American Cup set to return in 2026! NOW Mixed Team competition

[irichluck21]

Location: TBD
March 3-9 2026
Unknown if it is only for American gymnasts or if International gymnasts will be invited.

Glad to see its return after 5 years!

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

SCAM!

 

[irichluck21]

Eagerly awaiting the top Soviets to get silver behind the Americans!!

 

[Passion]

2026 USAG Events Calendar

Sep 4, 2025

The return of the American Cup, now as a Mixed Team event, is listed for March 3-9, 2026

https://static.usagym.org/PDFs/Women/calendar26.pdf

This new updated calendar has Winter Cup at February 20-22 but the Bid Information for the meet previously had it listed as Feb 27-Mar 1 with the Liukin Cup still attached to it. There was talk on Twitter during Nationals of the Liukin Cup being attached to the new American Cup so I guess we'll see what happens. Maybe Winter Cup can finally break out of that white walled box of a convention hall in...

• Passion
• Replies: 4
• Forum: General Gymnastics

 

[irichluck21]

We have the format now.

So different from Euros.
2 men and 2 women.
2 teams eliminated in round 1, 2 more in round 2, final four in round three.
MAG have the same events as Euros: FX. PB. HB
WAG swapped vault for bars.

The only thing we don't know is if both women and both men compete in each round or if only one will. I hope both get to compete each round, truly makes it a mixed "team" rather than mixed pairs.

 

[rlayt]

So is it up to national governing bodies to choose the teams? I can’t remember what they’ve been doing.

 

[Passion]

On the graphic USAG posted it says 2 men and 2 women compete in each round. I take that to mean all four compete each round.

It doesn't say that teams are only made up of only 2 men and 2 women total though, just that 2 MAG/WAG per team compete each round. That "per team compete" makes me think maybe teams are even bigger? It would be very USAG of them to try to shove as many American athletes into this as they can. Something like 4 women and 4 men per team, 2 of each competing each round.

I wish they had been more specific. On Twitter they just dropped this and wrote "more information on competing countries & U.S. team selection will be available soon!"

 

[MaryClare]

Anyone else get the feeling the the whole mixed team thing is going to be something that only Brian Carey understands?

 

[rlayt]

Like those qualification rules for the +2 Olympics slots. You will need a calculator!

A Russian born USA fiction author I enjoy wrote that pessimism is an Olympic sport in Russia.

 

[irichluck21]

@Passion thanks the first graphic didn't say that.
Interesting. I wonder how many countries will be willing to send 8 athletes so early in the season?

 

[Passion]

It could be something like send a minimum of 2 WAG/MAG since that’s what’s required for scores, but you can have up to X amount to field a full team.

Or it could just be 2 WAG/MAG total and I’m reading too much into the wording lol.

 

[irichluck21]

Either way I am just happy that its more than one MAG and one WAG.
Maybe it'll be teams of 3 MAG and 3 WAG?

This is an actual team event though, reminds me of the European Team Championships where it was 2 MAG, 2 WAG, 2 RG.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

It could be something like send a minimum of 2 WAG/MAG since that’s what’s required for scores, but you can have up to X amount to field a full team.

Or it could just be 2 WAG/MAG total and I’m reading too much into the wording lol.

Either seems fine really. Any federation who has people willing and wants them to get experience of the format can go the extra mile, but bare minimum is also ok given that it's so early in the season. I think it'd be a good idea to build in flexibility.

 

[Passion]

While on the subject of Mixed Team events, this is in the FIG's December 2025 bulletin

Page 34

Page 35

FIG Bulletin 269 Corrected

www.gymnastics.sport

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Interesting update.

Team of 3 of each sex but with 2 counting scores is one the one hand a good balance, but on the other hand does rule out some potential big names. If that rule had been in place for 2024, Brazil and Belgium could potentially have made the final. The likes of France, Hungary and Romania couldn't. They have to weigh up wanting the final to be the highest quality possible v making sure they have enough teams able to qualify.

On the point about NOCs nominating which scores rather than it being the top 2, it reads to me like what they mean there is an NOC designating the lineup after qualifications? So for example if the US in Paris had decided they wanted to sit Simone out, they couldn't use any of her scores to qualify to the mixed final. But instead would have to choose which 2 or 3 athletes they wanted to use in the final and those would be the qualifying scores. If so, sounds like that could get complex if someone gets injured between qualifications and the mixed TF.

 

[irichluck21]

Unnecessary and overly complicated.

How many teams will be able to fill a mixed team?

Host country will be fine because its the US.

In the future if this sticks, do host countries get 3 WAG and 3 MAG if they don't field a full team?

Why bother to have a qualifying? I would rather the countries themselves know ahead of time if they have qualified. For example, the Mixed Team in Figure Skating is already decided.

10 countries are qualified. 5 countries (USA, Italy, Canada, Georgia, China) have all 4 disciplines qualified. 5 countries qualified and will be allowed to bring additional team members to compete in the team event only. Japan-ice dance, France-pairs, Great Britain-men, South Korea- pairs, Poland-ice dance.

In 2024, 7 countries qualified MAG and WAG teams: Canada, China, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, USA, Netherlands. 3 countries had a full team of 5 plus 3 individuals. South Korea had 5 WAG and 3 MAG, Germany had 5 MAG and 3 WAG, Spain had 5 MAG and 3 WAG.

So that could have easily been the 10 teams for the mixed team. Or they keep it to the 7 countries that qualified full teams in both disciplines.
I guess it would depend on how many full teams qualified.

FIG cannot allocate more spots for mixed team, unless they pulled some of the individual spots, which I don't see them doing unless its for teams ranked 13-15. Which is possible given that Spain, Germany, Hungary all had 3 non-nominative for WAG and so did Belgium, South Korea, and Brazil for MAG. They could hold those spots for the next closest teams to qualify?

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

There won't be more Olympic spots allocated specifically for mixed team competitors. It's pretty obviously an attempt to get more events and coverage out of the existing athlete quotient.

So it seems there are multiple options here.

They could say only countries qualifying a full team can enter. This is simple but also risky because you get so little notice of how many there'll be, and also the easiest number is probably 8 which often doesn't happen. It didn't in 2024 or 2021.

The other extreme is use the Euros format, ie only one MAG and one WAG score. This makes the pool as wide as it can be, open to 24 countries in Paris, but it's also flexible in that a country could potentially be allowed to use multiple athletes if they want.

Then the middle ground is either 2 or 3 counting scores, with anything from 2 to 5 athletes allowed to be used.

I tend towards the third choice, I think. Two counting scores feels like the best compromise.

 

[irichluck21]

So with two scores counting per round, then we would have had 10 teams eligible in Paris. With 5 women up for grabs for the top 7 and South Korea then 3 for Spain and Germany, with those teams having 5 men available.

1. Canada
2. China
3. Great Britain
4. Italy
5. Japan
6. Netherlands
7. USA
8. South Korea
9. Spain
10. Germany

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

So with two scores counting per round, then we would have had 10 teams eligible in Paris. With 5 women up for grabs for the top 7 and South Korea then 3 for Spain and Germany, with those teams having 5 men available.

1. Canada
2. China
3. Great Britain
4. Italy
5. Japan
6. Netherlands
7. USA
8. South Korea
9. Spain
10. Germany

If only 2 scores were needed per round, surely Brazil and Belgium would be on the list as well? The latter had 2 men and 5 women, the former 3 men and 2 women. I know Derwael didn't do AA so they didn't have 2 full WAG scores, but they'd still have been eligible to attempt qualifying had they wished.