Smith
3. Ellie Black
REBECA!!! And I would also just love for Ellie to medal, especially at home!
Update: Well, now Rebeca's out, put in Larisa or Morgan for bronze.
VT Prediction
1. Maria Paseka
2. Shallon Olsen
3. Rebeca Andrade
The Chengmanars in front, of course. I always want someone with beautiful vaults to win, but Bee Farm always seems to get it.
VT Fantasy
1. Rebeca Andrade
2. Giulia Steingruber
3. Jade Carey
Once again, REBECA!! How gorgeous are her vaults! Giulia because duh, and then I just want Jade Carey to do the level-10-to-World-medalist-in-under-a-year thing. Because of course.
Update: Again, now Rebeca's ACL destroyed all our hopes again, slot in Jade Carey for the prediction and Chuso for the fantasy.
UB Prediction
1. Nina Derwael
2. Fan Yilin
3. Anastasia Iliankova
While bars is absolutely stacked, these three look to be coming in the clear frontrunners. I moved Iliankova into third because of the injury/rough training stuff.
UB Fantasy
1. Nina Derwael
2. Anastasia Iliankova
3. Diana Varinska
Can you tell what kind of bars routines I like? So many breathtaking gutsy combinations! So many Ezhovas! So many Tkatchev halves! So incredible!
BB Prediction
1. Ragan Smith
2. Liu Tingting
3. Larisa Iordache
Once again, I don't trust Larisa as much in certain key medal-getting areas. Liu's routine depends more on finicky combinations, so I'm wondering more about her D score. But then there's the wolf turn/side jump issues with Ragan's routines.
BB Fantasy
1. Sanne Wevers
2. Pauline Schaefer
3. Luo Huan/Morgan Hurd
All I want is Sanne and Pauline to medal on beam. That's it!! They just have such lovely, lovely work. #makebeamartisticagain I couldn't decide between Luo and Morgan-- I'm allowed one tie, right?
FX Prediction
1. Mai Murakami
2. Larisa Iordache
3. Ragan Smith
Mai seems to have the momentum this year. She's beyond due for a World floor medal! Larisa's apparently busting out a Silivas, so slot her in. And Ragan consistently does hit routines that get good scores.
FX Fantasy
1. Claudia Fragapane
2. Yesenia Ferrera
3. Mai Murakami
I'm still waiting for Frags to get her floor medal. And she's grown so much as a performer! I just love this routine. Same for Yesenia! Please let her get her medal here. And again, Mai's just overdue.
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
The Greatest Beam Save of All Time
Yes, I am aware that this is going up really late. Starting school the week after nationals will do that to you. So, nothing about Universiade either (I still need to catch up and actually watch that) and we'll see if I work up something about the Russian Cup videos if anything there looks interesting enough. (Can you tell how long it's been even since I wrote this intro?)
So, obviously the first thing we have to talk about is THE BEAM SAVE.
That beautiful moment when you almost fall and end up upgrading. I'm bummed she didn't get the CV because it was connected to a wolf turn-- she didn't break the rhythm or anything!! It's way nicer than those horrible double wolf, pause, triple wolf/vice versa constructions. This could have been the Olympics, and this would be what I consider the most important moment of the meet (unless Sanne won beam, in which case, SANNE)-- for a post-Olympic nationals, even more so! Heck, this just might be the most important thing to happen in competition this year. This is legendary. I'm also super down with her getting the silver here! I know in all context of Worlds discussion we go to "but inconsistency!"... like we do with every non-Ragan candidate (except maybe Marz? and Trinity). At least we'll always have the wolf+side-stand triple.
And then, in the realm of beam saves, we must not forget the Leah Clapper Beam Moments. On night one, she held on with the jaws of life in ultimate refusal to meet the mat, which always gains my respect-- it might not be reflected in the score, but the character it shows!
Unfortunately, on night two she had an actual fall, but still a fall in valiant style:
While we're on the topic of beam, we also really need to talk about the horrible relationship the US has with beam construction this year. First of all, as I already referenced, the doubling up on wolf turns one right after the other. Let me make this clear, I like well-executed wolf turns. I don't like well-executed doubled up wolf turns. They are hideous, QED.
And then there are the side-stand half-twisting jumps. Fortunately, for the most part, they were better-executed here than at Classics, and the ones which hit split and weren't accompanied by a large balance break were decently pleasant enough. But some were still cringe-inducing. Ragan's beam from night one basically just stood as a monument to the pitfalls of contemporary US beam construction:
Also, what was that score?
There are so many aesthetically-pleasing routes to beefing up the D score in the new COP that the US just... isn't utilizing. I can't think of a single senior who's putting the mixed connection potential to use, and with all the upgrades in mounts they're just sticking with their same A mounts. I know the minimize risk, maximize reward strategy, but... is it really working? We had the wolf turn errors and the twisting jump errors, so are they really the most risk-free options? (I feel vaguely like Umbridge talking about risk-free conditions.) Surely it would be better to risk not getting SB than those errors? And not to mention, it's not just the acrobatic mounts that got upgraded! THE HOMMA WAS UPGRADED!!! (Please, just anyone from anywhere do a Homma.) There are plenty of low-fall-risk options for higher difficulty mounts.
On a completely frivolous note at the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, the Texas Dreams leos night one were fab. I'm still not completely sold on the gathering on Ragan's, but it was a cool different touch and otherwise so regal! I loved the red/white/black/gray look, and how they were different but complementary. Just a nice touch of flair!
And, of course, with Texas Dreams, we must discuss Ragan. She was clearly the best by far, and will definitely be the US's hope for the World title in Montreal. She's been one of the most consistent at the end of the summer, and has been topping the scores, so she is going in a favorite. Her bars both nights missed the strength of her Classics routine, but she made it through securely both times, still. While her beam will never be scored that way at Worlds, her night two beam was FANTASTIC! It was steady and precise for almost the whole routine, and her biggest slip involved one of the lovely "no need to notice my foot just completely missed the beam, it didn't affect me at all or anything" moments. All in all, she is establishing herself as the top class at this point.
And, of course, the weirdness of her floor. Well, her choreography fits the new opening music better than it did for the car horn IT WAS CHOREOGRAPHED TO, so good for that. Also, side eye to Dominic Zito (he is still her choreographer?) It's no longer the bizarro Addams Family mess, but still... we know she can do so much better!! There's a proclivity toward butt shelving and there seems to have been a shift toward constructing her routines with static movements that wasn't there in her junior routines. They went from her cuteness just being a natural facet of the routine to the routines screaming "Look! She's cute and little! We give her beads for motivation! We're going to keep pretending she's five!!" This infantilization I just don't get.
Riley both did and didn't do her job here. She had an overall pretty much hit meet (those bars and floor E scores night two were ridiculous, though, floor significantly more so), which was an improvement along the lines she needed to show. However, it came along with a downgrade and, of course, two routines with significant errors. I am more convinced now that issues for her won't mean complete mental implosion and safety-threatening errors, which had been my big hesitation where she was concerned. I do wonder if doing the FTY might have been behind the increased consistency. With her problems at American Cup, I wondered if maybe going for the DTY threw her off. If you took her day one performance, she made a good case. And her day two beam was lovely.
I was totally on the Marz train to make the podium, but actually looking at the scores, it was a fairly unlikely ask of her to get that score on beam. Still, I truly do think she had one of the best overall performances at nationals. She beat both of the other medalists in steady performance. Plus, her floor is just really fun!
Trinity Thomas's coaches must be really bugged this isn't a team year, because if it was, she'd be a shoe-in for her consistency and the competitive scores she can bring on three events. It's such a shame she couldn't have a more difficult vault!
And, oh, Morgan. Especially night 1. *Sigh* And she finally hit the beam routine, too!
Hit the usual problem routine, then miss on others. I will always be here for hoping for the ice-in-her-veins Morgan to happen. She's just such a beautiful gymnast!
But, on the topic of Morgan's beautiful gymnastic, she dealt a huge blow to the artistry in the world when she shaved down her ending choreo!!
Fortunately, however, the void has been filled by the SJS night two routine:
THIS IS GORGEOUS! I love how she and her mom just decided "with the injuries pneumonia and such, Worlds, etc. isn't happening, so we'll make a splash with TWO DIFFERENT FLOOR ROUTINES!!" This was definitely the one I preferred.
Moving from magnificent artistry to pure power, Jade Carey's performance... wasn't what we wanted it to be. Neither Amanar was up to scratch. I wonder if at this point it might be better just to do a DTY instead of the Amanar (that is legal right? I always get confused with whether you can have two vaults with the same number of twists) and go for a safer and cleaner route.
And then, rounding out the major players, Ashton still didn't bring the inbars. The routine with the inbars and Ashton-execution would be quite formidable, but there is the question of bringing a routine she hasn't shown in competition this year. Still, there will be an element of risk whatever Worlds team is chosen.
And the juniors!
I like both of the top two, but I was definitely rooting for Maile going in, so I was glad to see her defend the title! Of course, I was not happy that it came with an error from Emma Malabuyo. But, after the issues she had as Classics, it was great to see Maile go 8-for-8 here. These juniors are insane. How much do you want to bet Valeri has a countdown in his office for the number of days until 2018 and these girls are seniors? I know Maile's standout event is beam, but her day 2 bars are what really stuck with me:
Lower difficulty than day 1, but gorgeous!
It was such a shame that Emma had her stumble day 2 on her beam dismount! She has such lovely gymnastics. She really should have been in the lead after day 1, she had such a clean and polished day. But she's had a great year otherwise! Though her day 2 beam was the cause of her downfall, her day 1 beam was glorious, and I love her arabian! But the highlight of her performance had to be her day 1 floor.
And, speaking of floor, ADELINE KENLIN BROUGHT THE PODKOPAYEVA
But, of course, the big thing that caught my attention here was the new GAGE girls! Dang, they are lovely gymnasts. While Leanne and Kara have been getting the lion's share of the attention, I am a major fan of JaFree's beam composition. But, like everyone else, the one I could watch on loop is Kara's:
This is a vision of what gymnastics should be. And her choreo is also super enjoyable and adds to the overall aesthetic of the routine! Sadly, her difficulty is low everywhere else, but it's ridiculous (not as in crack judging-ridiculous, as in how awesome-ridiculous) that her execution was still able to get her into third! And she turns senior next year? We don't even have her hanging in the junior ranks another year? Well, I guess that will keep her from going into the "permanent junior" category in my mind.
And, of course, I can't finish the post off without talking about the Worlds team. I don't envy the selection committee this year, not because there are so many viable solutions, but because this looks like a puzzle where not all the pieces fit yet.
Ragan is obviously going for the AA. Riley is obviously going in some capacity. Since she would have beaten Jordan even with the rough spots and the FTY if the US didn't have its own values, probably AA. The rest is... eh.
Jordan's rumored Lopez is the biggest wrench in the plan. With Carey's issues, another option would be nice. This brings multiple routes and questions into play. The first is looking at comparing her and Carey for a vault spot. If Carey keeps not Amanaring well, Jordan could be the favored option for vault. Except she hasn't done the Lopez in competition. And then the, y'know, "having other competitive events" issue. Pfft. Jade clearly beats her on floor, making Jade the more-viable-potential-medals option.
But then, on the other side of the coin, the vault field is always the easiest to get into. So, if Jade doesn't get her vaults into order, which option provides the bigger medal opportunity? Of course, not having seen said Lopez, we can't say.
But then there's another option of Jordan going for the AA, having two vaulters, and bring Riley as a UB/BB specialist. Riley may have been ahead of Jordan using, y'know, the criteria they'll actually be judged by, but Jordan didn't hit her peak. So what if she turns up at camp looking fab? At this point, probably, "You needed to do this in an actual competition with people, sorry." But of course, Riley's consistency isn't her greatest strength either. Does either's consistency record make a better case? And, the bigger question in my mind, should Riley go back to the DTY option, will she still have her newfound hit-ness even with the upgrade? The lack of consistent AAers with competitive difficulty levels is what really messes the decision up here. But Riley's definitely the clear favorite for the second AA spot. The Ragan-Jordan-Jade-Riley option just fits the best, but probably wouldn't maximize outcome.
Ashton and Riley were the only two to beat Ragan on bars, therefore making them the only two worth bringing for bars. Ragan and Riley were also 1-2 on beam, making anyone else for a beam spot illogical unless they can outweigh the collective benefit of Riley. Ashton without the inbars is less compelling than she should be, but if she has them securely at camp, I would think that would be good enough for her case. She's still one of only two beating Ragan, so unless Riley doesn't go as an AAer, she's got a claim to a spot where no one else can really make a compelling argument.
With all the pieces in play at this point, the Ragan-Riley-Jade-Ashton team definitely seems like the most solid option of what we've seen and what I'd expect, but an underwhelming top choice. Like I said, the issue is there are a bunch of puzzle pieces which don't really work together.
And then, of course, there's the ideal option of Trinity Thomas suddenly gets a DTY that looks great, there's a consistent second AAer who can bring in some nicely competitive scores on individual events, and we get a solid second AAer and more balanced team both in the bag. If you add in the D score she would have gotten from a DTY (because of course her E scores would have been exactly the same) she comes in second at nationals. It really would just be the best solution.
Ah well, a girl can dream, right?
So, obviously the first thing we have to talk about is THE BEAM SAVE.
And then, in the realm of beam saves, we must not forget the Leah Clapper Beam Moments. On night one, she held on with the jaws of life in ultimate refusal to meet the mat, which always gains my respect-- it might not be reflected in the score, but the character it shows!
While we're on the topic of beam, we also really need to talk about the horrible relationship the US has with beam construction this year. First of all, as I already referenced, the doubling up on wolf turns one right after the other. Let me make this clear, I like well-executed wolf turns. I don't like well-executed doubled up wolf turns. They are hideous, QED.
And then there are the side-stand half-twisting jumps. Fortunately, for the most part, they were better-executed here than at Classics, and the ones which hit split and weren't accompanied by a large balance break were decently pleasant enough. But some were still cringe-inducing. Ragan's beam from night one basically just stood as a monument to the pitfalls of contemporary US beam construction:
There are so many aesthetically-pleasing routes to beefing up the D score in the new COP that the US just... isn't utilizing. I can't think of a single senior who's putting the mixed connection potential to use, and with all the upgrades in mounts they're just sticking with their same A mounts. I know the minimize risk, maximize reward strategy, but... is it really working? We had the wolf turn errors and the twisting jump errors, so are they really the most risk-free options? (I feel vaguely like Umbridge talking about risk-free conditions.) Surely it would be better to risk not getting SB than those errors? And not to mention, it's not just the acrobatic mounts that got upgraded! THE HOMMA WAS UPGRADED!!! (Please, just anyone from anywhere do a Homma.) There are plenty of low-fall-risk options for higher difficulty mounts.
On a completely frivolous note at the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, the Texas Dreams leos night one were fab. I'm still not completely sold on the gathering on Ragan's, but it was a cool different touch and otherwise so regal! I loved the red/white/black/gray look, and how they were different but complementary. Just a nice touch of flair!
And, of course, with Texas Dreams, we must discuss Ragan. She was clearly the best by far, and will definitely be the US's hope for the World title in Montreal. She's been one of the most consistent at the end of the summer, and has been topping the scores, so she is going in a favorite. Her bars both nights missed the strength of her Classics routine, but she made it through securely both times, still. While her beam will never be scored that way at Worlds, her night two beam was FANTASTIC! It was steady and precise for almost the whole routine, and her biggest slip involved one of the lovely "no need to notice my foot just completely missed the beam, it didn't affect me at all or anything" moments. All in all, she is establishing herself as the top class at this point.
And, of course, the weirdness of her floor. Well, her choreography fits the new opening music better than it did for the car horn IT WAS CHOREOGRAPHED TO, so good for that. Also, side eye to Dominic Zito (he is still her choreographer?) It's no longer the bizarro Addams Family mess, but still... we know she can do so much better!! There's a proclivity toward butt shelving and there seems to have been a shift toward constructing her routines with static movements that wasn't there in her junior routines. They went from her cuteness just being a natural facet of the routine to the routines screaming "Look! She's cute and little! We give her beads for motivation! We're going to keep pretending she's five!!" This infantilization I just don't get.
Riley both did and didn't do her job here. She had an overall pretty much hit meet (those bars and floor E scores night two were ridiculous, though, floor significantly more so), which was an improvement along the lines she needed to show. However, it came along with a downgrade and, of course, two routines with significant errors. I am more convinced now that issues for her won't mean complete mental implosion and safety-threatening errors, which had been my big hesitation where she was concerned. I do wonder if doing the FTY might have been behind the increased consistency. With her problems at American Cup, I wondered if maybe going for the DTY threw her off. If you took her day one performance, she made a good case. And her day two beam was lovely.
I was totally on the Marz train to make the podium, but actually looking at the scores, it was a fairly unlikely ask of her to get that score on beam. Still, I truly do think she had one of the best overall performances at nationals. She beat both of the other medalists in steady performance. Plus, her floor is just really fun!
Trinity Thomas's coaches must be really bugged this isn't a team year, because if it was, she'd be a shoe-in for her consistency and the competitive scores she can bring on three events. It's such a shame she couldn't have a more difficult vault!
And, oh, Morgan. Especially night 1. *Sigh* And she finally hit the beam routine, too!
But, on the topic of Morgan's beautiful gymnastic, she dealt a huge blow to the artistry in the world when she shaved down her ending choreo!!
Fortunately, however, the void has been filled by the SJS night two routine:
Moving from magnificent artistry to pure power, Jade Carey's performance... wasn't what we wanted it to be. Neither Amanar was up to scratch. I wonder if at this point it might be better just to do a DTY instead of the Amanar (that is legal right? I always get confused with whether you can have two vaults with the same number of twists) and go for a safer and cleaner route.
And then, rounding out the major players, Ashton still didn't bring the inbars. The routine with the inbars and Ashton-execution would be quite formidable, but there is the question of bringing a routine she hasn't shown in competition this year. Still, there will be an element of risk whatever Worlds team is chosen.
And the juniors!
I like both of the top two, but I was definitely rooting for Maile going in, so I was glad to see her defend the title! Of course, I was not happy that it came with an error from Emma Malabuyo. But, after the issues she had as Classics, it was great to see Maile go 8-for-8 here. These juniors are insane. How much do you want to bet Valeri has a countdown in his office for the number of days until 2018 and these girls are seniors? I know Maile's standout event is beam, but her day 2 bars are what really stuck with me:
It was such a shame that Emma had her stumble day 2 on her beam dismount! She has such lovely gymnastics. She really should have been in the lead after day 1, she had such a clean and polished day. But she's had a great year otherwise! Though her day 2 beam was the cause of her downfall, her day 1 beam was glorious, and I love her arabian! But the highlight of her performance had to be her day 1 floor.
And, speaking of floor, ADELINE KENLIN BROUGHT THE PODKOPAYEVA
But, of course, the big thing that caught my attention here was the new GAGE girls! Dang, they are lovely gymnasts. While Leanne and Kara have been getting the lion's share of the attention, I am a major fan of JaFree's beam composition. But, like everyone else, the one I could watch on loop is Kara's:
And, of course, I can't finish the post off without talking about the Worlds team. I don't envy the selection committee this year, not because there are so many viable solutions, but because this looks like a puzzle where not all the pieces fit yet.
Ragan is obviously going for the AA. Riley is obviously going in some capacity. Since she would have beaten Jordan even with the rough spots and the FTY if the US didn't have its own values, probably AA. The rest is... eh.
Jordan's rumored Lopez is the biggest wrench in the plan. With Carey's issues, another option would be nice. This brings multiple routes and questions into play. The first is looking at comparing her and Carey for a vault spot. If Carey keeps not Amanaring well, Jordan could be the favored option for vault. Except she hasn't done the Lopez in competition. And then the, y'know, "having other competitive events" issue. Pfft. Jade clearly beats her on floor, making Jade the more-viable-potential-medals option.
But then there's another option of Jordan going for the AA, having two vaulters, and bring Riley as a UB/BB specialist. Riley may have been ahead of Jordan using, y'know, the criteria they'll actually be judged by, but Jordan didn't hit her peak. So what if she turns up at camp looking fab? At this point, probably, "You needed to do this in an actual competition with people, sorry." But of course, Riley's consistency isn't her greatest strength either. Does either's consistency record make a better case? And, the bigger question in my mind, should Riley go back to the DTY option, will she still have her newfound hit-ness even with the upgrade? The lack of consistent AAers with competitive difficulty levels is what really messes the decision up here. But Riley's definitely the clear favorite for the second AA spot. The Ragan-Jordan-Jade-Riley option just fits the best, but probably wouldn't maximize outcome.
Ashton and Riley were the only two to beat Ragan on bars, therefore making them the only two worth bringing for bars. Ragan and Riley were also 1-2 on beam, making anyone else for a beam spot illogical unless they can outweigh the collective benefit of Riley. Ashton without the inbars is less compelling than she should be, but if she has them securely at camp, I would think that would be good enough for her case. She's still one of only two beating Ragan, so unless Riley doesn't go as an AAer, she's got a claim to a spot where no one else can really make a compelling argument.
With all the pieces in play at this point, the Ragan-Riley-Jade-Ashton team definitely seems like the most solid option of what we've seen and what I'd expect, but an underwhelming top choice. Like I said, the issue is there are a bunch of puzzle pieces which don't really work together.
And then, of course, there's the ideal option of Trinity Thomas suddenly gets a DTY that looks great, there's a consistent second AAer who can bring in some nicely competitive scores on individual events, and we get a solid second AAer and more balanced team both in the bag. If you add in the D score she would have gotten from a DTY (because of course her E scores would have been exactly the same) she comes in second at nationals. It really would just be the best solution.
Ah well, a girl can dream, right?
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
This is why I love Classics
Classics is my favorite US meet... which, given that 75% of the time the US season consists of three meets, one of which is at the Ranch and isn't broadcast, isn't really saying much, but still. It's 10x wackier, and therefore 10x more fun, than Nationals.
And this year certainly didn't disappoint. Literally no one who will be in the hunt for the senior national title did AA, Gabby Perea won junior bars with a flyaway dismount, Deanne Soza decided to go ahead and do her floor routine even though she couldn't do her DLO and just do a layout pass instead, the junior champion outscored the senior champion, Riley McCusker invented a Stalder-entry tucked Tkatchev on the fly, and Ashton did one event and it wasn't bars. The meets that have literally no bearing on anything else are always my favorite and make me feel full of life.
(Also, there will be basically nothing from the junior session here. There was way too much of that for me to keep track of anything.)
The Good
So let's start with new superstar Jade Carey who literally no one had heard of 3 months ago. New favorite for the World vault title. Also, her floor is not shabby at all and we really need to give more attention to her fab double double. If she doesn't become this quad's Kayla Williams I will be so disappointed.
MORGAN HURD!! Her ending choreography on floor is all the artistry I need this year (though there was tons of great ending choreo). Yes, she did put her hand down on her beam, but it was more solid than we've seen her do all year. So I am going to delude myself that she's going to bust out with the steady beam routine until she has another big issue at P&Gs.
NO AL!!!!!!
Luisa Blanco. Girl is a gorgeous gymnast, bare minimum difficulty or no.
Also, Adeline Kenlin's beam was glorious. It was smooth and solid and difficult and not the same as every other beam routine in the world!
In general, I felt the beam choreography was an improvement this year. If felt less staccato and less like it had been done in a half-asleep daze. Routines moved better and were more interesting between skills.
Some great skills busted out-- more standing fulls than we got from the top dogs last year, arabians, some Onodis (including in floor choreo!), nice combos from the new front tumbling rules (HALLELUJAH), Deanne's Ezhova, and lots of same-bar releases other than straddled Jaegers!!
Laney Madsen might have struggled HARD here, but she did at least bust out the cool skills. If you're going to be sloppy, at least be sloppy doing cool stuff.
Coaches who didn't have their taped-together gymnasts compete unnecessarily. Well done Everest, First State, Brandy Johnson, and Texas Dreams; Maggie Haney, take notes.
Ragan Smith. She is not playing around. Of course, as always we have to appreciate her beam routine of effortless difficulty
but now she's also putting pressure on the gymnasts going for the bars spot by suddenly improving by leaps and bounds there because, if you can't beat Ragan, really what's the point of taking you as a bars specialist? But seriously, her beam score was higher than all of her beam scores last year (which, that score was a little ridiculous, but still, it deserved to be up there) and of her sever bars scores last year, four were within half a tenth of what she got here. She's out for blood.
As always, the Texas Dreams floor routines. At least, those we saw here. We haven't seen Ragan's yet so we don't know if the dark days of finger monocles and finger walking will carry on to haunt us this year, but everyone else's was fab. All of their routines (with the exception of the Addams Family... thing) are just so creative and polished. All of them were enjoyable, but I especially loved Emma Malabuyo's hand-walking and Deanne Soza's routine. (Side note: it was so weird seeing Deanne Soza not in blue and yellow.) (Second side note: I'm still salty we never got to see Bailie Key on floor after 2015 when-- if I recall correctly-- she got a new routine.)
And, once again, the weirdness that lived up to the Classics reputation.
The Bad
Once again, Maggie, why did you make Riley compete for no good reason?
Jordan Chiles not busting out of the gates like everyone was hoping for two years ago.
Even though I am glad she's at least going to do cool things if she's going to be so messy, Laney Madsen did have quite the rough meet.
The Ugly
Triple wolf+double wolf combinations. Just gouge my eyes out, why don't you, it would be kinder. (I don't even hate wolf turns as much as most of the gymternet! I really like a well-executed wolf turn, but even Simone couldn't make this palatable.)
Side-stand split 1/2 jumps. The vast majority of the side-stand half-twisting jumps would fit this category, but even the well-executed ones in cross split were awkward-looking.
Of course, we are all now turning our sights toward naming the Worlds team. While I love the team competition, there's a certain kind of fun about an individual Worlds selection. Of course, Classics isn't really a big indicator, but it did tell us that Jade Carey is definitely a thing and Ragan Smith is bringing it.
Basically for the AA you've got Ragan Smith pretty much confirmed and Riley McCusker and Morgan Hurd (and not really but still should probably be talked about Alyona Shchennikova) for the second spot. Jade Carey is looking fairly unchallenged at this point for a VT/FX (and possibly BB?) spot. That leaves a UB (and possibly BB) spot, Ashton being the obvious pick for that. All of the ones in for the second AA spot would be in the hunt for the UB(/BB) spot if they don't get the AA spot, especially if Ashton doesn't upgrade.
I want Morgan Hurd for the second AA just because she's the one I want for it. She doesn't have a good hit record this year, but no one really does, so... we'll see what happens at Nationals. For the bars spot, I don't really mind, though Alyona does have my favorite composition.
And this year certainly didn't disappoint. Literally no one who will be in the hunt for the senior national title did AA, Gabby Perea won junior bars with a flyaway dismount, Deanne Soza decided to go ahead and do her floor routine even though she couldn't do her DLO and just do a layout pass instead, the junior champion outscored the senior champion, Riley McCusker invented a Stalder-entry tucked Tkatchev on the fly, and Ashton did one event and it wasn't bars. The meets that have literally no bearing on anything else are always my favorite and make me feel full of life.
(Also, there will be basically nothing from the junior session here. There was way too much of that for me to keep track of anything.)
The Good
So let's start with new superstar Jade Carey who literally no one had heard of 3 months ago. New favorite for the World vault title. Also, her floor is not shabby at all and we really need to give more attention to her fab double double. If she doesn't become this quad's Kayla Williams I will be so disappointed.
MORGAN HURD!! Her ending choreography on floor is all the artistry I need this year (though there was tons of great ending choreo). Yes, she did put her hand down on her beam, but it was more solid than we've seen her do all year. So I am going to delude myself that she's going to bust out with the steady beam routine until she has another big issue at P&Gs.
NO AL!!!!!!
Luisa Blanco. Girl is a gorgeous gymnast, bare minimum difficulty or no.
Also, Adeline Kenlin's beam was glorious. It was smooth and solid and difficult and not the same as every other beam routine in the world!
In general, I felt the beam choreography was an improvement this year. If felt less staccato and less like it had been done in a half-asleep daze. Routines moved better and were more interesting between skills.
Some great skills busted out-- more standing fulls than we got from the top dogs last year, arabians, some Onodis (including in floor choreo!), nice combos from the new front tumbling rules (HALLELUJAH), Deanne's Ezhova, and lots of same-bar releases other than straddled Jaegers!!
Laney Madsen might have struggled HARD here, but she did at least bust out the cool skills. If you're going to be sloppy, at least be sloppy doing cool stuff.
Coaches who didn't have their taped-together gymnasts compete unnecessarily. Well done Everest, First State, Brandy Johnson, and Texas Dreams; Maggie Haney, take notes.
Ragan Smith. She is not playing around. Of course, as always we have to appreciate her beam routine of effortless difficulty
As always, the Texas Dreams floor routines. At least, those we saw here. We haven't seen Ragan's yet so we don't know if the dark days of finger monocles and finger walking will carry on to haunt us this year, but everyone else's was fab. All of their routines (with the exception of the Addams Family... thing) are just so creative and polished. All of them were enjoyable, but I especially loved Emma Malabuyo's hand-walking and Deanne Soza's routine. (Side note: it was so weird seeing Deanne Soza not in blue and yellow.) (Second side note: I'm still salty we never got to see Bailie Key on floor after 2015 when-- if I recall correctly-- she got a new routine.)
And, once again, the weirdness that lived up to the Classics reputation.
The Bad
Once again, Maggie, why did you make Riley compete for no good reason?
Jordan Chiles not busting out of the gates like everyone was hoping for two years ago.
Even though I am glad she's at least going to do cool things if she's going to be so messy, Laney Madsen did have quite the rough meet.
The Ugly
Triple wolf+double wolf combinations. Just gouge my eyes out, why don't you, it would be kinder. (I don't even hate wolf turns as much as most of the gymternet! I really like a well-executed wolf turn, but even Simone couldn't make this palatable.)
Side-stand split 1/2 jumps. The vast majority of the side-stand half-twisting jumps would fit this category, but even the well-executed ones in cross split were awkward-looking.
Of course, we are all now turning our sights toward naming the Worlds team. While I love the team competition, there's a certain kind of fun about an individual Worlds selection. Of course, Classics isn't really a big indicator, but it did tell us that Jade Carey is definitely a thing and Ragan Smith is bringing it.
Basically for the AA you've got Ragan Smith pretty much confirmed and Riley McCusker and Morgan Hurd (and not really but still should probably be talked about Alyona Shchennikova) for the second spot. Jade Carey is looking fairly unchallenged at this point for a VT/FX (and possibly BB?) spot. That leaves a UB (and possibly BB) spot, Ashton being the obvious pick for that. All of the ones in for the second AA spot would be in the hunt for the UB(/BB) spot if they don't get the AA spot, especially if Ashton doesn't upgrade.
I want Morgan Hurd for the second AA just because she's the one I want for it. She doesn't have a good hit record this year, but no one really does, so... we'll see what happens at Nationals. For the bars spot, I don't really mind, though Alyona does have my favorite composition.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Who I Want to Go to Nationals
Regionals are in the air! And none too soon, I'm getting burned out. The NCAA season feels like an actual job. A job I love, yes, but a job nonetheless. But hey, at least I don't have to get up at 4:30 for any of these meets.
But anyway, let's get to my favorite from each regional. Because who cares about who the most competitive are, this is my fantasy world where all my favorites go to Nationals! (Except ASU, but they beat U of A, so I don't even really care that they're not going to regionals.)
Seattle Regional: Oklahoma, Kentucky, Washington, Utah State, Stanford, BYU
Oklahoma and Washington
UGH I want all of the top three to go!! And Stanford. And I wouldn't exactly complain about the other two going either. But ultimately, leaving Kentucky at home in favor of the other two really doesn't make me feel that bad, which tells me these really, very truly are the two I want.
Lincoln Regional: LSU, Boise State, Nebraska, U of A, Iowa State, Minnesota
LSU and Nebraska
ANYBODY BUT U OF A. I kind of wanted to pick Boise State, but then I realized I've never actually seen Boise State (which I should have by this point, admittedly) and so how can I actually determine that? This was a pretty easy one to pick. Geux Tigers and Go Big Red!!
Gainesville Regional: Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, Penn State, North Carolina
Florida and North Carolina
With this one, I want Florida, and then I kind of want everyone else to make it but I don't REALLY WANT anyone else to make it. I like UNC enough, and Morgan Lane with the full on-pike vault and beam of gold would be great to see. And it would just be hilarious to see the #35 seed beat two SEC teams. And their leos against UCLA were super fun. So yeah!
Fayetteville Regional: Utah, Denver, Cal, Auburn, Arkansas, Central Michigan
Denver and Cal
I feel kind of bad about not picking Utah because I feel like they're the top 10 team to hate this year, but Denver and Cal are two of my favorites, so TOO BAD! I also very much enjoy Auburn on floor, so if they qualified, I would not mind seeing that rotation at Nationals.
Champaign Regional: UCLA, Oregon State, Iowa, Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Ohio State
Oregon State and Illinois
This is probably overall my least favorite regional. I'm not especially attached to any of these teams, so eh. I've mentioned before (a long time ago) that UCLA isn't my favorite (and even the perfect Kyla Ross can't change that). I kind of debated picking Eastern Michigan here, but that would be another Boise State situation, so this ended up being a very easy pick. And Hodan's double illusion on floor deserves its own Nationals berth.
Morgantown Regional: Alabama, Michigan, Southern Utah, George Washington, West Virginia, Kent State
Michigan and West Virginia
I also feel bad about not picking Alabama, because I do like them and Kiana Winston's perfection and Aja Sims with the "what is this?" police siren routine. But alas, I pull for Michigan and West Virginia just a little bit more. And I have Kirah Koshinski and Zaakira Muhammad on my fantasy team, so they've just got a soft spot for me.
But anyway, let's get to my favorite from each regional. Because who cares about who the most competitive are, this is my fantasy world where all my favorites go to Nationals! (Except ASU, but they beat U of A, so I don't even really care that they're not going to regionals.)
Seattle Regional: Oklahoma, Kentucky, Washington, Utah State, Stanford, BYU
Oklahoma and Washington
UGH I want all of the top three to go!! And Stanford. And I wouldn't exactly complain about the other two going either. But ultimately, leaving Kentucky at home in favor of the other two really doesn't make me feel that bad, which tells me these really, very truly are the two I want.
Lincoln Regional: LSU, Boise State, Nebraska, U of A, Iowa State, Minnesota
LSU and Nebraska
ANYBODY BUT U OF A. I kind of wanted to pick Boise State, but then I realized I've never actually seen Boise State (which I should have by this point, admittedly) and so how can I actually determine that? This was a pretty easy one to pick. Geux Tigers and Go Big Red!!
Gainesville Regional: Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, Penn State, North Carolina
Florida and North Carolina
With this one, I want Florida, and then I kind of want everyone else to make it but I don't REALLY WANT anyone else to make it. I like UNC enough, and Morgan Lane with the full on-pike vault and beam of gold would be great to see. And it would just be hilarious to see the #35 seed beat two SEC teams. And their leos against UCLA were super fun. So yeah!
Fayetteville Regional: Utah, Denver, Cal, Auburn, Arkansas, Central Michigan
Denver and Cal
I feel kind of bad about not picking Utah because I feel like they're the top 10 team to hate this year, but Denver and Cal are two of my favorites, so TOO BAD! I also very much enjoy Auburn on floor, so if they qualified, I would not mind seeing that rotation at Nationals.
Champaign Regional: UCLA, Oregon State, Iowa, Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Ohio State
Oregon State and Illinois
This is probably overall my least favorite regional. I'm not especially attached to any of these teams, so eh. I've mentioned before (a long time ago) that UCLA isn't my favorite (and even the perfect Kyla Ross can't change that). I kind of debated picking Eastern Michigan here, but that would be another Boise State situation, so this ended up being a very easy pick. And Hodan's double illusion on floor deserves its own Nationals berth.
Morgantown Regional: Alabama, Michigan, Southern Utah, George Washington, West Virginia, Kent State
Michigan and West Virginia
I also feel bad about not picking Alabama, because I do like them and Kiana Winston's perfection and Aja Sims with the "what is this?" police siren routine. But alas, I pull for Michigan and West Virginia just a little bit more. And I have Kirah Koshinski and Zaakira Muhammad on my fantasy team, so they've just got a soft spot for me.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
(Another) Scoring System Idea
Because this dropping one of the CRs makes this the perfect time to convert the D score to an ROV score.
Now, admittedly, I've thought out the "O" part of this quite a bit more than the "V" part. But still, the basic idea behind this is slide in the originality and virtuosity scores right where that dismount CR used to be.
For the originality part, the idea is an actual new CR. So, you'd have the four normal CRs for each non-vault event, and then there would be a fifth originality CR which would be selected from a list of options. I've done a little bit of brainstorming, and here are some ideas I came up with:
Uneven Bars
Balance Beam
Now, admittedly, I've thought out the "O" part of this quite a bit more than the "V" part. But still, the basic idea behind this is slide in the originality and virtuosity scores right where that dismount CR used to be.
For the originality part, the idea is an actual new CR. So, you'd have the four normal CRs for each non-vault event, and then there would be a fifth originality CR which would be selected from a list of options. I've done a little bit of brainstorming, and here are some ideas I came up with:
Uneven Bars
- Mount of B+ difficulty (the non-straddle vault over the low bar would probably need to be downgraded)
- Elements showing at least three different non-giant circling elements (German giants count toward CR- this would probably need to get FIG-ified and would include the phrase "root element")
- A combination of two same-bar flight elements
- An F+ same-bar release
- A one-armed pirouette
- A 1.5(+? please someone do a double?) pirouette
- A C+ dismount which had been performed in 10 or fewer routines at the previous Worlds or Olympics (maybe this would need to be more 7-8-ish)
Balance Beam
- A mount of C+ difficulty
- A scale held for 2+ seconds, not including a needle scale
- A side-stand element
- A handstand with unique position not in the mount (by "unique position" I mean not a basic legs together or split position, FIG can figure out how to word things)
- A triple acro series
- A hip circle element
- A D+ spin element
I would hope that first option would lead to a large increase in the number of those good difficulty pretty, non-splat-risk mounts which no one performs because they take a while. A fair bit of this is "more flexibility and balance/strength elements, please," but can you really blame me? So much lovely originality isn't being utilized currently.
Floor
- A D+ forward-entry tumbling element (notice the sneaky "forward-entry" wording to keep arabians from counting)
- An indirect acro combination with an E+ salto or a direct acro combination with a D+ salto
- A triple acro combination
- A dance element not in cross split position in the leap series (MORE DANCE POSITIONS PLEASE/why were butterflies downgraded?)
- A turn in Y, attitude, or scorpion position or an illusion turn or back spin (except apparently FIG got rid of the scorpion turn and the double illusion WHY- ah well, that's not hard to rectify)
- A group 3 (hand-support) element in the choreography (this would also probably need some refining and paring down before becoming the law of the land, but whatever)
- And I'm stuck to make it 7 like the others.....
Again, the virtuosity part of the score hasn't really been thought out as well. I feel like making it a full five tenths would sort of counteract the whole bringing-scores-back-to-where-they-were concept, but at the same time any less wouldn't really make it have much impact on the score. But then again, making it five tenths would answer the complaint that the D-score makes execution less important by making virtuosity part of that score. So let's make the virtuosity score five tenths. I do like the virtuosity score better in my old scoring system idea, but the part of this idea that really got me thinking was the replacing a CR aspect.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Favorite Routines of the Quad: Floor
Laurie Hernandez 2013 P&Gs Day 2
Remember when they didn't choreograph facial expressions into Laurie's routines and just let it come naturally? Remember when this was the routine everyone was talking about? Ah, good times.
Louise McColgan 2013 National Championships
This has to be some of the most creative choreography I've seen. It was wonderfully fun and playful for a little espoir gymnast, but it was still mature and unique. I could watch this routine every day and not grow tired of it.
Giulia Steingruber 2014 Europeans EF
Giulia's leaps are just works of art. She flies on them unlike anyone else. I just love the intensity of this routine.
Catherine Lyons 2014 Europeans EF
The modern dance masterpiece. She had any number of strong performances of this routine, but the way she got up from the floor before her third tumbling pass in this one really made this one stand out to me. This routine just flows so effortlessly, it doesn't have that separation of skills and performance you so often see.
Yesenia Ferrera 2014 Pan Am Championships EF
The tumbling in this routine was fab. It's a shame she disappeared the way she did, she was a brilliant gymnast. The choreography in this routine isn't super complex, but it was super enjoyable all the same.
Ruby Harrold 2014 Worlds Qualifications
I love the avant garde style of this routine. Ruby just works so well with the percussive music. I also really like the selection of tumbling- it has all the different styles of skills I like to see. It's just such a unique routine performed so well.
Celine van Gerner 2015 WOGA Classic
My favorite Dutch routine of the quad. It's just such a powerful music and presentation. I love the bit after her double L spin, it's just so well done. The tension in this routine is just fabulous.
Ellie Black 2015 Pan Ams EF
When it comes to gymnastics, one of the things I am most thankful for is Ellie Black's wonderfully unique and original tumbling. I'm also a sucker for combination tumbling passes, and so all of Ellie's tumbling passes being combinations is just like Christmas for me. Her choreography is also just so well done and beautiful.
Kyla Ross 2015 Jesolo PT
Yes, it's a cop out to use a podium training routine. But in this case, can you really blame me? It's just so beautiful, and after her crazy issue in competition, she never did it like this again...
Lisa Verschueren 2015 European Games EF
This routine is everything I never knew I needed. It's just so off-the-wall. I love Belgium on floor, their MO seems to be "let's win the prize for kookiness" and I can't get enough.
Giulia Steingruber 2015 Europeans EF
As always with Giulia, the tumbling and leaps are beautiful. This is just such a great modern routine, and her performance is so effortless. It's just so watchable.
Claudia Fragapane 2015 Europeans EF
I like out-of-the-box routines, in case you can't tell. Her choreography is just so different and cool. Her tumbling isn't pristine, but you can't deny it's exciting. Her DLO to wolf should by rights be hideous, but somehow I end up loving that connection. And that back spin to finish!
Bailie Key 2015 Secret Classic
This did not seem to be a terribly popular choreography, but this is my favorite floor routine of the quad. I like the swimming part! I don't know, maybe it's just Bailie's lack of expression, but she seems almost to be mocking the audience, and maybe I'm just weird, but I love when routines do that. And the tumbling's not shabby either. It was just such a different direction to go with Bailie, and I love it!
Marine Brevet, 2015 Worlds Qualification
First of all, "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" is one of my favorite floor music selections. Add to that a lovely DLO, great passionate choreography, and that ending pose, and bam, this routine is amazing.
Louise McColgan 2013 National Championships
Giulia Steingruber 2014 Europeans EF
Catherine Lyons 2014 Europeans EF
Yesenia Ferrera 2014 Pan Am Championships EF
Ruby Harrold 2014 Worlds Qualifications
Celine van Gerner 2015 WOGA Classic
Ellie Black 2015 Pan Ams EF
Kyla Ross 2015 Jesolo PT
Lisa Verschueren 2015 European Games EF
Giulia Steingruber 2015 Europeans EF
Claudia Fragapane 2015 Europeans EF
Bailie Key 2015 Secret Classic
Marine Brevet, 2015 Worlds Qualification
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