Day 1 of the 2015 P&G USA Men's Gymnastics Championships marked the halfway point for Sam Mikulak's quest to win his third U.S. title. His first day performance was vintage Sam, hitting the gaudy 15 mark on five out of six events. He almost became the first American gymnast since John Orozco (2012) to post six scores of 15 or better. Mikulak (92.00) has a sizable lead over current runner-up Donnell Whittenburg (89.65). Perhaps a little surprising was his top score on [...more]
By Shelli Koszdin - (one gymnastics fan)
The story of the 2015 version of the U.S. Men’s National Gymnastics Championships starts this Friday, August 14th, and will end with the crowning of an All Around champion, the selection of the U.S. National Team, and the selection of the team that will represent the United States at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. What follows is a guess about how these stories will turn out based on looking at the numbers and watching many of the performances. This meet is not just about Glasgow, but also an opportunity for the best gymnasts in the United States to showcase [...more]
The old guard in U.S. men's gymnastics is alive and well. Four out of the top five all-around finishers at the U.S. Qualifier were crafty veterans. 2012 Olympian Danell Leyva, two-time Olympian Jonathan Horton and fellow veterans Chris Brooks and Brandon Wynn put up some impressive numbers. Leyva had the top scores on three events (FX-15.40, PB-16.10, HB-15.45), while Brooks launched an incredible early scoring rampage [...more]
Ukrainian born gymnasts dominated the team finals at the 1st European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, but the Ukrainian team itself finished second. Former Ukrainian Nikolai Kuksenkov competed for first place finisher Russia, and former Ukrainians Oleg Stepko and Petro Paknyuk competed for third place finisher Azerbaijan. Belarus finished fourth. If Putin ever gets all these countries [...more]
The main event last week was the Chinese Championships in Fuzhou, which concluded on June 4th.
The All Around Championship was won by Deng Shudi (89.5), with Zhou Shixiong second (89.3) and Lin Chao pan third (88.7). These scores are a bit inflated, as they include stick bonus. On the other hand, Chinese domestic scoring has a reputation of being harsh. Either way, it looks as if Deng Shudi at least will be [...more]
Jackson Payne won the Canadian Men’s National All Around Championships (one year after rejoining the Canadian National Team and after two years away from the sport due to a stint as a Mormon missionary) with a score of 83.5. Payne also won the All Around title four years ago. Future Minnesota Gopher Justin Karstadt [...more]
Kohei Uchimura (and especially those chasing him) may have a bit more competition in Glasgow from an unexpected place - Cuba. Manrique Larduet made a huge statement this weekend at the Anadia World Cup in Portugal, winning floor, vault, and high bar and finishing second in still rings and parallel bars. And that’s not all - Larduet competed in all six events for a cumulative D score of [...more]
The final day of the 2015 JO Nationals Men's Gymnastics Championships featured the Levels 8 and 9 Junior Elite and JO competition. Nikita Bolotsky was gunning for his second straight Level 9 all-around title but fell a point short. Vitaly Guimaraes, last year's runner-up to Bolotsky, turned the tables using top 5 scores on five events to seal the win. Bolotsky, despite winning event titles on [...more]
Four Level 10 junior elite all-around champions were crowned at the 2015 JO Nationals. Yul Moldauer won his second career JO Nationals all-around title, and also captured individual titles on four events (FX,SR,VT,PB). Moldauer won his first JO title back in 2010 (Level 9). This year he did it in a rather slim field for his age group (18), but for added measure, both his optional and technical sequences scores were easily the weekend's best among all the age groups. The icing on the cake was provided when Moldauer [...more]
The second day the 2015 Men's JO Nationals featured three sessions of combined Level 8 and 9 competition. The JO Elites went at it in the evening session. Last year's Level 9 (13) champ Nikita Bolotsky (82.70) is sitting in 3rd place behind last year's runner-up Vitaly Guimaraes (84.15) and David Pochinka (82.85). Guimaraes had four top 5 event finishes, including the day's top score on VT (14.10), giving him a slim lead going into Saturday's [...more]
