2022 Winter Cup Women's Discussion February 26, 2022

[irichluck21]

It is an unusual year post Olympics where a majority of the senior national team is finished with elite.
I compiled a list of current senior we might see at Winter Cup and former juniors now turned senior.

Senior National Team

Gymnast	Last Seen	Notes
Ciena Alipio	AG Memorial
Simone Biles	Olympics	Competition status unknown after Gold Tour
Skye Blakely	Olympic Trials	Injured at OT, status unknown
Kayla DiCello	Worlds	Worlds AA silver
Amari Drayton	Olympic Trials
Addison Fatta	Olympic Trials	Injured before World Trials, status unknown
eMjae Frazier	Worlds
Olivia Greaves	Swiss Cup	Injured at Swiss Cup, status unknown
Shilese Jones	Olympic Trials	Competition status unknown after Gold Tour
Konnor McClain	Worlds
Zoe Miller	Olympic Trials
Ava Siegfeldt	Olympic Trials

Junior National Team (2006 born)

Gymnast	Last Seen	Notes
Charlotte Booth	US Champs
Kailin Chio	Jr. Pan Ams
Katelyn Jong	Jr. Pan Ams
Levi Jung-Ruivivar	Jr. Pan Am Trials
Kaliya Lincoln	US Champs
Joscelyn Roberson	Jr. Pan Am Trials

Others

Gymnast	Last Seen	Notes
Sydney Barros	US Champs
Karis German	US Champs
Kaylen Morgan	US Champs
Katelyn Rosen	US Champs
Chellsie Memmel	US Champs	Competition status unknown after Gold Tour
Lyden Saltness	US Champs
Anya Pilgrim	US Classic
Sophia Butler	US Classic
Nola Matthews	Jr. Pan Am Trials	2006 born, now senior gymnast

I might be missing a few.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Jones teased a run for 2024 in December. A Worlds team with both her and Memmel on it would be a dream come true.

 

[irichluck21]

Jones teased a run for 2024 in December. A Worlds team with both her and Memmel on it would be a dream come true.

DiCello, Memmel, Jones, Chio, Jong would be a pretty fierce World team.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Are they teams of 5 for 2022 and 2023? I’ll die. That would be a great team, add McClain if she’s healthy and teams are of 6

 

[irichluck21]

Are they teams of 5 for 2022 and 2023? I’ll die. That would be a great team, add McClain if she’s healthy and teams are of 6

Teams of 5 and McClain I had forgotten about! Also Skye Blakley could be up there too!

 

[Doug1233]

you’d think Valeri would have worked on McClain over the last few months to make her a shoo-in for 2022. The potential is ginormous. An easy World BB medal if she can hit twice.

 

[QuietColours]

McClain’s had a rough couple of months. I don’t think it’s fair to heap expectations on her shoulders right now.

 

[Doug1233]

yes you’re right. but I guess we all react to grief differently. maybe she channeled it into her gym.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Thanks that’s really useful.

 

[Doug1233]

Seems like Winter Cup 2022 is going to be pretty much the level of the Nastia Cup. Who is even going?

Do we know the status of the top 3 Russians at this point? I’m sure they’ll be eyeing a repeat Gold at Worlds with this depleted USA field.

 

[irichluck21]

Well, you never know what can happen with a new COP.
We also saw that judging at Worlds was a lot more lenient than the Olympics.

It will also be interesting to see the strategy the US coaches go for now that they realize less is more.

 

[Doug1233]

I think the deductions for precision are now such that D dance elements are essentially not worth it. No-one should be scared about counting a high floaty 180 Switch Leap. with nice toes.

Also - people often say things like “a D is worth 4 tenths”. When actually, you’re always going to be counting spare Round Off’s and BHS’s in your routine - so a D is actually only worth 3 tenths. We rarely see a Double Tuck that gets 0.2 or less in deductions, when you count pauses/adjustments/in-and-out-of-the-corners too. It is often true that choreography working in and out of a running Switch Leap into the corner, done perfectly, will net you a higher score.

Even Suni lost a good 5 tenths on her Double Tuck in TQ. She also lost a good 3+ tenths on the Double L (which was downgraded to B anyway) in the AA final. I bet she would have got nothing on a Switch Leap.

Seems like Nina was the only gymnast to really get the memo in Tokyo. She almost made FX (2nd reserve) and BB (4th reserve - behind Ashikawa by 0.133) finals. And she literally counts Bs in her floor and beam. Don’t blame the gymnast - blame the Code.

 

[Doug1233]

Do we have a start list yet? What is the qualification procedure, or is it invite only?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I think the deductions for precision are now such that D dance elements are essentially not worth it. No-one should be scared about counting a high floaty 180 Switch Leap. with nice toes.

I think the story of 2022 might be how long it takes people to work this out.

 

[Doug1233]

I think the story of 2022 might be how long it takes people to work this out.

This should have been the story ever since Montreal.

 

[Sasha]

I predict three years.

 

[Doug1233]

I got annoyed that they were letting Jess Gadirova flail out of her Gogean time and time again in Tokyo. Easily 0.3 off. I bet she could have stuck a Split 1/1.

What annoys me more is that they LITERALLY made this change for Jennifer:

@1:01 TQ - big bounce out



@1:00 TF - clearly short, with precision deduction



@1:00 AA - again, clearly short with precision deduction



@0:50 - finally they get the memo and nix the Gogean in place of a clean split 1/1



Did anyone else think Jennifer was injured after the DLO in EF (@0:34)?

If anyone wants to move this completely off-topic post to the British WAG thread I will not be mad haha.

They also need to fix both Gadirova’s BHS. This is not the ideal prep for a Chuso…

 

[RedBirdie]

Any gymnasts who has qualified elite can compete at Winter Cup. It’s basically just like American and US Classic.

For Seniors:
To compete at Winter Cup or the Classics, you must have passed compulsories and achieved an optional score of 50.50 AA at any of the following:
• 2021 U.S. Championships
• 2021 post-US Championships Selected National Team Training Camp (full routines on competition surfaces)
• 2022 National Qualifiers
• 2022 Selected National Team Training Camps (full routines on competition surfaces)

For specialists, the optional score criteria are:
38.50 3 Event
26.00 2 Event
• 2021 post US Championships Selected National Team Training Camp (full routines on competition surfaces)
• 2022 National Qualifiers
• 2022 Selected National Team Training Camps (full routines on competition surfaces)
• 2021 U.S. Championships (may only compete on the events that achieved score from Championships. If desire to compete more events, athlete needs to qualify from National qualifier)
Athletes qualifying to a Classic on 2 or 3 events at a 2022 National Qualifier or 2022 Selected National Team Training camp may qualify with a 2 or 3-event score and may only compete on the same 2 or 3 events where they obtained the
qualifying score.

For Juniors
To compete at Winter Cup or the Classics, you must have passed compulsories and achieved an optional score of 49.50 AA at any of the following:
• 2021 U.S. Championships
• 2021 post US Championships Selected National Team Training Camp (full routines on competition surfaces)
• 2022 National Qualifiers
• 2022 Selected National Team Training Camps (full routines on competition surfaces)

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

If USAG keep to their usual domestic scoring patterns, probably.

 

[Doug1233]

may only compete on the events that achieved score from Championships.

This is a completely bullshit requirement. Why does it matter? If you got the required score for 2 or 3 routines, why would they ban you from competing AA. You’re clearly an accomplished gymnast. Why should they be that bothered about scoring one extra 90 second routine, from a clearly talented gymnast? Especially if they were nursing an injury at the qualification meet which limited them to 2/3 events. Imagine if you’re Riley McCusker and you get the 3 event score but you didn’t compete vault at Nationals 9 months ago. You now can’t compete VT at Winter Cup??

This kind of requirement just encourages injured gymnasts to push on and compete AA when they’re not ready, because it could have knock on effects on their qualification to future events.