British WAG (and MAG!) talk

[ArnoldRimmer]

Thanks.

It’s looking like peak chaos, anyway. Becky has absolutely given them a reason, but presumably Jen hasn’t put herself forward for selection so they can’t do the default five thing. BG really have no depth.

 

[irichluck21]

I’d say Jess’ is worth it, just needs to compete it more. It will help her in AA and vault final, but the others it’s not worth the risk

Amanars, unless done like Biles, Maroney, or Andrade are really not worth the risk.

 

[MaryClare]

The lack of depth means they are more likely to take a chance on someone like Ruby Evans, than go for Becky again

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I wondered the same thing.

And of course GB do have the luxury of thinking about the future as well, being qualified for Paris already.

 

[Gymfan93]

Jennifer Gadirova statement re not being at trials. Seems still injured, hope we can see her back soon

 

[RAFIKI]

Having qualified to Paris I was hoping that this year would be spent on upgrades. GB Amanar rumours have been swirling since 2015 (Tinkler, Ellie) and we’ve seen Kinsella training videos so I’m glad some are finally ready for competition.

I think these upgrades do make sense. Kinsella has been doing the DTY a long time. It’s improved immensely over the years but does seem to have plateaued recently and we’ve never seen her properly stick it. The twisting form in her training video looked good and Kinsella improves a little bit each time she competes (with the exception of her annual meltdown) so a year to get comfortable competing the Amanar is sensible. Evans needs something extra to break in to teams and, as others have said, a Cheng can help Gadirova squeeze more marks out in the AA. Jessica’s DTY has looked similar since 2021 Euros, great technique and height, always with the same jump back. I’m looking forward to seeing her Cheng.

The designated selection events for worlds are:

World Championships, 29th October-6th November 2022
European Championships, August 2022
FIG World Cup events, 23rd February-12th March 2023
WTC British Qualifier, 4th February 2023
Home Nations Championships in Feb-March 2023
British Championships 2023
European Championships 7th-16th April 2023
WAG Competition – Lilleshall– August 24th-27th 2023

As with the men they are going quite far back. Becky has a Euros silver and national title to weigh against that 10.45. Neither Ruby nor Stickler made a massive case here and Downie has an EF chance so what about:

Gadirova
Kinsella
Achampong
Downie
Fenton

TF would be
VT: Kinsella/Achampong/Gadirova
UB: Gadirova or GMF/ Kinsella/Downie GMF has been overtaken by Kinsella and Gadirova is now also right up there. You might want to give her a rest in TF though.
BB: Achampong/Kinsella/Gadirova
FX: Achampong or GMF/Kinsella/Gadirova Curious to see OA’s new floor and if her endurance is better.

Something else to note is that the current Lilleshall selection event is due to end tomorrow. There could be another set of scores to come.

It’s been a long time since Euros so I hope some of these disasters are just brushing off the competition rust. FWIW last year GMF fell twice from beam and stumbled badly on her dismount at the pre-worlds trimeet against Sweden and Wales. A few weeks later she successfully competed beam in the worlds TF.

 

[irichluck21]

They might wanna send Evans to get experience.

 

[RAFIKI]

The performance targets for worlds are:

• 2-5 medals
• Team, top 5 placing
• All Around, 2 gymnasts achieving a top 12 placing
• Apparatus Finals, 3 gymnasts achieving apparatus finals
• Apparatus Finals, 2 medals

 

[RAFIKI]

True. That’s the other side of being qualified already, you could send people (Evans/Stacey/Stickler?) for experience without much risk.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Weird that the target is 2-5 medals, including 2 from apparatus finals. Does that mean another team silver and an AA medal would be a problem but two EF bronzes wouldn’t? I doubt it, but its oddly written if so. I can’t actually see them prioritising EFs.

 

[RAFIKI]

I altered the formatting a bit, sorry if it was misleading. This is how it was written:

 

[rlayt]

Do you think their goals are reasonable?

 

[RAFIKI]

Team: yes, would be very disappointing if they finished below 5th.

AA: yes, 3rd and 4th last year so without big misses top 12 is very doable even in a deeper pre-Olympic year field. Course there’s always the Euros scenario of a quals miss resulting in a stronger gymnast being two-pered out.

EF: much tougher, Gadirova VT/FX, Downie UB, Kinsella/Gadirova/Achampong BB are all possible finalists and even medalists depending on the day (especially the type of beam final!). Also very possible for them all to hit in EF and be out scored by three or more gymnasts.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

I hate to be that person, but I don’t think Downie could win a medal in EF. Everyone would need to implode, unless she has major upgrades. Gadirova VT is also a fringe chance imo

 

[makam]

Outside chance on vault (i think everyone thinks Simone and Rebeca are most likely to go 1 and 2), but we haven’t seen much from Moreno, Yeo can be inconsistent, and who even knows who else the US is bringing. Bronze feels possible for her but they definitely shouldn’t be banking on it.

2-5…five? Where did they pick that number from? Kinda unnecessary pressure/expectation on Alice and Jess because do they think China isn’t going to show up and Simone is going to withdraw again? Other than the US, when was the last time a WAG team got 5 medals at one event? (Answer: 2011. Russia got 5 and China got 6)

 

[gymfan]

1 medal on vault (Jess Gadirova)
1 medal on bars (Downie)
2 medals on beam (Chaos can always happen)
1 medal on floor (Jess Gadirova)

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

It’s possible they set the targets before knowing about Simone’s return.

But even then, it’s a weird set of goals. It undersells GB in the team and AA. I’d expect them to be pretty disappointed if they end up coming 5th in TFs. With Russia still out, China splitting their first team and D’Amato injured again, they’re bound to have their eye on at least bronze, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t get it. Two gymnasts top 12 AA is building in room for both of them to splat something. While last year probably isn’t replicable, I’d have expected they would aim for a top 5 or 6 finish. And then they skew the medal target towards EFs.

If we took the targets at their word, it actually reads like these were written to give them an excuse for taking Becky, since even as a pretty long shot on bars she clearly has a much better chance than anyone else vying for the 5th spot. But I really doubt that’s what this is. And two EF medals is a longer shot than a TF bronze.

 

[gymfan]

I can see the logic from the committee’s expectation. Both Ondine and Jess Gadirova scored no less than 13.7 in the last world championship. The gold beam score was 13.6. So there is a possibility for two beam medals, but the possibility isn’t high.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

There’s a possibility. Could definitely happen. It’s just a very different approach to the conservatism of the TF and AA targets. It also means repeating 2022’s medals wouldn’t meet the target, and yet that was viewed as a really successful championship for GB WAG.

 

[MaryClare]

Gadirova VT is also a fringe chance imo

Nearly every vaulter is fighting for bronze behind Simone and Rebeca