MyKayla Skinner Olympic participation

[Doug1233]

Wow next years NCAAs are gonna be amazing!

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

I broadly agree with Irich, but wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one or two of this generation stick around longer. Someone will probably get a lot of media attention in Tokyo and go pro, and also Jade in particular seems to have the sort of setup going where she might dip in and out.

Forster’s limitations are going to become a lot more obvious next quad though. Without the Simone cushion.

 

[audie83]

I think Morgan is shooting for one more Worlds.

Two U.S. Gymnastics Standouts Sign With Gators

 

[irichluck21]

That’s also 2 years old and before Covid hit and the Olympics were postponed.

Not to say she won’t go for Worlds this year, but if she makes the Olympics I don’t see her doing Olympics, Worlds, and then NCAA in the fall.
If she goes pro I could also see her skipping Worlds and doing Biles’ tour.

 

[rue_des_plantes]

I’ve given up trying to read the tea leaves on Hurd. On one hand, headlining Simone’s tour and unnecessarily “committing” to 2021 Worlds in 2019 (all Florida needed her to do was miss 2020-2021, not summer and fall of 2021-2022) make it look like she’s going pro if she makes Tokyo. She, Lee, and Carey are the only non-Simone medal winners from the quad, and Hurd seems to slowly get better each year. I could see Carey go pro, too, if only because there will always be room for her on US teams with Simone and Skinner gone, and she seems to learn new skills pretty effortlessly. Nothing is scary to watch, even if her presentation is ghastly.

On the other hand, Hurd’s elbow is like a yearly surgery at this point, so what does that bode more poorly for: competing easier routines every week or every other week in NCAA for a few months, including the option to not do VT/UB (not ideal for UB, but Florida can absorb that), or being relevant in US elite where her ticket is necessarily good AA and UB? Hmm. I can’t imagine elite UB and VT treating her elbow much better, but you never know.

 

[QuietColours]

Hurd’s elbow seems to be mostly bothered by absorbing the impact of tumbling–which is why we see it most in her vault and why her beam is entirely hands-free except for the round off before her dismount. I bet dealing with unusually hard floors hits her especially hard. Bars have never seemed nearly as affected beyond surgery recovery. I honestly more wonder if she’d give up floor in college first.

 

[irichluck21]

She could give up FX in college but it might not be necessary. She could easily construct a near hands free routine to fulfill the NCAA requirements. Punch front 2/1, Punch Front layout to front full to stag, Punch front layout to rudi could meet requirements with specific leaps and turns added in.

 

[audie83]

Yeah, I know it’s an old pre-covid article, but for now, she hasn’t stated that she isn’t going to go for Worlds. She’s still listed as starting in 2022. And I can totally see her going for Worlds, especially if she doesn’t make the Olympic team.

 

[Doug1233]

*when she doesn’t make it.

I wonder what the deal is with alternates. Will the alternates automatically go on the Worlds team? Will anyone be allowed to do BOTH?

 

[RedBirdie]

You’re assuming a level for thoughtfulness and advanced planning that USAG has exhibited…never.

 

[rue_des_plantes]

Considering all the variables, I wouldn’t guarantee the Tokyo alternates anything. There probably won’t be too much water between +1 vs. alternates vs. didn’t make the team. Worlds is almost 3 months later, and it’s a different competition format. Many alternates end up doing the tour anyway, and who knows where everybody’s bodies and minds will be after peaking for Trials/OG?

There’s a selection camp scheduled at the end of September, and it’s the first senior camp (or any kind of “competition,” for that matter) after Tokyo. The easiest thing is for the selection committee to let the chips fall where they may there and finalize the team after PT.

 

[cats]

Worlds this year is going to be one of the most fun meets ever. I’m just as excited for it as I was for the Olympics. The stakes are both low and high!

I hope Brazil sends an A team and they have an amazing result.

 

[rue_des_plantes]

Great point about impact. She could “Bluetooth” NCAA BB okay. FX is possible, but she’d have to do something weird like running front 2/1 and FLO-front full-front tuck or FLO-FLO 1/2-back laystep (archaic “3 skill acro line” req they hit Bryant with). She shouldn’t ever be vaulting in NCAA, but Florida is a hot mess there more often than not.

I was told some skills bothered her elbow on UB, but that was awhile ago and things might have changed with her last recovery and newer composition. She says the Nabieva is still in the mix, which is promising.

 

[audie83]

No, IF she doesn’t make it! No one knows what’s going to happen at Trials.

 

[Doug1233]

I mean sure. Lily Lipeat might make the Olympic team too.

 

[irichluck21]

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Is Hurd way more out of contention than I’ve been thinking? For quite some time now I’ve been anticipating a team of Biles, Lee, Hurd, and McCallum

 

[Doug1233]

I have too. I think Biles and Lee, healthy, are locks. Grace, with a Cheng, IMO is also a lock.

That 4th AA gymnast could really be one of about 5 or 6 gymnasts. An AAer who is particularly good on bars and beam. I think this rules out Chiles. Apparently Leanne Wong has been working a beam routine with a D of like 7.2 (but obviously, this is in Al Fong’s imagination until it actually gets credit). Wong always had a great bars too (if she could connect everything and not be so inconsistent). Eaker, with an improved bars set, could also fill this role. Obviously, Riley too. McClain also has a shot here. And then there’s Morgan. IMO, the leader for this spot. But if she starts falling on her Toe Ons, and starts trying (incomprehensibly!!) to be throwing DLOs in her third line, she could get overtaken by any of the aforementioned.

As we stand (which is SO early that any opinions at this stage are almost meaningless), my team is Simone, Sunisa and Grace, and then the gymnast with the top two combined UB/BB scores, across both days of Nationals and Trials, of Hurd, McClain, McCusker, Wong, Eaker and Chiles. We know they can all do a DTY and they all have a decent back-up floor. For me, their worth is in the consistency of their UB/BB.

 

[RichardL]

That’s my team, too, but we know it’s going to be the top four AAers, TF line-ups be damned. And among the UB/BB contenders for the fourth spot that you mention, my money is on Hurd to be the most consistent across the two days of Trials.

The only weak spot for that team, though, is putting up a relatively mediocre DTY between either Hurd or Lee. The other events are all more than covered by three potential EF medalists on each event.

 

[irichluck21]

They could take the top 4 AAers and not have Simone and quite easily win team gold.