US National Championships, June 3-6, 2021

[Doug1233]

1000% let us pray to the Suni Gods of love and leg extension

 

[Angelika]

For a non-Marta regime there seems to be a lot of broken or near broken US Team contenders - even Simone will struggle to win the team comp working alongside 3 cripples!

Seriously though - there’s a lot of injured girls

 

[RedBirdie]

I suspect this is a sign that despite the change from Marta, individual coaches have not adjusted and are still overtraining their gymnasts and/or not giving injuries enough time to properly heal. You can’t changed an ingrained culture with a snap of the finger.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Probably. And this is also uncharted territory, if we’re being fair to everyone involved. It doesn’t surprise me that not everyone was able to manage an unscheduled year with so little notice. There were always bound to be winners and losers in that process.

 

[audie83]

Welp - I just checked, and NBCSN won’t be showing Day 1 Championships until 10:30pm in this neck of the woods (I’m visiting my parents in Central Florida). Just NHL scheduled when the gymnastics gets started. I’m so annoyed. I added NBCSN so I could watch it live.

 

[allaround]

Day 1 men’s is going to be “live” on Olympic channel and then on NBCSN later cause hockey.

 

[audie83]

Thanks allaround. Yeah, “Live”, NBC style. :roll_eyes:

Oh poop. I didn’t want to add the Olympic Channel till, well the Olympics.

 

[audie83]

And there were so many interruptions due to the pandemic. Many gymnastics clubs were closed for months due to the pandemic. Gymnasts had to at least try to stay in shape all on their own. Not every athlete was able to adapt.

 

[rlayt]

Imagine the fluff pieces we would have gotten this year after what’s been going on. If there were still fluffs.

 

[irichluck21]

Possibly, but I suspect the pandemic has a lot to do with it.
Missed training time due to Covid protocols, Covid, lockdown gym closures certainly didn’t help training for the Olympics. All that missed time probably led to overtraining because they were trying to play catch up.

 

[Doug1233]

I wonder why Memmel isn’t doing floor here.

I can only imagine that she’s been promised a spot at Trials. Why on earth would she have spent all year learning a new FX routine if she wasn’t even going to perform it. Do layouts.

I know she said she was shooting for Worlds but I think that’s a long shot. I’d put Shilese and all 3 GAGE girls on the Worlds team before Memmel.

 

[MRR]

Memmel stated in one of her youtube chats that floor was further behind where she wanted it to be.

I think it’s very smart not to do AA. It’s harder to justify her going to Trials if she’s among the last ranked AAers, but with three events (especially done well) it leaves suspense as to where she would rank. All the more reason to advance her.

Tom is liberal about accepting petitions and advancing gymnasts, relative to the old regime. USAG would be foolish not to put Memmel through to Trials given all the publicity she’s generated, not to mention how her career (formerly) ended.

 

[Passion]

She learned a floor routine because she expected to be ready sooner. She planned to go to camp, then she planned to go to Winter Cup, then she planned to go to American Classic. The ankle injury made it difficult to land tumbles on a hard floor, and she ran out of time.

She still got to show the routine in podium training, and like you said can use it to try to make Worlds at selection camp. She can also use it all of 2022. She didn’t come back just for the Olympics, and said she’ll continue going as long as it stays fun.

 

[rue_des_plantes]

It would also be foolish not to cast a very wide net for Trials in general. People are dropping, they’re recently inexperienced, COVID fucked everything up, and US Championships is not looking to be a consistent or optimal data point for many athletes.

Not a whole lot needs to happen to end up with a US team and non-nominative +1 that were previously unthinkable.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

To this I’d add, worlds is later in the year and it’s very plausible that the team that ends up going there will have derived significant benefit from competing at an Olympic Trials- big stage, work out a few kinks etc.

 

[rue_des_plantes]

Absolutely, whether they intend for it to be for Worlds or not. I wouldn’t be surprised if a decent portion of the Trials field realizes sometime this month that Worlds is more realistic for their bodies and training plans, like several other athletes have already said. Selection is the last weekend in September.

 

[irichluck21]

Not to mention after the ankle issue she’s been dealing with the sore hamstring, which really effects her on FX.

 

[dco1987]

Perhaps inaccurate- but someone commented on Andys post today and said they heard today Chellsie was doing AA…

It shouldn’t be too hard to justify trials though- Morgan’s only doing two events now and Riley bars. Doesn’t look like token spot now.

 

[irichluck21]

Memmel is on the start list for FX, so it’s likely she will end up scratching. unless she BAMFs it and does it anyway!

 

[dco1987]

Praying for a BAMF moment tbh. Living for this like it’s Christmas Eve.