The Winter Cup Challenge, sometimes referred to as "Winter Nationals" because it resets the national team based on its results, got underway this afternoon in Las Vegas. After the first of two sessions, 2010 World team member Chris Brooks is leading the pack, having racked up an impressive 89.2 in the all-around despite of scoring only 12.8 on pommel horse.
That seems to solidify Brooks's status as an Olympic team contender, which was never really in question even though he dropped out of the London Test Event last month due to a minor injury. Trailing Brooks (and remember, this is only after the first of two sessions) is Brandon Wynn (another legit Olympic prospect, largely due to the fact that he's fantastic on rings) who scored 87.0 and Steven Legendre (ditto, but his best events are floor and vault) who tallied 86.5.
But the biggest story of the afternoon is certainly the return of Paul Hamm, who is competing for the first time since breaking his hand at the 2008 U.S. Championships and being caught drunk and disorderly in Ohio back in September. (It's hard to decide which is the more significant "back after..." story.) Hamm's day was OK, given the scoring so far -- he had 15.4 on vault (6.0/9.5, 0.1ND for a roundoff, half on, front layout full off) 13.05 on pommel (5.9/7.15), 13.4 on parallel bars (6.0/7.4) and 13.9 on floor (6.2/7.7).
Others in the afternoon field: Olympic hopeful Jake Dalton, who may well be competing with his former Oklahoma University teammate Legendre for a spot on the five-man Olympic team, did only parallel bars, high bar and rings and sat out floor and vault, his best events. Two-time U.S. champion Jonathan Horton, slowed by a foot injury sustained at the 2011 Worlds, only performed on pommel horse and scored a dismal 12.25.
Still to come in the evening session: Olympic hopefuls Danell Leyva, John Orozco and Paul Ruggeri. Stay tuned.
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