Gymnastics pundits often point to weak American Cup fields and accuse organizers of stacking the deck in favor of the U.S. competitors. Case in point: The 2008 edition, where the U.S. went 1-2-3-4 in the women's competition and Paul Hamm triumphed over Sasha Artemev by three points in the men's.
That is not likely to happen this year.
The 2010 American Cup competitors -- at least on the men's side -- are almost all among the best all-around gymnasts in the World. In fact, the men's lineup turns the American Cup into a mini World Championships, complete with one guy who wasn't there at the actual Worlds in London last October: German star and defending American Cup champion Fabian Hambuchen.
Competing alongside Hambuchen will be Daniel Keatings, who beat Hambuchen on the first day of competition at last spring's European Championships and went on to win the all-around silver at the Worlds, as well as Russia's Maxim Devyatovskiy, winner of the Champion's Trophy series in November. 2008 Olympic all-around bronze medalist Benoit Caranobe of France and Japan's Koji Yamamuro will be there too.
Rounding out the international field is Romanian Flavius Koczi, a superb vaulter and pommel worker. In my opinion, Koczi is underrated. And he's now a World medalist too, having gone 1-2 with countryman Marian Dragulescu on vault in London.
A Keatings-Hambuchen-Devyatovskiy-Koczi face off before April's European Championships? With Horton and McNeill and a Japanese National team member competing too? Gymnastics fans could not have asked for much more.
No, this meet will not be easy for U.S. competitors Horton and Tim McNeill to dominate. Not at all. Although Horton is considered among the best in the world when he hits, his disastrous World Championships and loss to Ukraine's Mykola Kuksenkov at December's Valeri Liukin Invitational make him a question mark. There's no denying that if Horton is ever going to be able to challenge the likes of Hambuchen and co. in a major international competition, he needs to start hitting pommel horse.
McNeill, meanwhile, is an exceptional pommels man who surprised some with his seventh-place finish at the World Championships. The former Cal gymnast has prepared for this competition by changing gyms, recently moving to the U.S. Olympic training center to work with coach Vitaly Marinitch.
As for the women's lineup, well, it does seem as though 2009 World silver medalist Rebecca Bross has some advantage over the rest of the field. Her nearest challenge, apart from the other U.S. competitor that has yet to be named, will probably come from Switzerland's Ariella Kaeslin, who is known as a vaulter but is also a respectable all-around gymnast without a huge weakness on any event. Mexico's Elsa Garcia also tends to light up any competition, although her start values are unlikely to hold up to Bross's.
It seems that 2009 American Cup champion Jordyn Wieber is likely the only gymnast who could give Bross a run for her money, and there is no indication that the open spot will go to her. As a senior, however, Bross has failed to go four-for-four in three of her last four attempts. But if Bross throws the difficulty she's capable of, one fall probably won't keep her from winning among this field.
Follow Gymnastics Examiner Blythe Lawrence on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GymExaminer.
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