Australian MAG Worlds Trials

Australia had its men's world championships trials on Saturday in Canberra. Sam Offord came 1st and Sam Simpson came 2nd. Josh Jefferis had an off day with problems on floor, rings and high bar to drop out of all around contention, but he should still make the team for some individual apparatus. Philippe Rizzo also had some problems, missing his def on high bar. Prashanth Sellathurai showed an incredibly difficult pommel horse routine with a D-score of 7.0, including a brand new skill which could possibly get named after him. But I won't tell you what it is just yet. You'll have to wait until worlds for that.

Aus WAG Worlds Trials

Trials for the Australian WAG worlds team were held on Tuesday and yesterday (Wednesday). The results are due to be released today. With a maximum of 4 girls being selected for worlds this year (I think), it is likely that Lauren Mitchell and Shona Morgan will be on the team. Georgia Bonora and Emma Dennis didn't compete at nationals, but if they are back in reasonable shape they should also make the team, but Britt Greeley and Larissa Miller (for bars) will also have a shot at making the team.

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.

More Yang Wei Controversy

Yang Wei is in some controversy in China again. Apparently he let it slip that he know that his baby will be a boy. However, in China you are not allowed to know the gender of a baby before it is born.

Rhythmic Gymnastics in Ukraine

This is an interesting news article about Rhythmic Gymnastics in Ukraine

Japan Cup Results

Well, Uchimura won this battle against Hambuchen and looks like he is moving from strength to strength. Five of his routines are shown in the following video



I was impressed with his P Bars, even with the new rule that you can't do the same skill in different positions he managed to show a lot of release moves. The routine also had a great flow.

Some of Hambuchens routines are shown here:



He has removed his maltese on rings, which is probably a smart move as he was probably getting more deductions on it that it is worth. Also, he has also gotten rid of his belle now that it has been downgraded to a D. I think this makes his P Bars look better as this is one of the rare skills that he does poorly.

The womens competition was won by China's Huang Qiushuang. Her score of 58.9 looks like it is a great score now that the women have reduced the number of skills to 8 (hopefully the men do this soon). It will be interesting to see how this compares to what the US women get at some competitions coming up soon.

It looks like there was a great crowd there and was a great competition. I believe it is on again next year. I think it is a great addition to the international calender, which needs some more team and all-around competitions like this.

Japan Cup

Japanese Gymnastics has posted the all-around line up for the Japan Cup. On the men's side, the all-around looks like it will be a great competition, with Hambuchen and Uchimura looking set to challenge for the all-around title at worlds with the retirements of Yang Wei, Paul Hamm and Tomita. Horton is also one of the worlds best, and if the Russians can knock any sense into Deviatovski (Disobedientovski) he can also challenge the best. It will also be interesting to watch the progress of Danell Leyva who looks like he will be one of the stars of the future.

On the women's side the top all-arounder from Beijing is Koko Tsurumi from Japan who came 17th there, however, there will be some top gymnasts on individual apparatus with Olympic Bars gold medalist He Kexin and Olympics beam finalists Li Shanshan and Koko Tsurumi and World Cup gold medalist Lauren Mitchell.

Aus Nationals - WAG Results

In WAG, Lauren Mitchell won the All-around over Shona Morgan and Britt Greeley. Mitchell also won Bars, Beam and Floor, while Emma Collister won Vault. There has been some talk about Lauren's beam having one of the highest start value's around.



Although GA didn't show her AA score from beam, only the 2 day total (29.15), but given that her 1st day score was 13.775, that means her AA beam score must have been 15.375, which should be very competitive internationally. Lets hope she can improve her consistency. She also got a great score of 14.725 on floor in finals.

chachakid has posted a few videos from nationals including this one of Stacy Umeh dancing in the stands

Aus Nationals - MAG Apparatus Finals

GA have finally put up the results from apparatus finals yesterday:

Floor
Sam Simpson QLD 14.725
Luke Wiwatowski NSW 14.65
Patrick Peng NZ 14.25

Pommel
Naoya Tsukahara JPN 14.95
Prashanth Sellathurai NSW 14.6
Sam Offord SA 13.75

Rings
Prashanth Sellathurai NSW 15.825
Sam Offord SA 14.775
Naoya Tsukahara JPN 14.45

Vault
Sam Offord SA 15.625
Luke Wadsworth VIC 15.062
Aaron Thanas VIC 14.912

P Bars
Naoya Tsukahara JPN 14.9
Philippe Rizzo NSW 14.675
Prashanth Sellathurai NSW 14.4

High Bar
Naoya Tsukahara JPN 15.075
Sam Offord SA 14.1
Aaron Thanas VIC 13.95

Aussie Nationals Update

2008 Olympian Naazmi Johnson won the Rhythmic section of nationals with a score of 92.55. Meanwhile, almost 4000km away in Perth, in the WAG section, ex-elites Chloe Sims and Monique Cowan helped Queensland win the level 10 team title.