US Men's Worlds Team

The US men's worlds team has just been announced and I am a little surprised. The team is Jonathan Horton, Alexander Artemev, Tim McNeill, Danell Leyva, Steven Legendre and David Sender. I am a little surprised at the inclusion of Sender and Artemev. I am surprised at Sender's inclusion, not because of his performance, but because he said that he would not be competing at worlds and that VISA championships would be his last competition as he is starting vet school. However, his day 1 performance certainly warrants his inclusion for at least floor, rings and vault. I am surprised at Artemevs inclusion on the other hand basically because of the hefty pommel scores put up by McNeill and also Daniel Ribeiro, making Artemev only the 3rd best pommel horse worker in the US. Ribeiro put up a 15.9 (6.8 D-score) on day 1 and McNeill put up a 15.6 (6.7 D) on day 2. In the past Artemev has only shown a 6.1 D-score and only put up 15.35 and 15.25 at the Olympics, and with his recent injuries it is unlikely that he will have been able to upgrade his routine. Admittedly, Ribeiro and McNeill only hit on 1 of the 2 days, but Artemev is also not known for his consistency, and could not have gained selection based on this.