EF Medalists Day 1 || Nanning 2014

I watched this live on FIG feed. I managed to stay alive during all the event finals. By the time it was over I was struggling to blog about it on here. I even had to save this post as a draft. Perhaps last night I should have not been blogging on tumblr :P. This is pretty much a half ass post. I'm gonna try to remember everything from early last night.

MAG FX Full Results 

This final was okay. I think the floor routine I liked the most was Hypolito. Very unique combinations. He came in 3rd for 15.700. Ablyazin came in 1st 15.750. He did a good job. Not his best in terms of landings but his routine had all the nice tricks. I really enjoy a nice DDLO. Disappointed for Kenzo Shirai but even he knew he didn't do enough to win. He went out of bounds again and he wasn't as crisp on his landings this time. What's interesting is that he almost won if it weren't for that out of bounds or perhaps the small little hops on landings. Shirai came in 2nd 15.733. Other guys, Jake Dalton and Korea's Kim Hansol were clean guys. Very nice to see that. Dalton's 3/1 full dismount is always nice and clean. What else? There was Zapata from Spain who rebounded out of something and flew high. I missed what that was. Later I'm gonna go replay it. Perhaps we'll see a gif of it :)

WAG VT Full Results

Hong Un Jong of N. Korea took the gold. Her Amanar has improved a lot. Her Cheng vault was good enough for 1st. At first I wasn't sure if she'll be able to win because Biles had two cleanly executed vaults. The tension was building after Biles finished her second vault. The judges just didn't give her a high enough execution to win. This time I felt Biles had a superior Amanar to Hong's. She had a small hop forward like always but the height and aggression on it was amazing. She really put her energy into it. Skinner came in 3rd. Her Cheng was cleanly done except for the one handed technique. It still bothers me a lot but it obviously doesn't for the judges. The guy commentator said it was beautiful vault. While I do agree to some level I just can't say it since she doesn't block with both hands. Still yeah it's clean enough.

PH Full Results

This event started off with Keatings. He had the highest difficulty but had too many issues. Too bad for him. I really liked the elegant and long lines of Tommasone. He came in 3rd 15.600. I didn't catch much of Ude but it seems he was good enough for 2nd, good for him 15.783. Berki came in 1st 16.033. He is still a world class pommels worker. Very nice routine. I'm still trying to get the hang of the pommel codes :).




UB Full Results

Mustafina kicked off this event. Her difficulty was just too low. And the judges weren't forgiving to her form breaks. She's a great gymnast and I know there are many disappointed fans that wanted to see her medal but everything was not in her favour. She is a big girl and can accept the results. We all know she can do a harder routine. Perhaps this world championships was not to rush difficulty but to mainly focus on team finals. We'll never know. In any case Spiridonova got 3rd 15.283. How good for her? Her routine is based out of 6.4 and she had slightly better escore. How dare she beat Mustafina :P Nah just joking her routine was better. I hope this gives Spiridonova more confidence going into the next world championships and perhaps the Olympics. Please stay healthy! Downie had an exciting release filled routine but her execution really hurt her. The Chinese were in a league of their own. Yao 6.9 and Huang 6.8 Dscores! Just too much advantage for them. Chinese will always find ways to be on top of bars difficulty. It's gonna be hard for other nations to get close to those Dscores but it can happen. I'm happy Yao finally got a gold medal 15.633 and what about Huang 15.566. Badass for not wearing grips. Not even those small dinky tape ones. Badass. Very old school gymnast.



SR Full Results

It was a battle between Liu and Zanetti. Last year Liu qualified first and disappointingly finished 4th. This year he was out for blood and came on top. Very strong and cleanly executed routine 15.933. Zanetti was not quite on today but managed 2nd 15.733. There will be a battle in Rio. You Hao put in an inquiry and so his Dscore raised to 7.0, the highest in the competition. Ablyazin was on fire today. He tied with You Hao for 3rd 15.700. Let's see what Ablyazin can do in VT finals.

Overall day one event finals was nice. I can't wait for day two. Hwaaaaaah I'm tired. Next quad wolds needs to be in N. America. At least the Olympics will be in Rio so the times will be sane for us North American people. Well for us east coasters that is :P.     

Huang Huidan's 2014 Team Finals World Beam

One of my favourite routine from team finals.

 

USA Wins Team WAG Gold || Nanning 2014

Full Results

1) USA 179.280
2) China 172.587
3) Russia 171.462

I watched live on Chinese feed. It's no surprise the mighty strong USA won. I enjoyed their strong difficult floor routines by Skinner and Biles. Yeah yeah I said Skinner :P. At least she woke me up because she does hard stuff that keeps me watching. I wonder what Ross's beam inquiry was about? Say what you want about Ross but she was the only one from USA that I liked on beam. I honestly do not understand how they scored so close to Chinese beam? My favourite part of team finals was China's beam, especially Huang Huidan's.

Romania qualified 7th but came in 4th. I'm happy for them. They were so close to 3rd with 170.963 for 4th place. I saw Iordache on beam and she was on fire. She scored the highest on beam with 15.5! I'm looking forward to seeing Munteanu's beam. She also scored high with 15.2.

Russia managed to take bronze. I saw Spiridonova and Mustafina on bars and they did good job. I only saw Mustafina on beam and floor she had some mistakes but she handled everything well. They fought to stick their vaults. I only saw Nabieva and Mustafina on vault. They did a really good job. They really needed those scores. They are fighters.

Not everything went well for China, Russia and Romania but they shouldn't be so hard on themselves. They are good teams they just need to hit hit hit their routines and maybe they can put pressure on team USA. They need more difficulty too but it's still mid quad. I think China, Russia and Romania knows what they need to do to improve for Rio. I hope they achieve what they intend to improve on. USA is too strong and of course they know they can't get lazy and expect to think they will always win easily. Congratulations to all the teams.    

Quick Thoughts On WAG Qualifications || Nanning 2014

Full results can be found here.

The only subdivision I saw live was China's. I was busy the other day and I couldn't stay up long enough to watch Romania. It was depressing to watch China on floor. Hopefully they can improve on that for team finals. Yao Jinnan was the top qualifier for bars.

China's uneven bars Dscores are huge. That really gives them an advantage. Huang Huidan and Tan Jiaxin tied but Huang had better execution so she's in for finals. I enjoyed that Tan Jiaxin did the layout dbl dbl dismount. Or also known as the Ray. I can't remember who was the last gymnast to do that skill since Tan. If you know let me know. (edit: Shawn Johnson in 2008)

On beam China did good. Shang put in an inquiry but it got rejected. I have no idea what that was about. China did have a few wobbly issues but generally I enjoy their beam style and difficulty. Beam is a hard event and kudos to all the finalists but I haven't feel wowed by the event finalists. I can only see a few routines from FIG youtube. I'm not sure who I want to win for this event.

Simone was top qualifier for AA, VT, BB, & FX. I'm guessing she fell from bars? I haven't seen her bar routine. I hope she wins AA. Would be nice for her to win 2 consecutive AA title. The only event I kind of dislike her on is beam. Yes I'm allowed to criticize about that. My opinion about it is that I just don't like the look of her on beam, no lines or extension. No beauty.

But damn floor is amazing. Iordache and her will duke it out. Mustafina also made floor finals. She got the 3/1 leg split turn but another girl did it so no named floor element for Mustafina. Maybe she can try for quad leg split turn for next year :P?

Vault finals should be interesting. I much prefer Hong's Amanar to Biles. I get that Cheng vault is difficult for WAG but it's not a pretty vault when done by WAG. It's nice to see that they are doing difficult vaults but none of them are doing them nicely.

Despite China's floor rotation they managed to qualify 2nd for team finals. No surprise that USA is in first and that Russia failed on BB to qualify for 3rd. Poor Romania qualified 7th. Oh and now I remember what happened to Andreea Munteanu on beam? I guess it's not surprising Romania didn't do so well. I still wish the best for them. 

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?

Worlds 2013 WAG Day 1 Event Finals Results

VT - Full Results

1) McKayla Maroney USA 15.724 AVG
2) Simone Biles USA 15.595 AVG
3) Hong un Jong PKR 15.483 AVG

Highlights-  Giulia Steingruber was so good. She stuck her FHS 1.5. I think maybe that was the best she had ever done. Her DTY was not too shabby. I kind of wished she could of medaled 3rd but Hong had the difficulty. I was not impressed by Hong she is so dirty in her execution, blah. Obviously the big highlight would be the incredible Americans. They are masters at Amanars. Biles ro-1/2 fwd-1/2 twist is beautiful.

UB - Full Results

1) Huang Huidan CHN (6.6) 15.400

I am absolutely happy for Huang Huidan. I have been a fan of her bar routine for a long time. She was off my radar because I wasn't sure about her consistency but she nailed her routine today. I love her beautiful work with the stalder shaposh's. Very elegant on bars. This is one of my favourite moments of the championships :)

2) Kyla Ross USA (6.4) 15.266

What can I say she is beautiful on bars. She had some flexed feet and leg form issues but she is still nice to watch on bars. Love her inbar stalder work. Nice stuck DLO dismount.

3) Aliya Mustafina (6.5) 15.033

It wasn't meant to be Mustafina's day today. She lost valuable tenths (0.2) by not connecting the Pak to Shap 1/2. She only did 6.5 routine. She had some execution errors with leg and tap form. Still, she is very elegant and beautiful on bars. Well deserved bronze medal.

-Other highlights. Downie was very good on bars until she messed up and fell on a toe element trying to go forward. Germany's Scheder had a nice look to her routine. I haven't paid much attention to Scheder this championships but her inbar stalder work were very nice and beautiful. Poor Yao fell on her Mo salto element. I give her props for doing such a difficult skill. It's crazy that she still got a decent score. Yao's difficulty is just amazing for this new quad.

2013 Chinese National WAG Routines

This kind user bmbul is uploading videos to youtube. You can find all the results here

Huang Huidan UB EF Gold. D 6.6 + E 8.534 = 15.134. Wow I like her routine. She connected her pak to stalder shaposh 1/2. That's the same connection as Aliya Mustafina's 2012 UB gold medal routine.
Shang Chunsong BB EF Gold

Huang Huidan Appreciation

One of my current favourite Chinese gymnast is Huang Huidan. I love her UB & BB work. My favourite part of her BB is the switch leap + onodi + sheep jump combo. On bars her Healy looks kind of awkward or is it just a really ugly Ono? I'm pretty sure it's a healy though. Anyways her bars is still nice and her toe-point is beautiful.

Huang Huidan's UB 

 

Huang Huidan's BB (ignore the repeated flic flac in her routine, she usually does a back pike after the first flic flac)

Shaposhnikova Variations

There are many different terms for the Shaposhnikova skill on the Uneven Bars. The Shaposhnikova variations are some of my favourite bar skills. Natalia Shaposhnikova was the first to do this element way back in the 80's. For short, I will refer the Shaposhnikova as "Shaposh." Let's take a look at some of the variations and the terms I prefer to call them.

Shaposhnikova - All Shaposh starts on the low bar facing away from the HB. The Shaposh is from a clear hip circle with flight backwards to hang on high bar. This skill is rated at D (0.4).

Khorkina - Clear hip circle with flight backwards, 1/2 turn to hang on HB. Skill rated at E.

Here is a video of Ekaterina Kurbatova competing these two skills.

 

Chow - Is from a straddle stalder. The skill is rated at D. I believe Amy Chow was the first to do this variation.

Chow 1/2 - Is from a straddle stalder with 1/2 turn. This skill is rated at E. Currently no one is technically credit with this skill name.


Huang Huidan competes these two skills in her routine.

 

Maloney - Is from a toe-on bar. This skill is rated at D.

Van Leeuwen - This skill is from toe-on with 1/2 turn. It is rated at E. It must be respected that Van Leeuwen was the first to do this with the 1/2 turn. It sometimes annoys me when I hear it as a Maloney II or Khorkina II.

Here Laura van Leeuwen performs these two skills in her routine

 

Komova II - This time it gets trickier. This skill starts from inbar stalder. It is worth E.

   

Komova - Inbar stalder with 1/2 turn, worth E.


Here is Komova competing her own skills.

Seitz - Is a truly amazing skill. It is a toe-on with full turn to HB. It's a shame it's only worth E.


The daring Elisabeth Seitz performing her own skill