2023 World Championships & Pan American Games Team Trials (USA)

[Ginger]

Of course Wong will do FX in TQ, along with Biles, Jones and Roberson. Skye will sit this one out. And, if Leanne scores better than Joscelyn (could happen if the judges take too much deductions from Josc or whatever - I know she scored well internationally so far, but so did Kara Eaker on beam until Worlds 2019 happened), she will do FX in TF as well.

 

[JaJa]

And they are giving her the chance to compete PanAms if she ends up sitting out Worlds. And Carey got an international assignment so should get her funding, right? But then, girl, take a break

Probably a good outcome for Jade

 

[Laura722]

Just a note, it seems like Jade declined Pan Ams because her sister’s wedding is happening at the same time.

 

[RichardL]

Very surprising to me that Leanne Wong has qualified to her third Worlds, but good for her. I thought she was very unlucky to not make Tokyo after that beam disaster at Trials.

Interesting to note that four of the five team members competed two vaults this year! But someone will have to sit out because Jones will need to vault for AA qualification. I think a question now is whether you have Wong or Blakely be the back-up AAer, which will determine which one does vault and floor (and which just does bars and beam) assuming they don’t let Roberson anywhere near those two events. Podium training will be interesting!

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I’m not surprised. While the US could likely afford a couple of specialists and would still win even if they had to count a 12 from Roberson on bars or whatever, it’s not a shock that they chose to build in a bit more cover rather than maximise the team total.

Fair point that Leanne’s luck has changed though. She used to be on the borderline and miss out, now she’s borderline and finds her way in! But the selectors seem to like the idea of 5th spots being insurance and bet hedging, so maybe Leanne is being smart to recognise that.

 

[RedBirdie]

I’m dismayed that that abomination of a floor routine will be at worlds. Ugh.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

You could just do the 2 AA; Skye does VT, Leanne does FX. Skye has a 2nd vault that could very well materialize into a Cheng next year. Might as well give her the experience of competing the Lopez.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

I’m currently at 43 downvotes on Reddit for suggesting that it has no business scoring near 14 and that it would be a travesty if she even made the EF.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Lmfao.

I kind of think they’ll want to redress last year and make sure they have two legit AAers, though. Ie, an insurance option. That was a great opportunity for the US to get two AA medals again and it slipped through their fingers.

 

[RedBirdie]

You are doing the Lord’s work. I’m not willing to brave gymnastics reddit. Shudder.

 

[RichardL]

The Reddit love for Roberson is real! It’s insane.

 

[RichardL]

When is the last time the U.S. didn’t have a back-up AAer at a team Worlds, though? Maybe it’s happened before but it would certainly be a risk.

 

[gymfan]

Not surprising at all. Her scores at these world cups contradict your claim, and your claim won’t be well-received in other platforms as well. It is just a reality check.

 

[Puffin]

Very surprising to me that Leanne Wong has qualified to her third Worlds, but good for her. I thought she was very unlucky to not make Tokyo after that beam disaster at Trials.

Well she did get to Tokyo as alternate - but ended up quarantined when Eaker tested positive for Covid

 

[RichardL]

I meant that she probably should have been in McCallum’s spot. At a certain point, it’s all about who’s lucky enough to get through the selection process unscathed…

 

[Puffin]

Yeah she was unlucky to be in the era of Tom who just picked the top 4 AA which she didn’t manage at either Nationals (5th) or Trials (8th). She also struggled because at these 2 events her best scores came on VT when the US had lots of strong vaulters

 

[navyblue]

Well, I wouldn’t pin that bad luck on Tom or the All-Arounder strategy, but rather the very same bad luck that had her placing 5th and 8th in those meets, when she arguably was the 4th best all-arounder at the time. Her consistency has improved a good deal this quad, which is nice to see. (And potentially attributable to NCAA experience).

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

That is another good point, they threw an AA medal away by not having Wong go up instead of Carey on UB in prelims in Liverpool.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

Just because she received the scores doesn’t mean the scores reflect the scores Code of Points says she should receive.

 

[navyblue]

That is another good point, they threw an AA medal away by not having Wong go up instead of Carey on UB in prelims in Liverpool.

Wait, I’m having trouble following you/Arnold’s point about some tactical error… Jade Carey qualified 3rd AA, and Jordan Chiles if not for her wild BB routine would have qualified first ahead of Shilese… They did have 3 solid AA contenders, so what did they “throw away”, and how does it involve Leanne who only did a single event in qualifying and TF?

Just because she received the scores doesn’t mean the scores reflect the scores Code of Points [the gymternet] says she should receive.

OK i’m gonna take a social risk here and say most folks on this board are letting their feelings get the best of them when it comes to Roberson. I also don’t like her gymnastics, though I don’t think her floor is any worse (artistry-wise) than Jade’s. Her leaps are certainly shit. But people are really pushing the limits of logic by claiming:

1. She only scores well with domestic judges …
2. OK sure she scored well at World Cups, but those meets weren’t Worlds, scoring will certainly be harsher
3. But even if Worlds judging isn’t harsher on her, the judges are just wrong!

It’s (negative) wishful thinking. Based on recent precedent, gymnasts like Skinner and Roberson seem to have an infamous domestic reputation that has them (correctly) harshly evaluated at home, such that international meets basically uphold their scores, while other American gymnasts whose faults were more overlooked get a bigger relative hit. Isn’t that essentially what happened with Jordan Chiles?

At the end of the day, gymnastics is a sport with D+E score, and a floor routine with a Moors and a Chuso is gonna tend to score high. Even though I agree that a 6.8-7.2 E score range might be more correct for Roberson after taking ~8 artistry tenths, I can’t pretend like my feelings about that are more important for team selection than what’s actually happening in the meets. Shunning a gymnast because her form hurts our feelings isn’t really a good look for selection committees. Plus I think a Worlds team with Roberson swapped out for Carey is basically net neutral for USA’s artistry. I do hope they sit her out on beam, though.