HARTFORD -- For the most part, the routines improved, but the results stayeed nearly the final days of men's and women's competition in at the U.S. Championships. Here's what I found most and least surprising about men's and women's finals:
No surprise: Rewriting the rules. Remember the days when you had to be 13 and 4-foot-1 to be successful in women's gymnastics? They're gone. Twenty two-year-old Alicia Sacramone and 20-year-old Vanessa Zamarripa are just two more proofs that gymnasts in their 20s can be among the best in the world.
No surprise: Wieber's withdrawal. Despite rehabbing her injured ankles with national team doctor Larry Nasser in order to possibly make an appearance in the junior women's final, Jordyn Wieber and coach John Geddert made the right decision to to compete. The most Wieber could have done was shown four clean routines -- she was in 42nd place going into the final -- and she's done that several times this year. Best she goes back to Michigan, takes the same amount of time with her ankles that she took with her hamstring strain in 2009, and looks forward to next year.
No surprise: Kyla's consistency. The now two-time junior national champion was the only woman in the top five not to fall on something, somewhere over the two day meet. She looked completely unaffected by the big meet, the pressure of coming in as the champion, everything. Yes, we're two years away from the Olympics, but all Kyla Ross has to do is keep competing the way she has been, and she'll be buying a ticket to London.
Surprise: Maroney moving up. The 14-year-old who got everyone's attention with her Amanar vault last year is now getting attention as an all-arounder. Her third place finish in the junior division of the U.S. Championships puts her in the thick of an already deeply talented junior women's team. Let's hope she continues to maintain her skills, and gain ground as an artist.
Surprise: College successes. Strong performances from the NCAA's Brandon Wynn, Bryan del Castillo, Glen Ishino, Chris Cameron, Paul Ruggeri, Alex Buscaglia and Steven Legendre won them national team berths and tickets to international meets. Cameron, Wynn and Legendre have been named to the World team (Riggeri is the alternate), while Ishino, del Castillo and Buscaglia will travel to Guadalajara, Mexico for the Pan American Championships at the end of the month.
Surprise: Sloan's stumbles. Bridget Sloan has work to do if she wants the opportunity to defend her World title in October.
Surprise: Anguish from one Olympic team, acceptance from another. The press got to meet with members of both the 2000 U.S. women's Olympic team, who competed in Syndey yet felt like failures, and members of the 1980 men's and women's teams, who didn't compete in Moscow but have recognized that just being selected for the team makes them winners. The difference, I think, is in age. Twenty years from now, the 2000 Olympians may have a different perspective.
No surprise: Sac is definitely back. As if it wasn't enough in Chicago at the end of July, Alicia Sacramone showed she is truly back by hitting vault and beam on both days in Hartford. She should get another shot at a World vault title in October.
Surprise: Horton and the pommel horse -- friends now? Well, probably not. But Jonathan Horton hitting his pommel set two nights in a row is huge for the U.S. team, and for his chances of medaling in the all-around at the World Championships.
No surprise: Leyva on the rise. Except for one miss on high bar, eighteen-year-old Danell Leyva of Miami was solid and steady in Hartford, obviously hoping to peak at the World Championships.
Surprise: Caquatto's fall on uneven bars. A badly-timed fluke on a hop to change her grip at the beginning of Mackenzie Caquatto's bar routine led to an untimely fall. A big shame for her, as she's angling to make the World team, and bars is a place where she could be a big help to the U.S.
.jpg)
Ohio State's Brandon Wynn. Photo/Greg Long
Surprise: A Wynner. Known as a ringman, Brandon Wynn of Ohio State went a long way toward proving that he's an all-around contender. Wynn has more difficulty than he threw in Hartford, particularly on high bar, where he's capable of a Def.
No surprise: Supervaulters. Yes, Vanessa Zamarripa took a knee on her Cheng on night two. But it wasn't a crash and it doesn't take her out of contention to make the World team. The rest of her performances, however, ensure that if she is in Rotterdam, she's likely going to have an Annia Hatch-like experience, competing only on vault. The junior Amanar vaulters, Maroney and Lexie Priessman, stood up their attempts on day two, as did Steven Legendre, Paul Ruggeri and Alex Buscaglia, who are doing some of the most difficult stuff in the world right now. Legendre in particular has an excellent shot at making event finals on vault at Worlds.
No surprise: Horton's competitiveness. The U.S. all-around gold medal was still warm, but Jonathan Horton is already thinking ahead to the World Championships and Paul Hamm's return. Although he admitted that he's not sure if he can beat Kohei Uchimura at this point, Horton also signalled that one of his major goals was to beat Hamm too, something he's never done.
Surprise: Stumbles and bumbles in the junior division. Nobody except Ross came close to a clean competition in Hartford, but the current U.S. juniors are throwing more difficulty than perhaps any generation that has come before them.
No surprise: Liukin wavering. In the first U.S. Championships since 2002 that she hasn't competed in, Olympic champion Nastia Liukin was feeling a little out of place as she watched the meet. Although she's going to be going back to the gym to get in shape for October's Skating and Gymnastics Spectacular, Liukin still isn't committing to a comeback to elite gymnastics.
Follow Gymnastics Examiner Blythe Lawrence on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GymExaminer or click the "Subscribe" button above to receive the latest gymnastics news and results via e-mail.
Comments