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.

American Cup 2014 Preview

It's that time of year again when the interesting and perhaps the most watched world cup begins, the American Cup. Sadly this year I will miss this event live but usually this competition gets uploaded quickly. I'm gonna try to avoid spoilers. The nominative list.

The MAG will have a strong field. I would say Mikulak (USA) and Hambuchen (GER) will duke it out for gold but I'm betting Mikulak will win. It will be interesting to see how these two do since they are some of the bests in elite gymnastics. Sergio Sasaki (BRA) could surprise us all and win. It's not that he can't do it but he's not talked a lot about. I'm guessing the podium will be something like Mikulak, Hambuchen, Sasaki or Orozco. I'm looking forward to seeing what rating Orozco will get for the Lou Yun 1/2 (I'm thinking still an E). Japan is sending Shogo Nonomura. I remember him being talked a lot about but not really making a big impact. I'm interested in seeing how he will do. Either than that the MAG competition should be good and competitive.

On the WAG side it looks like American superstars Simone Biles, Kyla Ross and Romania's Larisa Iordache will not attend this meet. We saw some exciting upgrades from Biles.

She is also working on a new choreographed routine. Many were excited to finally get to see it this weekend but it was not to be. I heard she's resting her arms/shoulders? I guess it's good to take a break since it's early in the season. USA will still field two strong AA'ers. Elizabeth Price and Brenna Dowell. I'm most excited to see Victoria Moors (CAN). Hopefully she will do the new full in tuck dismount off beam and the exciting 2/1 DLO. Ah and there is Sophie Scheder (GER) and her bar routine, I'm looking forward to that. I think she will be the class act on that event. There will be Giulia Steingruber (SUI) and Roxanna Popa (ESP). They could surprise us with finishing high on the podium. Then there are the Italians, Vanessa Ferrari and Carlotta Ferlito. Ferrari will be the interesting one to watch. She really is a veteran in this sport and she's been able to keep most of her hard tricks for so long. She's one that could surprise and medal on the podium. Last I saw she got back her Comaneci (E) on bars.

        

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.