US Classic

It’s the big one. Simone’s return. Suni’s qualification journey. Chiles, Carey, Wong, Blakely, DiCello. Let’s get into it.

From the first session, we unofficially have Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos in the lead with 56.200, but officially it’s Josc Roberson with 54.050. Biles will be expected to take the top total here, though DJDS’s score should hold up in 2nd place, especially given the various event scratches.

As of right now, Carey is listed for just beam, Chiles is listed for bars and beam, and Lee and Blakely are listed for VT/UB/BB. Biles, Wong, DiCello, and Sumanasekera are still in the AA, along with Mueller, Jong, Caylor, Neal, Milton, Disidore, Cho, and Lowe.

No Eiffel Tower to lead off this session. Simone is the Eiffel Tower now.

“Tokyo Olympics, didn’t go as planned, we’ll talk about it.” I’m sure we will.

“No matter how old you are.” Simone’s Cane 2024.

“Twisties” Count: 1, no 2, no 3, no 4. We’re on four. Now 5.

Rotation 1

Blakely – VT – DTY, good chest up finish, fairly large bounce back, solid

Blakely VT 2 – ro 1/2 on lay 1/2 – pretty clear pike at the end, short landing and a lunge forward. Won’t be a huge number there but a good first vault. Which is currently on the live scores as a 0.000. Fun fun.

OK, who is doing the Simone Closeup time count?

Biles – UB – weiler 1/2 to maloney to giant full to piked tkatchev to pak, hit solidly – van leeuwen, clean – short hs on high – toe full gets full crazy in the legs, holds onto it, FTDT is comfortable. Excellent except for the staddle-arch toe full but did very well to save it. Through the first one.

It’s 14.100 for Blakely’s first vault. 12.650 for vault 2.

Biles goes 14.000 with an 8.000 E.

Wong – UB – clear hip 1/2, late into jaeger, solid – toe full to bhardwaj, hit – maloney to pak, smooth, clean – van leeuwen, legs together well – short cast on high – DLO, high, slide back. Nice. Some late vertical positions throughout but didn’t give away much else.

There’s also a sparkle bow on the back of her leo.

Zeiss did Y1.5 on vault, pace forward, some knees. 13.300.

13.750 for Wong, 8.050 E score.

We did not see DiCello on beam but her score was 13.200, which is a good start for her score aims.

Lincoln goes 14.150 on vault for her DTY.

Sumanasekera – UB – good first hs – toe full, gets hung up after 1/2 turn and immediately comes off.

WCC + Toe Full = no

Restarts with toe full, hit – maloney to pak, legs together – van leeuwen, leg crossing – short hs on high – stalder – giant 1/2 – front giant to jaeger, tight position but hit – giant 1/2 – FTDT, chest down, small hop. Pretty good for her on the resumption.

Lee – BB – wolf triple is nice – aerial to split to bhs, good rhythm in connection – switch to switch 1/2 to split ring jump, also strong – side aerial to loso loso is right on, secure, corrected a little in the air, didn’t give away a check – switch ring, small arm adjustment – gainer tuck full. Excellent.

Who needs kidneys? Overrated.

11.550 for Sumanasekera on bars.

Suni crying might be defeating Simone’s closeup count. Huge battle today.

A casual 14.500 with a 6.2 D score for Suni. Basically could just do a Yurchenko timer now if she wanted to.

Score has come up for Chiles, 13.900 on bars with an 8.2 E. Presumably we’ll see that in a replay, but we had important Suni Tears to do at that moment.

We see Chloe Cho fall on a loso as we return from commercial. A second fall on a side somi behind John as we talk about NIL.

Now we’re seeing Chiles on bars – toe full – piked tkatchev to pak is clean – maloney to gienger, solid – blind to piked jaeger, feet but hit – bail, just a tad short – FTDT, holds onto landing with leg separation. Some short handstands but solid. Broke the WCC toe full curse.

Lovvvvvveeee going to commercial and then coming back for one replay routine and then going back to commercial.

Lee’s 14.500 on beam has her in first place in this session after the first rotation, but Biles’ 14.000 on bars has her in first among those who are competing AA today.

Rotation 2

We see Katelyn Jong warming up a loso on the mat next to beam and get her foot caught between the mats. Very gymnast.

Biles – BB – switch mount to switch 1/2 to back pike, connected, small slide back on back pike – wolf triple, nice – aerial to split to straddle, secure – bhs loso loso, also right on – side aerial, holds onto it, chest down and an arm wave correction – bhs bhs FTDT, bounce back and then another little step.

Another solid one. Similar to bars in that she had One Weird Skill and the rest was excellent.

Simone’s Water Bottle getting more screen time than Kayla DiCello.

14.800 for Biles. Gets her full 6.5 D, 8.3 E score.

13.150 for DiCello on FX.

Wong – BB – wolf jump full, arm wave, ever so slightly under – side aerial, small step forward – switch to wolf, lovely – bhs loso, wobble, step back and turn to the side – L turn, nice, small pause before full turn – switch ring, hit – side somi, no trouble – aerial to split jump to straddle, gets the combo – tried the 2.5 dismount, lands under rotated and deep and a large, large bound forward, manages to not fall somehow.

12.700

A look back on the DiCello floor – FTDT, secure, just small movement, chest forward – wolf triple, does pull around all three, a slight adventure with some leaning and arms – split jump full – back 1.5 to front full, stuck, some knees – switch ring to split leap full, hit – double pike, hop back, some chest position. Fine.

Sumanasekera – BB – candle mount, good vertical – bhs bhs lay 2 feet, secure – aerial, short, corrects with arm wave – split ring, pause before korbut, hit skills but checking to break connections – switch to switch 1/2, nice – side aerial, again slow before her jumps – bhs bhs doubel pike, chest down, step forward. Stays on, a bit tentative, with checks and lost connection bonus.

Blakely – UB – stalder 1/2 to piked jaeger, hit – stalder tkatchev piked to pak, good phythm – toe full, nice finish to van leeuwen, small leg break – toe 1/2 to front giant to double front 1/2 out, step back. Really good.

Cecile and Jordan doing vomit miming.

13.500 for Sumanasekera. Good but she needs 14s there.

Chiles – BB – bhs loso loso, bigggg save, long wait with leg up and off line but pulls it back – side somi, some check – switch to to switch 1/2, well under split on switch 1/2 – side aerial, wobble – sissone to wolf – switch side is hit – double pike, bounce back. Not all the way there yet, but a stay on.

Blakely’s bars went 14.350, another very nice number.

12.800 for Chiles on beam.

Neal – FX – wolf double, around – double y attempt, drops leg early – double arabian, very nice landing – double pike, larger bounce back – double l turn – leg up hop full solid position – 2.5, crossover step – split jump full – double tuck, bounce back. If you do enough dance elements, it doesn’t matter so much if one of your turns is short. But with 10 count-able elements in that routine, it’s packed with some that are just there for deductions.

12.200

Jong – BB – switch mount, hits it – back tuck full, pulls it out, chest down, leg up wobble – side aerial, secure, flexed feet – standing loso loso, step back, turn to the side, another large wobble but stays on – front tuck, secure – wolf double, hit – switch to pike jump, good amplitude on pike jump – double pike, head below hips, but secure.

12.950

After 2:Biles – 28.800Blakely – 28.450 (no AA)Chiles – 26.700 (no AA)Jong – 26.700Mueller – 26.700

So far, the change in my thinking at this event so far regards Blakely moving up in my worlds team estimation. Going to beam now, where a hit for 14 would increase that further.

Jordan dancing next to Simone being like, “no” is my whole world.

Rotation 3

Lee – VT – solid, pretty FTY, bounce back, not the most distance, easy, comfortable.

She has the score now, so we’ll see whether she goes for bars in the final rotation. 13.500 for Lee, 28.000 two-event score.

IS THAT BETTER THAN 26.400????

Score is up for Wong on floor at 13.500 – wolf double, around – double double is nice, small shuffle – DLO, hit, bounce back – leg up hop full, good position – switch 1/2, hit – double l turn, leg drops below horizontal at times – back 1/2 to front full, solid landing – double pike, some feet, small hop back – popa, good

Sam making sure we know there’s NO BAD BLOOD between Leanne and GAGE. Now, I don’t know that she was asked to say that, but it would be very typical of elite coaches to want to make sure everyone knows that leaving was NORMAL REASONS and make sure that gets said on TV.

DiCello – VT – still sticking with the yfull, hop back, some pike

Jong – FX – double double, hit, bounce back, somewhat deep – FTDT, another medium bounce – leg up hop full – split full, around, same with the wolf double – back 1.5 to front full, step – double pike, chest down bounce back. Nothing major given away there.

Sam being like, “Yeah we used to phone in our dumbass choreography”

13.050 for Jong on floor.

Carey – BB – forward roll mount, good – aerial to split jump to korbut, foot on split jump, connected – bhs loso, large break, leg up wobble, not bad on the bhs position – straight jump full from side, hits it, arm wave – split jump 1/2 from side – switch to switch 1/2, under, hits straddle – side aerial, feet, solid – bhs bhs double pike, stuck landing, legs apart. Not as solid as her usual, but fine.

Biles – FX – DLO 1/1, easy peasy, kind of large bounce back – front full through to double double, comfortable, hop forward – wolf double, hit – switch to split leap 1.5, looks like she pulled it around – DLO 1/2, no connection into stag, was slightly off on landing – switch full, hit – DLO, small hop. Nice. Actually a higher level on floor than her usual first routine of the year, where we often see a big OOB or an odd error.

Huge number coming.

14.900 for Biles with a 6.8 D score.

Rotation over, we’ll wait for our replay of Skye’s beam (made the huge mistake of being up at the same time as Simone), but her score is in with a 14.300. She’s not messing around.

I feel like they thought they were going to get a shot of Simone warming up the double pike there, but it was just a timer.

New record: Returning from commercial for a Simone Yurchenko timer and then back to commercial.

Jade went 13.000 on beam, which she’ll definitely take for a large error routine.

Suni has indeed scratched bars after getting her two-event score, which now allows her to petition for the AA at nationals.

Sumanasekera 14.150 on vault, finishes with a 52.100 AA. Somewhat shaky day for her.

Nice AA score for Disidore, who we did not see in the broadcast, going 52.800.

Meanwhile Lincoln went 14.000 on floor. Note that.

Biles – VT – LOLLLLLL excellent landing on the Yurchenko double pike, much better than podium training, hop to the side.

15.400 for the vault. And a 6.4 D, which is surprising. They gave it 6.6 last time, and all the vaults went down 0.4 in the intervening years. Wonder if they got that info from the WTC or were just riffing here.

ND 0.1 for OOB and 0.5 for Laurent.

Anyway 59.100. Is it good?

We had to talk about this forever, so anyway Wong went 14.150 on vault, which will put her on 54.100 AA, ahead of Roberson, which is a good result for her, even though she almost ate it on beam.

Kailya Lincoln’s 41.100 3-event score is also a thing.

DiCello – UB – short first hs – toe 1/2 and hops off, exactly the same thing as Sumanasekera. Toe full problems today. stalder to stakder shap – Church is hit – piked jaeger,solid – pak, no connection out of it but hits the van leeuwen – FTDT, staggered legs but secure landing.

It’s 12.200 here, but she still goes 51.950 AA, which is plenty for making championships.

V salty that we didn’t get to see Blakely’s beam, but

FINAL1. Biles – 59.1002. De Jesus Dos Santos – 56.2003. Wong – 54.1004. Roberson – 54.0505. Matthews – 53.550

Simone interview time. 59.100 feels pretty good.