MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

With the commencement of the US Classic is almost here. The junior session is literally two hours from now. Yesterday, I had every intention of posting my impressions from all the podium training videos... But other things got in the way, so instead of posting it yesterday, I'm posting it right now.

Next Saturday, 2016 Olympic Alternates Ashton Locklear and Ragan Smith will join  a field of 73 gymnasts to  compete at next Saturday's US Classic, the last chance opportunity to qualify for the P&G National Championships in August. For the senior athletes, this will serve as a stepping stone in the qualification process to earn a ticket to the World Championships, being held in Montreal, Canada.

Yesterday, Team USA announced the team competing at the Pacific Rim Championships this coming weekend. A miracle happened. #TeamBrenna is back. That's right, one Miss Brenna Dowell, Oklahoma Sooner, bars phenom is back. She was named to the team along with Worlds' teammates' Simone Biles, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman. Also named to the team: Ashton Locklear, 2014 Team World Champion and the most anticipated new senior of the year: Laurie Hernandez. Artwork via USA Gymnastics

After winning a team gold and another all-around championship title,  US gymnast Simone Biles continued her dominance at the World Championships in Nanning, China winning gold medals on the beam and the floor exercise. The event finals went as expected if not better for Simone, but for some, the results were definitely a surprise, and there were some upsets. 

After two days of competition, Team USA brought home four gold medals and a silver at the Pan American Championships. Day one, the men and the women brought home a team gold medal and MyKayla Skinner was a surprise all-around winner. Day two - the first day of event finals. MyKayla Skinner, no surprise there, she took home the gold medal for the vault.

Here is Ashton Locklear on the uneven bars from today's podium training from the P&G Championships.

Nationals are almost here! As USA Gymnastics so blatantly put it, it's like Christmastime for gymnastics fans. Two years out from the Olympics and the competition is just getting more fierce. This year, the world championships will have a team competition so there will be more places to compete for. So who is in and who is out? Who will prosper and who will falter? The Seniors: