Pacific Rim Recap and Reflections

(Photo Credit-USA Gymnastics)

I expected to see Gabby Douglas kill it at this meet and seriously challenge Jordyn Wieber for the win.  I was really hoping Gabby would use this meet to again prove herself. However, Gabby’s vault was a disaster—she was way off to the side, missed one of her hands on the table, causing her to only get two twists around and fall on the landing (although she did get credited for an Amanar—that’s another issue).  This was upsetting, especially considering the very solid Amanars she was throwing at the American Cup.  Her bars were, of course, amazing! This flying squirrel really continues to impress me. I love the full pirouette she does at the beginning of the routine, and obviously the sky high release moves are beautiful. Although the announcers called her performances “headcasey” I don’t believe they were exactly that. I do, however, disagree with everyone saying that she hasn’t impacted her chances for the Olympic team.  I think she proved a lot at the American Cup, but the US needs someone who is consistent, and if Gabby can’t do that I don’t know that she’s the right choice.  She keeps hitting and missing—Nationals were bad, Worlds were good; American cup was good, Pac Rims were bad. I can tell all that Chow’s doing all he can to get her to peak at the right time, but she’s got to overcome this emotional stuff, especially when we have people like Jordyn and Aly who thrive under that type of pressure.

Photo Credit-USA Gymnastics

I was super impressed by Jordyn’s performance.  It really stuck out to me that Gabby didn’t hit her vault, and Jordyn went out there completely unfazed and hit her usual Amanar with only a tiny step on the landing. Most importantly, she didn’t falter at all on her bar routine, which she hasn’t done in a while. I’m impressed by her continual stuck double layout dismount, but I miss the double twisting double somersault she was doing at Nationals—I wonder if that will come back.  Her beam routine was fantastic. I know everyone complains about her connections into and out of the full twisting back tuck. Honestly, I love them. It doesn’t matter to me that they aren’t as fluid as they could be—I think it’s so cool that she goes for them. I also love the new side aerial side sommi combination; it looks awesome and I think she can nail it. Her dismount was also great, it was definitely the smallest hop I’ve seen her take.  I was also unbelievably impressed with her floor routine.  Her American Cup routine wasn’t as good as I had hoped, but this performance was definitely what I wanted. First of all, she stuck her double double, which is amazing.  I’m happy they finally took out the front layout at the end of the third pass; she always had trouble on that.  The problem is that they had to put in the front aerial right before her fourth pass to satisfy the forwards tumbling requirement.  I don’t think it fits in perfectly with the choreography, but it definitely makes the routine better as a whole.  I’m a huge fan of this routine.  It’s super entertaining, I love the music, and I absolutely love the choreography that is in time with the music. I’m a sucker for any choreography that’s in time with the music. Overall, like I said, I was very impressed by this performance. I think it shows a lot that she was “beat” by Gabby at the American Cup and then came back and nailed every single event. I knew it was going to be interesting watching them battle it out head-to-head, and I like that Jordyn really came out strong. I know she’s pretty much considered a lock for the Olympic team, but I’m glad she finally showed us an all around without any major mistakes on bars.

Kyla Ross was impressive too. Her Amanar was a little out of control, but she was very clean overall. I think this is a good sign for her. I definitely think she’s going to challenge for a spot on the Olympic Team. We’ll see her again in Jesolo—it will be good if she can improve her vault and continue to stay clean on her other events.

Photo Credit-USA Gymnastics

I loved being able to watch the juniors compete.  Everyone was excited to see Katelyn Ohashi’s beam routine in HD, and she definitely did not disappoint. I know I’m not saying anything new, but that full twisting back layout really impresses me every time. I’ve also loved watching Lexie Priessman and Amelia Hundley grow over the years. I remember watching them compete at the Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup a couple of years ago and it’s been so fun to see them improve. I love Lexie’s power—especially in that double double mount on floor. Although she had a few errors, she did pretty well overall. And Amelia’s very fun to watch perform; she always looks like she’s having fun.

Even though none of the results were very surprising, it was still fun to watch the US girls as we approach Nationals and Olympic Trials. It’ll be interesting to see how the girls competing at Jesolo do. I hope Aly can again prove to Martha how solid she is, and I’d love to see Kyla hit again. It’ll also be interesting to see how Sarah Finnegan does, since many think she could challenge for a spot on the Olympic team as well.