The Valeri Liukin Invitational is a relaxed, friendly meet, as much of a gold medalist get-together as a competition.
The number of World and Olympic medalists who descended on WOGA's Frisco, Texas location last weekend was breathtaking -- among others, Jonathan Horton, Sasha Artemev, Vladimir Artemov, Nastia Liukin, Rustam Sharipov and Sean Townsend were all in attendance. As was Valeri Liukin himself, of course.
Other notes of interest from this meet: Artemev, whose last competition was the 2010 Winter Cup Classic almost a year ago, warmed up but scratched at the last minute. Chris Brooks debuted a very cool new hairstyle and the Japanese team showed a red version of the superlong coats the Japanese men wore at the World Championships.
According to one bystander, Nastia Liukin, who emceed and helped hand out awards, got as much attention in her tight black pants and superfashionable black heels as anybody who threw a Kovacs.
The men's competition was won by U.S. star Danell Leyva, who as always was accompanied by his exuberant stepfather Yin Alvarez. Japanese newcomers Sho Yokoyama and Jumpei Oka finished second and third, followed by Ukraine's Mykola Kuksenkov, one of the undersung stars of the 2010 Worlds.
Photographer Heather Maynez was on hand to capture the action from the meet and on the sidelines and has shared her images with Examiner.com. Click the image of Brooks's high bar release above and to the left to enter the gallery, or view it here. Enjoy!
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