Gabrielle Douglas and Jordyn Wieber earned the same score -- 60.65 -- on day one of women's nationals, held Friday night in St. Louis, Mo. Wieber showed why she is the reigning world and national all-around champ, putting together four solid sets and capping the night with a 15.25 on floor, the second highest score of the night on that event. Douglas lived up to her vast potential, nailing her always-awesome bar set, and standing up the Amanar vault which has given her trouble at the last couple of meets.
Alexandra Raisman ended in third all-around and had the highest floor score, while Kyla Ross was fourth, and earned the top mark of the day on bars.
If the Olympic team was picked tonight, I bet those would be four of the five spots on the squad. Spot #5, however, would be tricky to pick. Nastia Liukin, the 2008 Olympic all-around champ, botched her bars set but looked as smooth as ever on beam. Her WOGA teammate Rebecca Bross hit bars (earning the third highest score there) but fell on the Arabian double front beam dismount that seems to always be a risky skill for her. McKayla Maroney rocked her vault for the highest score of the night on any event (15.925), but struggled elsewhere, finishing seventh all-around.
Sarah Finnegan, just 15, scored the highest of anyone on beam, and showed gorgeous presentation on floor as well. Bridget Sloan, a 2008 Olympic veteran, competed all-around and put together an impressive bar set, with a difficulty score on par with the top bar workers right now. And Alicia Sacramone was back for the first time since an Achilles tear at 2011 worlds. She looked fantastic on both beam and vault, but the U.S. is looking pretty darn solid on both of those events already.
Night two will be an interesting battle among the different specialists. The top eight all-around automatically qualify to the Olympic Trials, as well as anyone else the selection committee chooses.
- Full results of US nationals (Visa Championships) Day One
- Routines shown during the broadcast
- The full webcast (Probably will only be up until the men's meet Saturday)
- Routines not shown during the broadcast
Pictured above: Jordyn Wieber; © Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images
Comments
A big congratulations to Miss Douglas for finishing so well last night.
It is truly great to see so many new talents soaring through the ranks this year.
I was happy to see Chellsie Memmel helping out at the event, by keeping time for the beam routines. Though, I will always miss her wonderful performances!
It really stinks how USA Gymnastics shafted her the way they did.
Anyway, I wonder if the other competitors are relieved that they’ll likely never again have to compete against Memmel, and now, of course, Shawn Johnson?
Thank you, Amy, for posting the results of this event.