US Nationals WAG Day 2

[YurchenkoLoop]

You think? She looks absolutely raggedy on floor and Chiles and Jones have far superior DTYs. Hopefully Jade has her big vaults back soon.

 

[glamafonic]

That’s why I said with her full difficulty. I agree she looked bad this week, but she downgraded because she tweaked her ankle at Classics.

Now if she shows up at Trials not really looking any better it’ll be a moot point.

 

[cats]

Current Skinner is a better vaulter than anything remotely recent out of Jade.

She could really have a decent floor (tumbling wise) if she did Silivas, full in, front to triple, and maybe 1.5 to double full like she did at Utah. Her twisting and twisting double tucks are both pretty clean, but the Moors burns up her energy in addition to being a mess.

 

[Doug1233]

This was sooo clean except for that crazy late cast half.

 

[Doug1233]

World AA Champions!!

 

[gold]

I think there would be less outrage over Morgan getting cut if everyone and their mom hadn’t gotten selected for Trials. The gymnast who placed 17th out of 23 competitors and has done absolutely nothing for Team USA gets to go to Olympic Trials, but the gymnast who won the last American Cup (that was the last real international competition for the US women since the pandemic, correct?) and has a fairly extensive international resume in this quad doesn’t get to go? That doesn’t feel right. This isn’t a reputation thing, this is the fact that Morgan has more talent and is training better skills/routines than several of the gymnasts who got selected. She is certainly not less likely to make the Olympic team than Addison Fatta (who I’m not sure Tom could even pick out of a lineup, seriously who is she?).

Yes, Morgan really struggled this weekend, but she was okay at Classics and is dealing with a serious injury situation that requires proper pacing. Clearly she needs more time, and I think she has earned that time to prove she’s at least worthy of competing at Trials. This kind of feels like a slap in the face. She deserves a Trials berth as a thank you for everything she’s done for Team USA this quad. What a way to have your career end; she was basically just dismissed as if she were some Joe Schmoe. Disappointing.

Did it hurt anyone to have Nastia at 2012 Trials? Didn’t Gabby Douglas fall off beam 3 times at Nationals the year before winning the Olympics? Beam is hard and sometimes it’s a disaster even if you’re good. These gymnasts have hardly competed since the pandemic and are now in the Olympic pressure cooker. Morgan was probably feeling a lot more pressure tonight than, say, Addison Fatta. I feel pretty strongly she deserves another chance (like just about everyone else is getting whether they’re seriously in the running for the Olympic team or not). She deserves to finish her career on her own terms.

 

[ucrgirl]

Yay to day 1 Memel
Nay to day 2 Memmel

I think she will improve a lot in 3 weeks but she’s not in the running for the Olympic team and probably didn’t do enough to merit a trials invite unless you take everyone.

 

[cats]

The individual E scores are hiding in the myusagym page.

Kind of interesting; looks like one judge took off for Suni’s foot brush on bars, Wong has a lot of spread in her scores (.5 on bars, .7 on beam, .6 on floor), and someone thought Eaker’s vault was worth a 9.4 (that judge placed Eaker 4th!).

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

In Nichols’ defense, the WWGym judging squad had her in 4th AA at Trials. And that might’ve been unanimous.

 

[Kittentoes]

Don’t forget, Mykyla and Emily were the top two at International Gymnix last year. Same time as AmCup. I’m not counting that Friendship and Solidarity thing as a real event. It was less about gymnastics and more about seeing if anyone got Covid.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

I’ve been thinking of it for so long but it was premature to say prior to these last two meets–the camaraderie of a team with Biles and Chiles as well as Carey and McCusker (specialists) and Lee and McCallum is too much. Would this be the US’s oldest Olympic team ever, by average age?

 

[ucrgirl]

The amount of twitter outrage re Morgan seems disproportionate given her performances and injury status. Even if she gets to trials and hits eight routines you wouldn’t take her to Tokyo.

Twitter outrage generally seems disproportionate about things. I can see an argument for giving Morgan 3 more weeks to train but it doesn’t seem likely to be enough time and granting her petition (or Laurie’s or chellsies) is not the obvious and only right decision.

I wish she hadn’t had such an in opportune injury but that is what happened.

(Also, I’m behind on gym news and am assuming that Laurie and chellsie may have petitioned and those petitions were not granted.)

 

[JaJa]

I thought of that too. Never forgot it and was never a fan because of it.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

When Chiles busts out her Amanar and Tsuk 2.0 at Trials it’ll be over for the girlies <3

 

[QuietColours]

It may be the insomnia talking at this point, but if Riley’s vault is looking like it did at Classics, minus the fluke injury, I can see taking her so Simone doesn’t have to do the all around in team finals.

Unless something catastrophic happens, Simone will compete the all around in Tokyo three, maybe four times depending on bars finals. Riley on the team would mean Simone would could have a break in TFs where she didn’t have to do everything and take some of the load off her to help prepare her to win another 3-4 medals for the US over the rest of the week. The DTY Riley showed would also be strong enough to give Suni’s Achilles a rest on vault. Chiles would still be doing the all around in team finals (I’d use her over McCusker on beam or floor), but she’s both healthy and won’t have quite the finals load Biles does.

It wouldn’t add much in points to the team final, but I’m not sure a few tenths are needed and it might be good for the overall medal count.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

The comparisons between 2012 Nastia and 2021 Morgan are even dafter than the ones between 2012 Nastia and 2012 Chellsie. Nastia had a usable, ready event. Morgan is nowhere close. I’m not saying they won’t accept her petition anyway, for publicity’s sake, but nothing she has done suggests she is going to be hitting any high level routines in the next few weeks. Whereas if she looked like Nastia did on beam in 2012 relative to the competition, she’d very much be in the conversation.

It will be very interesting to see what they do with petitions though. Personally I’d want to take anyone I thought could be in the running for either the Olympics or worlds, in these extraordinary circumstances.

I’m as entertained, horrified and enthralled as anyone by Skinner’s newfound relevance, but if they’re going to put Suni and her highly dubious lower limbs on the main team, particularly if the Achilles rumours are true, it would be better for the 4th person to be someone who is competitive on each event. It makes more sense to select with that in mind than choosing the person who maximises the team total, particularly when the US are so far ahead of the competition anyway.

Lastly, I think the reason people aren’t factoring Malabuyo in despite just having come 4th is because nobody actually believes a Texas Dreams gymnast is going to still be standing by competition time.

 

[Sasha]

I wouldn’t mind seeing Morgan’s petition (if she submitted one) approved, even just as a nod to her efforts and accomplishments over the past quad. Yes, it’s sentimental, but it would be nice to see her finish her elite career on a higher note, if she’s able.

 

[lovegymnasts]

Is this her plan or just a hope for you? I’ve been waiting for that amanar to come back. It was fierce.

 

[irichluck21]

She did have meltdowns all over the place and finished 23rd.
She can only blame herself.

 

[irichluck21]

Morgan stated previously that 2021 Worlds was a goal as well, which is why she initially deferred from Florida.
She has 0 chance at making the Olympic team at this point, might as well go back home, rest up, and resume training for Worlds…if that is her goal still. Otherwise, she should enjoy a break before heading to NCAA in a few months.