U.S. Nationals, the next qualifying competition before Olympic trials, is taking place this weekend in San Jose, California. This is the first time that TWO Olympic all around champions are competing at nationals. Last month, Gabby Douglas said she was planning a comeback in the hopes of making the 2024 Olympic team but she didn’t compete at the U.S. Classic a few weeks ago and she wasn’t at the first round of nationals on Friday night.
After the first day of competition, Simone Biles is first in all around (by a margin of 2.55 points), as well as vault, beam, and floor. Sunisa Lee is still dealing with a kidney condition that limits her training and only competed on vault and beam. Women’s finals are on Sunday.
Watch day 1 of the senior women’s competition
All around: [Spoiler (click to open)]
1. Simone Biles – 59.3
2. Shilese Jones – 56.75
3. Skye Blakely – 55.7
4. Leanne Wong – 55.35
5. Jordan Chiles – 54.6
6. Kaliya Lincoln – 54.0
7. Amelia Disidore – 53.05
8. Joscelyn Roberson – 52.95
9. Katelyn Jong – 52.9
10. Madray Johnson – 52.85
11. Tiana Sumanasekera – 52.75
12. Addison Fatta – 52.4
13. Alicia Zhou – 52.3
14. Myli Lew – 52.2
15. Nola Matthews – 51.95
16. Marissa Neal – 51.85
17. Eveylynn Lowe – 51.7 (tie)
17. Charlotte Booth – 51.7 (tie)
19. Kayla DiCello – 51.5 (tie)
19. Jade Carey – 51.5 (tie)
21. Ashlee Sullivan – 51.45 (tie)
21. Michelle Pineda – 51.45 (tie)
23. Dulcy Caylor – 51.0
24. Zoe Miller – 49.0
25. Kelise Woolford – 48.75
26. Levi Jung-Ruivivar – 48.25
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The remaining gymnasts did not compete in all four events:
27. Lexi Zeiss – 27.15
28. Sunisa Lee – 27.0
Vault [Spoiler (click to open)]
Note: to qualify for vault finals, you must perform two vaults from different families.
1. Simone Biles – 15.3
vault 1 – 15.700 (D: 6.4, E: 9.800, ND: -0.5)
vault 2 – 14.900 (D: 5.6, E: 9.300)
2. Joscelyn Roberson – 14.325
vault 1 – 14.650 (D: 5.6, E: 9.050)
vault 2 – 14.000 (D: 5.0, E: 9.000)
3. Skye Blakely – 14.225
vault 1 – 14.350 (D: 5.0, E: 9.350)
vault 2 – 14.100 (D: 4.8, E: 9.300)
4. Leanne Wong – 14.075
vault 1 – 14.250 (D: 5.0, E: 9.250)
vault 2 – 13.900 (D: 4.8, E: 9.100)
5. Jade Carey – 13.975
vault 1 – 13.950 (D: 5.6, E: 8.350)
vault 2 – 14.000 (D: 5.0, E: 9.000)
6. Addison Fatta – 13.4
vault 1 – 13.850 (D: 5.0, E: 8.850)
vault 2 – 12.950 (D: 4.2, E: 8.750)
7. Amelia Disidore – 13.3
vault 1 – 13.850 (D: 5.0, E: 8.850)
vault 2 – 12.750 (D: 4.0, E: 8.750)
Sunisa Lee – 13.350 (D: 4.2, E: 9.150)
Jordan Chiles – 14.300 (D: 5.0, E: 9.300)
Bars [Spoiler (click to open)]
1. Shilese Jones – 14.900 (D: 6.3, E: 8.600)
2. Skye Blakely – 14.400 (D: 5.9, E: 8.500)
3. Simone Biles – 14.350 (D: 6.0, E: 8.350)
4. Jordan Chiles – 14.200 (D: 5.9, E: 8.300)
5. Katelyn Jong – 14.050 (D: 6.0, E: 8.050)
6. Leanne Wong – 14.000 (D: 5.7, E: 8.300)
7. Myli Lew – 13.900 (D: 5.4, E: 8.500)
8. Alicia Zhou – 13.800 (D: 5.6, E: 8.200)
Beam [Spoiler (click to open)]
1. Simone Biles – 14.450 (D: 6.4, E: 8.050)
2. Skye Blakely – 14.050 (D: 6.1, E: 7.950)
3. Tiana Sumanasekera – 13.850 (D: 5.8, E: 8.050)
4. Leanne Wong – 13.750 (D: 5.8, E: 7.950)
5. Sunisa Lee – 13.250 (D: 5.6, E: 7.650)
6. Madray Johnson – 13.500 (D: 5.7, E: 7.800)
7. Shilese Jones – 13.450 (D: 5.8, E: 7.650)
8. Amelia Disidore – 13.300 (D: 5.8, E: 7.500)
9. Kaliya Lincoln – 13.250 (D: 5.5, E: 7.850, ND: -0.1)
13. Jordan Chiles – 13.000 (D: 5.2, E: 7.800)
Floor [Spoiler (click to open)]
1. Simone Biles – 14.800 (D: 6.8, E: 8.100, ND: -0.1)
2. Kaliya Lincoln – 14.350 (D: 6.1, E: 8.250)
3. Shilese Jones – 14.050 (D: 5.9, E: 8.250, ND: -0.1)
4. Kayla DiCello – 13.500 (D: 5.5, E: 8.000)
5. Nola Matthews – 13.400 (D: 5.2, E: 8.200)
6. Leanne Wong (tie) – 13.350 (D: 5.6, E: 7.850, ND: -0.1)
6. Amelia Disidore (tie) – 13.350 (D: 5.6, E: 7.850, ND: -0.1)
6. Jade Carey (tie) – 13.350 (D: 5.9, E: 7.450)
12. Jordan Chiles – 13.100 (D: 5.6, E: 7.600, ND: -0.1)
14. Skye Blakely – 12.900 (D: 5.6, E: 7.400, ND: -0.1)
Watch day 1 of the senior men’s competition
Men’s results are available here and here. And there’s a good article here that discusses some issues in American men’s gymnastics and addresses some of the things that came up in the post for the U.S. Classic a few weeks ago.
A note about selecting the Olympic team and scoring:
In 1999, USAG created the national team coordinator position, which was basically one person who selected the national team and the Olympic team. This position was held by Béla Károlyi (1999-2000), Márta Károlyi (2001-2016), Valeri Liukin (2017-18), and Tom Forster (2018-21). Earlier this year, USAG announced that they have replaced that position with a three person group called the high performance team. USAG said, “While in the past USA Gymnastics employed a model that put a single person at the head of the program in a role that was coach, manager, strategist, and leader, it became clear to us that such a model is not realistic or effective in the current environment.” 2005 world all around champion Chellsie Memmel is the technical lead, former floor and vault world champion Alicia Sacramone Quinn is the strategy lead, and coach Dan Baker is the developmental lead (this position is similar to the elite development coordinator role he has held since the fall of 2018). These are the three people who will decide who is on the team for the Paris Olympics next summer.
If you are a casual gymnastics watcher or still used to the old scoring system where a 10 was the highest possible score, the new scoring system can be a little confusing. Here are the basics:
* Each routine has required elements. For example on beam, you must include a full turn, a leap, and an acro series. On bars, you must transition to the low bar and you must have one release move.
* Each skill is rated based on difficulty. A is for the easiest skills. As the skills get progressively more difficult, they are rated B, C, D, etc. Some of the skills that Simone Biles does are rated H.
* Each skill is given a numeric value. These values can change whenever the code of points is revised. This is why you see so many gymnasts doing wolf turns on floor and beam. A double wolf turn is a D skill and a triple wolf turn is an E skill. For specific examples, you can view this very handy guide of skills and the corresponding points.
* The difficulty score is calculated by adding up the points of the eight highest level skills in a routine. Simone’s difficulty scores for this competition ranged from 6.0-6.8 while other gymnasts had start scores that ranged from the low 4s to the high 5s. There were only four other gymnasts who had routines with a 6.0 start value or higher.
* The execution and artistry score starts at 10 and deductions are subtracted from that 10. Bent knees, crossed legs, hopping on the landing, not having a complete split, and not pointing your toes are just some of the ways to get deductions. You can view the current code of points, which will be in effect through the Paris Olympics.
* The difficult and execution scores are added together for a final score. In the event of a tie, the gymnast with the higher execution score wins.
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