Part 5: Favourite Gymnastics of 2013 ~ Honourable Mentions/Miscellaneous

Alright so this is the last part of my series. Even though this is a honourable mentions/miscellaneous post these are still some of my favourite moments. Some of these choices came from anon comments in my comment sections. Without those comments I would have forgotten about these gymnasts or would have never knew about those routines.

In no particular order:

Yusuke Tanaka's Kolman + Rybalko (F+D) 0.1CV.

Jossimar Calvo Moreno PB dismount & HB routine. He was also submitting the dbl dbl  dismount off the end of pbars. I actually didn't notice that until someone mentioned it in the comment section.

Kristian Thomas VT, Nguyen Ha Thanh VT, Fabian Hambuchen HB, Kohei Kameyama PH I liked his reaction when he found out he was first, Lin Chaopan PB really good routine, Zhang Hongtao PH, Matvei Petrov PH, Aleksandr Balandin SR, Liu Yang SR, Pham Phuoc Hung PB, Scott Morgan FX,  

Sam Mikulak seems like a cool guy. He was one of those guys that could challenge Uchimura. Unfortunately he messed up HB AA. He was so close to finishing 2nd.

Ryohei Kato wining 2nd AA. He was my pick to win after Uchimura. I'm really glad he came in 2nd.

 
WAG FX - Mai Murakami, Giulia Steingruber, Larisa Iordache, Jessica Lopez, Sandra Izbasa.

Anna Rodionova was a gymnast that I liked this year. I'm glad Russia decided to send her to Antwerp. I think that was a wise move because she really showcased what Russia is all about, elegance. Some may say her long lines helps illustrates the illusion that she is elegant but it's also her hard work at the ballet barre that makes her elegance aesthetically pleasing to watch. It looks natural unlike some gymnasts who are mimicking. Some gymnasts may have the long lines but they are stiff and they are not fooling me into thinking they are elegant/artistic.

Aliya Mustafina world's BB gold. She finally wins a gold medal at worlds.

Andreea Munteanu BB, she has some of the best leaps in the world. 

UB - Kyla Ross, Rebecca Downie, Shang Chunsong I bet she will improve, Tan Jiaxin I don't like this video angle though. Aliya Mustafina I can't wait to see her full upgraded routine. I feel this is not her fully upgraded routine. Should be interesting to see what she comes up with this quad.

Well this concludes my favourite gymnastics of 2013. These were some of the things that I could remember liking. What were your favourites of the year?

Part 4: Favourite Gymnastics of 2013 ~ WAG

I don't care what anyone thinks but I think Afanasyeva's Universiade floor exercise AA and Amanar vault was my favourite thing of the year. I could criticize her faults but what's the point? As you can see this blog is kind of an Afan appreciation blog so she would be tops as my favourite :P. I like her AA FX because she almost hits everything.
Afan doing the Amanar was another big deal because who would of thought a female gymnast at her age would be able to do it for the first time? Clearly she worked her ass off to be all kinds of amazing at the Universiade Games. She even upgraded her 2nd vault. I also enjoyed that her tumbles has gotten better. Her DLO and dbl pike have improved immensely. Her European floor gold routine is another favourite of mine. IMO Afan did make the year exciting with her rumoured Amanar. It's often dubbed the Afanar :D.

Another girl that made the year exciting would be Simone Biles. I grew to like her. She ruled this year and she also had some of the best training clips. Seriously if she ever competes the stuff that she showed in training the gymternet would explode. I hope she can at least compete something from her training clips in real competition. I forgot to mention her 2 ff + full in (B+B+G) 0.1SB in my favourite combo section. That is a difficult combo to do. Definitely a favourite combo.

(Source: gymnasticsgifs)

Huang Huidan's UB world's gold. Her bar routine was a long time favourite of mine. She was actually a nice surprise win. She wasn't on most people's radar. She's badass for not wearing grips or even the gauge tapes.

Yao Jinnan's UB routines. Even without the Mo salto (G) I still enjoy her routine here. The Mo salto was also one of those rumoured upgrades that not many believed, including me. But she did it and it was exciting to see.

Sophie Scheder's UB. It's not a flashy bar routine but it's a really beautiful and elegant routine.

Anna Dementyeva's Universiade beam. Dementyeva is a great beam worker. So sad she retired. I wanted her to win beam gold at Universiade. Her team/prelim beam was good. So much difficult work. I liked her onodi + front aerial + Sheep (D+D+D) 0.3CV. It's one of my fav connections. I should have included it into my fav combos but I feel I liker her whole routine so she deserves to be here. She also dismounted to a new dbl pike which was a better choice than her usual sketchy 3/1 twists. McKayla Maroney for defending her vault title. I liked her floor routine too. I wish she could have made floor finals but she was penalized for being overtime. I like her new DLO (F). I like how she and Afan round ups into their 5/2 twists instead of doing bhs.

Larisa Iordache's beam. She does two full in's! She was my pick for beam gold in Antwerp but too bad she couldn't pull it off.

Victoria Moor's FX from American Cup. Even without the Moors II (2/1 DLO) her floor routine is still good. I think she has one of the best Silivas (H) in the world. What were some of your favourite routines from this year?

Part 3: Favourite Gymnastics of 2013 ~ MAG

My favourite would be king Kohei Uchimura reigning as world AA champ for the 5th time in a row (one being Olympic AA). It never gets boring watching him win. He is truly an amazing gymnast. What makes it more exciting is to see if any other guys can beat him. Uchimura has the execution that most gymnasts do not have. Even when he is not perfect he is still ahead of his competitors. Not many gymnasts can execute skills like him. He also has some insane difficulty that he doesn't even compete because he is working the code to his advantage. He doesn't need to do some difficulty because he doesn't need them or he sacrifices them for safety and execution. Hopefully one day we will get to see his full out difficulty in competition. He always comes out with some of the best training clips. Like Kovacs + Kolman + Kolman or Cassina + Kolman + Kovacs.

My favourite HB routine. Check out the 3/1 DLO Fedorchenko dismount (F).

Denis Ablyazin FX from Universiade is one of my favourite routine of this year. He does a lot of hard difficult salto skills. Love the fwd 2/1 twists + dbl front tuck (D+D) 0.2CV and the 2/1 DLO (F). Also someone in the comment section from part 1 mentioned his dbl front twists + dbl front pike (D+E) 0.2CV. I can't believe I forgot that. That's a nice combo. It's a shame he didn't qualify to world's floor finals.
  Jake Dalton FX from worlds EF. He won 2nd on this event. I like the Tamayo (F) and the stuck 3/1 Twists (D).  

Kenzo Shirai FX from worlds EF. I can't leave him out. I like his gold medal performance. That quad twists (F)! I also like the side-somie with a 1/1 twist (C).

Yang Hak Seon being a badass on vault. His 3/1 front handspring (6.4) still impresses me. I hope he will get the Kas 5/2 by 2014 Nanning. Ri Se Gwang is another badass vaulter. Too bad he didn't qualify to worlds vault finals because his vaults are insane. Check out his vaults from this year's Doha's Cup. They are easily some of my favourite vaults from this year.

Epke Zonderland's HB from worlds EF. I get that he's not the cleanest guy on bars but his routine is still insane and worth fanning over. His high D-score advantage helps him a lot.

Bobby Baker's full twist double front. I wasn't sure if I should post this in the new skill section since technically we knew he was doing it in 2012 but this is still MAG and it's a favourite skill that I like, heck this whole routine is good.
What were your favourite MAG routines of the year?

Part 2: Favourite Gymnastics of 2013 ~ New Skills

Kenzo Shirai

The Shirai/Kim By Kezno Shirai & Kim Hee Hoon aka the triple twisting Yurchenko: Worth 6.0 in the MAG code. All I can say is that this vault is super duper hard. I honestly thought we would never see it this year but here it is done by Korea's Kim Hee Hoon.

The Shirai I & II: Bwd 4/1 Twists (F) & Fwd 3/1 Twists (F). Kenzo the twisting machine!

Yang Hak Seon doing the 5/2 Kas vault. Doing  a 2/1 Kas is already insane but Yang is badass and is trying to get the 5/2 name after him. I hope next year he will be more successful. Really, he is amazing.

Simone Biles

The Shang by Shang Chunsong: Cleap hip Piked Tkatchev (F). This is a cool skill. I can't believe this skill hasn't been named after someone from before. I don't know if Shang was the first to ever do this skill in WAG but she definitely deserved this skill name. I'm happy she got it named after her.

The Biles by Simone Biles: DLO with 1/2 turn (G). This skill is nice because at times the 1/2 turn catches me by surprise and it's super difficult to spot the landing. She's brave for doing it.

The Moors II by Victoria Moors: She broke the code! It's worth "I", "I"! This skill is even hard for guys to do. I can't snub out Skinner who actually does it well. She was the first one who got everyone talking about the 2/1 DLO.

What were your favourite new skills from this year?

Part 1: Favourite Gymnastics of 2013 ~ Combos

Alright so it's that time of year again when bloggers review their favourite gymnastics moments of the year. Here is part 1 of my favourite things, starting with combos. I have to admit that I didn't put a lot of thought into my favoutite list because I wasn't sure if I was going to make one. I haven't seen all the gymnastics routines from this year so it will be hard to not be bias. I mostly focus on seniors so there will rarely be any mentions of juniors. I'm kind of winging these post series. If you guys have any favourite combinations of the year please make a comment. I would love to see what you guys like as it's hard to notice everything. Some combos are old and were performed by other gymnasts of past years but I'm focusing on this year and it's nice to see new gymnasts performing these combos. I hope you all enjoy my favourite gymnastics of 2013 series.

Aliya Mustafina BB: Switch 1/2 Leap + Onodi + Dbl turn (D+D+D) 0.4CV! I really love this combo. It's really unique and innovated.

Aliya Mustafina UB & FX: Stalder 1/1 + Seitz mixed grip + Pak + Stalder Shap 1/2 (D+E+D+E) 0.5CV & 2 Whips indirect to dbl Arabian + stag (A+A+E+A) 0.3CV.

Kohei Uchimura HB: Tak 1/2 + Kolman (D+F) 0.1CV. It's just insane and hard to do that combo. I don't know how he can do it. He's got to be really strong to get that swing into the Kolman. Just incredible.

(Source: supermura)

Sanne Wevers BB: L-turn + 1/1 turn + dbl turn (C+A+D) 0.2CV. She's a master at beam turns. She even has a skill named after her, the dbl L-turn!

Gabriella Douglas (CAN) FX: Quad turn + dbl turn (E+B) 0.1CV. Just amazing and cool.

Ruby Harrold UB: Maloney + Bhardwaj (D+E) 0.2CV & VLW + Zuchold + Toe 1/1 (E+D+D) 0.3CV. Those are some tough and innovated combinations.

Ksenia Afanasyeva FX: Semenova + dbl turn (D+B) 0.1CV. Afan's double attitude spins are too die for. Very ballerina like and it's exclusively unique to her style because we don't see many dbl attitude spins. I love the spin combo it's elegant and a tricky skill to complete.

 (Source: hope-strongerthanfear)

Fabian Hambuchen HB: Straight Tkatchev + Rybalko elgrip + Winkler (D+D+E) 0.2CV. This combo still impresses me. It also doesn't hurt that it's a beautiful combo.

Kenzo Shirai FX: Front 1/1 twist + Front 3/1 twists (C+F) 0.1CV. Kenzo is a twisting combo ninja! That combo amazes me and the front 3/1 is named after him.

Anna Rodionova BB: FF+ Arabian (B+F) 0.2CV. BAMF!!

Zeng Siqi BB: Switch Ring + Sheep Jump (E+D) 0.2CV. It's rare to see two dance elements get 0.2CV. I love the combo.

Danusia Francis BB: Aerial Cartwheel in cross position + 1/1 twist dismount! I'm not sure what the NCAA code gives this combination but this is a banging combo. IMO it's not a pretty combo but it's still unique and daring.

(Source: gymnasticsgifs)

Well those are some of the combos that I can think of. I'm sure there are lots of other combos that I'm forgetting about. What are your favourite combos from this year?

Merry Christmas & Have a Happy Holiday/New Year

To all my followers that celebrates Christmas or not, I want to say have a happy day today. May your day be filled with positivity. I hope the new year will bring you all happiness and prosperity. Stay safe and take care :).

Uchimura's Cassina + Kolman + Kovacs

Another MAG video that's gone viral on the gymternet is Uchimura's 3 release moves on HB. He does G + F + D skills worth 0.4CV. Uchimura is amazing and I would love if he could do these skills in competition but at the same time I still love his Tak 1/2 + Kolman combination (ooh and I just remembered he also did Tak 1/2 + Liukin). Honestly it's hard for me to decide what I like most. It seems everyone loves the exciting back to back release skills but I still enjoy on bar + flight combos.

Maras's Endo 1/1 elgrip + Gaylord

Seeing Batinkov's Pegan in combo reminded me how much I like forward release moves. I instantly remembered a combo Maras did in 2012. Endo 1/1 elgrip + Gaylord (D+D) now worth 0.1CV. I think that combo is beautiful. Oh and he does a Pegan later in his routine. Someone should make a gif of Maras's combo :).

 

Batinkov's Pegan + Kolman

I feel my blog needed this post even though it's been posted everywhere on the gymternet.

That's E+F 0.2CV, crazy combo!

Just Because...Mustafina @ Some Kind of 2013 Belgium Gym Gala

Just Because...Ashish Kumar's bwd 5/2 Twists + dbl Front Tuck

From 2010 Commonwealth Games

      (Source: frangymnasticsfan)

Top Beam E-Scores From London 2012 Team Finals

These are some of my favourite beam routines from London. These beam routines all had execution scores over 9.0. I enjoyed the commentary for Afan's beam routine. I especially like the slow motion replays of her skills. She is precise on her leaps and I like how aggressive she does the split leap 1/1. Hopefully Afan can get back to this level of consistency on beam. Her E-score 9.033:
Catalina Ponor got the highest E-score of 9.116. Last year I said this was one of my favourite beam routine of the 09-12 quad. I like how she is aggressive and she truly connects everything. Her dbl pike dismount is really nice. We rarely see well performed dbl pikes like that:

Then there is Kyla Ross. Many people consider her boring and I can see why but I really enjoy her routines. She is so clean and precise. I mean how can a switch ring + back tuck be boring? Too bad she doesn't do it anymore, plus the bonus is only one tenth. She is also very consistent which is always a good thing. I wished she had made EF on beam over Raisman. Too bad that Ross got pushed out of EF because of the 2 per country rule. Her E-score 9.033:

Just Because...Komova's BB @ Russian Cup 2011

One of my favourite beam routine from Komova.

 

CoP - Tip of The Month

In section 7.2.1 of the WAG code of point "Arabian elements are considered forward elements". Skills such as:

Patterson (Dbl Arabian Tuck dismount on BB)
Dbl Arabian's on FX
Standing Arabian on beam etc.
Onodi's are also considered fwd elements. This skill confuses me at times. Is it bwd or fwd? Apparently it's a fwd element.

 (Source: gymnasticsgifs)

Failure to do a bwd and fwd or Swd element is 0.5 deduction from the compositional requirement. Technically a gymnast doesn't have to do a fwd element as long as she has a swd element or vice versa. Bwd elements must always be included in a routine. Beam dismounts do not count for bwd and fwd/swd CR.  

Sophie Scheder 2013 UB D-Score

It seems everyone is raving about Scheder's routine and I love it too. It's so beautiful. In fact I like her routine more than Kyla Ross's. I remember seeing her in Antwerp EF finals and thinking wow this girl has nice lines and does nice inbar stalder work. I just realized that she was in European bars finals. I don't know why I didn't notice that. Her routine is not flashy and filled with release skills but I like her bar routine. I appreciate all types of bar routines and this routine is definitely a winner.

Inbar 1/1 + Komova II + Bail + Toe 1/1 (E+E+D+D) 0.4CV
Inbar stalder shoot to HB
Inbar + Inbar 1/2 + Jaeger (D+D+D) 0.1CV
Tsuk (D)

3.4 + 0.5CV + 2.5CR = 6.4 D-Score

 

December 2013 Update on Ksenia Afanasyeva

Afan Quote: "Life goes on. There will be new competition. Should be treated and prepared."

Key Notes:

• Initially Afan was suppose to be ready to compete by December but her treatments got delayed.
• Afan wants to try for Rio 2016
• It's not necessary for her to rush and get fast recovery as it's better to be treated thoroughly so that she'll be competitive for future competitions.

Other Interesting Notes:

• Afan has been living at Round Lake since 2001
• Afan's grandmother played a huge role in her gymnastics life.  

Source

Catching Up On Competitions That I've Missed Mexico Open/Stuttgart Cup

So there were two main competitions this weekend. Thanks to all the uploaders on youtube I am finally caught up. Admittedly I haven't seen all the videos and I thought the Stuttgart Cup was next week. I guess I've been too busy to keep track of what is going on and oh technically this cup is the DTB but I'm use to saying Stuttgart. The Mexico Open happened this weekend too.

It seems everyone is fanning over Aliya Mustafina's "new" beam routine? Um there was nothing really that worth getting overly excited about. All she did was two front aerials + split jump. Sometimes I don't understand why people get overly excited for things like this. In prelims she forgot to do a bwd element thank god she did it in the team finals. Losing a bwd element is five tenths CR deduction. I don't know what she scored in prelims but hopefully it wasn't a controversy like how Afan never got deducted for no fwd element on floor at the French Cup.

Elizabeth Price won the AA. The thing that impressed me was her Amanar. Everything else, meh. It was a close competition between Price and Iordache. Iordache fell off bars the gap difference between Price and Iordache was 0.034.

Oleg Verniaiev won the AA and he doesn't have the very exciting HB release skills but his Tak turns are well done. I wish more guys could do them clean like Oleg. Jossimar Calvo won the MAG AA at the Mexico Open. I haven't seen videos of him from this competition but I like his HB routine where he does the Tak 1/2 + Liukin. Someone should make a gif of that.

Roxana Popa won the AA on the WAG side. I like the DLO and especially the two whips indirect to full in tucked.

And one more thing. Yao Jinnan got a 9.0 execution on bars in Stuttgart prelims. I get that not many people like the shuffling on bars and it bothers me too but damn her pirouettes are nicely done. Believe it or not she can do better. The 9.0 execution is justified.