Sunday, March 30, 2014

2014 WAG Russian Championships April 2-6

Usually this meet is used to determine the European team. According to most of the Russian media all of the 2012 Olympian members should be competing.

Recently on tumblr I did a post about when was the last time we saw the 5 Olympians. So I thought I would share it here on this blog. It's hard to let go of the 2012 team and move forward with the new seniors but this is just to show how I'm excited to see the return of some of the Olympians. Hopefully they will all show up.

Russia still has new hope in Kharenkova, Rodionova, Shelgunova, Sosnitskaya, Fedorova etc. Russia will still be one of the top contenders for Europeans.

I won't have high expectations for the gymnasts at this meet. They shouldn't be so perfect early in the season. I'm wishing everyone good health and for them to do the best that they can do.

I'm most intrigue in seeing how Komova has been progressing. I won't have high expectations but it would be nice to just see her back in competition. It's been too long. I'm not sure if I can follow this competition as I might be busy but I'm sure there will be lots of Russian fans posting up to date information. The official website for results is sportgymrus.ru.

If all of the 2012 Olympian shows up it will be the first time since we saw (compete):

Komova in 1 year and 8 months at the 2012 Olympic Games! Favourite routine was 2012 AA FX.

Grishina in 10 months at the 2013 Anadia Cup where she won uneven bars gold.

Afanasyeva in 9 months at 2013 Universiade Games. Favourite routine was AA FX.

Paseka in 8 months at 2013 Russian Cup where her best result was on uneven bars 2nd.

Mustafina in 4 months at the 2013 Stuttgart World Cup on beam in team finals.

MAG Element Names Granted Retroactively

Video by: tantara13

Friday, March 28, 2014

Epke Zonderland 2014 Doha Cup HB & PB

He was a double gold medalists today. He tied with Marcel Nguyen on pbars and won on high bars. Full results.
 

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Peng Wang Doha 2014 FX - Quad Twists

Say what? Let me work out his difficulty. Excuse me if I get anything wrong since I'm rusty with the MAG code.

Bwd 7/2 + Fwd 1/1 (E+C) 0.1CV
Bwd 4/1 (F)
Bwd 5/2 + Fwd 3/2 (D+C) 0.1CV
Fwd 5/2 (E)
Thomas Salto (D)
Fedorchenko (C)
Japanese Hstd (C)
Bwd 3/1 (D)

4.0 + 0.2CV + 2.5EGR = 6.7 D-score || His completions of some twists were iffy but it seems the judges gave him credit for everything.

Here he got 6.7D + 8.4E = 15.1


And here is Paul Ruggeri's routine because he does double saltos.

Kenzo Shirai 2014 Doha Cup FX 7.4D + 8.6E = 16.000

Monday, March 24, 2014

Kyla Ross Team/AA Routines From Jesolo 2014

I've finally got caught up with Jesolo 2014. My favourite would be Ross. I heard that she was coming back from a back injury? Well I think she did good at this competition. It's still early in the season and she has time to catch up. Even with watered down routines and a 1.0 deduction on vault she still managed to have the top AA score of 58.000. That's pretty impressive. Although I do think her e-scores were a bit high. I just wish she could be a bit less stiff in her gymnastics. Results.


Thursday, March 20, 2014

New MAG Elements Updated 2014

MTC Newsletter #27

The new MAG newsletter came out on Monday the 17th and there are new elements that were added. It seems Kenzo Shirai was not the first guy to do the quad twists at a world championships. Vietnam's Tuan Dat Nguyen did it too. So now it's called the Shirai-Nguyen.

Just Because...Yukio Endo's 1966 Worlds Floor

Monday, March 17, 2014

Maria Kharenkova 2014 Cottbus Beam & Floor

Kharenkova finished 2nd on beam with a credited difficulty of 5.9 + 7.950 execution for total of 13.850, full results. She intended to go for a 6.7 routine but was severely downgraded by 0.8 tenths (She could have been trying to connect aerial cartwheel to switch leap but the -0.8 still makes sense). Really harsh downgrades but her dance elements plus with the connections were most likely the downgrades. I can see slight hesitations in her dance/acro connections. If her 2 ff + layout were downgraded then I think that was a bit harsh since it seemed layout to me. Here is my theory:

-0.1 CV switch leap + pike back
-0.2 CV fwd aerial + sheep
-0.1 DV sheep jump slight open ring (might be a bit harsh)
-0.2 DV switch ring to switch leap (no arch and release of head)
-0.1 CV switch 1/2 + tuck back
-0.1 DV switch 1/2 to C (not sure but I don't want to downgrade the layout CV)


Basically Kharenkova's coaches should not make her do so many dance/acro elements that only gives her connection values but no top 8 counting skills. I'm not a fan of the switch leap variations to back pike/tucks. I think it's safe to say Kharenkova should take out some elements from her routine.

Kharenkova finished 3rd on floor with D 5.6 + E 8.25 -0.1 Penalty = 13.750.

I think overall Kharenkova did a good job with her senior debut. She still has time to figure out her routines.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Anna Rodionova 2014 Cottbus Uneven Bars (D-Score)

Rodionova finished 2nd on bars to Germany's Scheder at the Cottbus Cup, results. This routine is the current most talked about routine on the gymternet. I really liked her routine. It's clear that she worked hard on bars because she did not compete on any other events. Her hard work is paying off. Hopefully she can continue to keep pacing well. She could make the 2014 world team if she stays healthy and consistent.

I really like Rodionova. Honestly I'm not surprised that she did well on bars because it's quite evident that she has a lot of potential. Hopefully she will continue to keep working hard. Her gymnastics is beautiful when she hits her routines. I'm feeling optimistic for Rodionova :).

Inbar + Toe 1/1 + Toe On + Komova II + Pak (D+D+C+E+D) 0.2CV*
VLW (E)
Toe 1/2 + Jaeger (D)
Tsuk Tucked (D)

3.3 + 0.2 CV + 2.5 CR = 6.0 D-Score
* She only gets connection for the Komova II + Pak


Wednesday, March 12, 2014

CoP - Tip of The Month

The allowed time for WAG floor exercise is 90 seconds (1:30 min). Exceeding the time limit will be 0.1 penalty.

Sometimes I forget that the rules states that the timing will start when the gymnast makes her first movement. Not when the music starts. Here are some examples of gymnasts not starting with their music.

McKayla Maroney
Mai Murakami

Friday, March 7, 2014

Kenzo Shirai 9/2 + 1/2 Twists

That's 4.5 + 0.5 in case you're wondering. MAG FIG uses improper fractions which I like. Anyway Shirai is insane.

 

Just Because...Wu Liufang's Yang Bo Jump

Here is a beautiful picture of Wu Liufang's Yang Bo Jump. I had this post in my draft for a long time and didn't know why I didn't post it sooner.

The Yang Bo is a very difficult jump that is rated four tenths (D). Recently I haven't seen many gymnasts perform this jump. I wish more gymnasts would perform it but the requirements for this jump is difficult for most gymnasts to achieve. I think Wu Liufang's is textbook perfect. According to the the CoP the requirements are, "body arched, head dropped bwd & over split with front leg min at horizontal". Just a slight mistake would make this skill be credit one tenth lower.  


Here is a video of Wu Liufang's beam from 2011 Osijek world cup. The Yang Bo jump is the second element that she does. If you pause it at the right moment you will get a beautiful over split jump.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Thoughts On 2014 American Cup

I have to admit I haven't seen the full coverage of this meet. So far I saw most of the clips that USA Gymnastics uploaded to their youtube channel. I tried watching the over 3 hrs feed but I just couldn't do it. It's too long.

WAG/MAG Results

I was pleasantly surprised that Shogo Nonomura did well (and I shouldn't be). He's gotten a bit more difficulty since 2011 and his execution is really good. Too bad about the fall from HB. He would have been closer to Mikulak. It's nice seeing that Mikulak won in his home country. The scores were also close between the 2nd to 5th  finishers. All scores in the 88 range. Orozco didn't do the Lou Yun 1/2, I wonder why? Purvis did good for 3rd place. I liked his floor routine even though he went out of bounds. Too bad about Hambuchen falling on floor and only dismounting with dbl pike. Either than that his HB was exciting, oh and stuck Shewfelt vault. Oh and my prediction of Sasaki finishing high didn't happen but he did okay I guess.

On the WAG side Price won. I think her real competition was only from Dowell. I'm just realizing that Dowell's beam difficulty was low, I've never noticed that. But the Americans are just too good that the other competitors could not really surpass IMO. I know that it was close between Dowell and Steingruber but personally I feel Dowell is a bit better overall than the other international field. It's nice too see that Steingruber got third though. Her front 1.5 half vault really helped her. I think overall I really did like Price's bar routine but I also liked Scheder's routine too. Too bad she stalled for a bit on her inbar 1/2 to Jaeger combo.


I think I like Moors floor but I will have to say I like her old routines better and it's cool she did the full in tuck on beam :).


I actually liked Ferrari's floor routine. She had the highest floor score. I'm not the biggest Ferrari fan but she really is a good floor worker.