2023 Winter Cup

[MaryClare]

Yes. There’s so, so much that needed fixing before level 8

 

[RedBirdie]

Looking at her results, nothing says “This kid should be doing elite.” In fact, she got her elite optional score in the Hopes division of the WOGA qualifier–which screams junior elite was never the plan this season.

Her previous gym (Rochester) had her doing Hopes in 2021 when she was level 8, then she switched to Midwest, where she did Hopes and Level 10 in 2022. It’s all insane, because her scores and actual gymnastics say this kid should be focused on succeeding at the development program levels, not chasing elite.

This is her in 2020, working on the elite compulsory bar routine. Whhhhhhhhhhy?

 

[Doug1233]

Genuinely the worst elite level floor routine I have ever seen.

Oh cmon it wasn’t that bad.

 

[MaryClare]

It really was. There’s 6 year olds doing 2 hours on a Saturday morning with better dance and presentation skills

 

[Hatsumomo]

In over two years, they never resolved the leg separations. That’s a lot of little deductions that will add up to being worth a fall.

 

[ruby]

Yes, the posture is awful and the skills/technique are rough. The fault is with the judges though who qualified her elite.

Btw…although better than Buechler, absolutely nothing about Sunisa Lee in 2015 (videos on youtube) screamed “I’ll be at Worlds in 2019”.

 

[RichardL]

I want to start a fan club for Zoey Molomo’s Yurchenko full. That thing is gorgeous. I don’t even want her to upgrade! Although she can clearly do a double.

 

[MaryClare]

As I said, everyone involved in her gymnastics career should hang their heads in shame.

I showed it to some people in work today (children’s sports school in Moscow) and they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. We are used to American juniors often being big on skills and lacking in artistry, but that was beyond dull choreography, she was frozen stiff

 

[ruby]

I can’t believe I’m coming to the defense of some random American junior, but I am. This is obviously a very young, 3rd-tier junior; we have established her posture and choreography, amongst other things, are severely lacking (which is reflected in her scores and placement), so why not let it go. It’s not as if she is a front-runner for the National team. Although, who knows what will happen in the future. I mean, even Akhaimova made it eventually.

 

[blake]

I liked this little passage out of the switch 1/2

 

[MaryClare]

Because it shouldn’t be happening? It’s no different to a junior going out and chucking 4 E passes which is thankfully much rarer than it used to be. The gymnast does not need to be defended because the gymnast has done nothing wrong. She’s a child being failed by the adults around her.

Who knows what might happen is exactly the point I’m making- she’s young so why is she competing elite right now when there’s so many things that need to be sorted out.

As for Akhaimova. She was never the prettiest, but I saw her compete in person when she was competing compulsories, including the Russian compulsory floor exercise which is challenging if you’re not a dancer. But she was never as poor as Sophia’s routine.

 

[KristyJ]

VERY agreed here. Thank you.

 

[KristyJ]

I greatly enjoyed a lot of the choreo in this routine, really beautiful and a good deal of original movement

 

[RedBirdie]

DTB selection should be announced by tomorrow afternoon. 5 for the team, and 3 for mixed cup. The selection procedures do not allow for directly petitioning to the team, so we know Shilese Jones won’t be going.

Jesolo has 7 senior spots, and 3 juniors. Won’t be announced until after Junior World Selection Camp. Again, no direct petitions.

 

[RichardL]

This new trend towards the core team being composed of NCAA athletes makes the spring competitions really underwhelming, IMO. I don’t need to see 7 athletes at Jesolo who have little chance of eclipsing the likes of Lee, Carey, Chiles, and Wong (and Jones if indeed she’s not competing this spring).

Blakely is a lovely athlete and it’ll be good to see her get some more experience, though. Still sore about the Worlds EF debacle.

 

[KristyJ]

To be fair, it means that DTB and Jesolo give athletes that might not otherwise see as many assignments a bit more experience and exposure to international judging, so there’s value in it there as well. Generally many of the top ranked athletes have skipped the earlier competitions anyways. As much as we hope our worlds and Olympics teams will be stronger than much of what we saw this weekend, developing depth is important too.

 

[MaryClare]

Blakely is a lovely athlete and it’ll be good to see her get some more experience, though. Still sore about the Worlds EF debacle.

The flip side of coaches no longer advising gymnasts how they should wear their hair.

 

[KristyJ]

Weren’t the US gymnasts told to wear ribbons in their hair for years?

 

[xxParkerxx]

What exactly happened during Worlds EF?

 

[arabiandoublefront]

Yes, ribbons have been a trend since Shawn Johnson in 2008 at the latest. What I don’t like is the trend of NCAA hair trickling down to elite. I prefer ponytails and neat buns.