MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

They say all good things must come to an end and today, the World Championships will wrap up with the second and final day of event finals. Yesterday, the 2015 World Champions all defended their titles. What will the event finals have in store for us today? We will see the men's vault, parallel bars and high bar and women's beam and floor. Refresh the page every few minutes to get the updates. Here are the start lists for today's events: Currently they're showing warm ups for men's vault and women's beam. Morgan is wearing the ombre raspberry leo with red white and blue sparkles that Jade wore yesterday. Ellie Black is wearing a cerulean leo with sparkles in the shape of a maple leaf. Mai is wearing the leo that has "Nippon" on it in sequins, because rhinestones are for peasants. Men's vault is first and the athletes are being introduced. I don't seen any flame throwers, which is a mistake. HA. They could have Spaceballs the Fla...

The excitement of the World Championships continues with the final day of event finals and the final day of the championships. With five packed finals, this day is sure to offer up some heartbreaks, tears and more tears and possibly some blood. Let's take a look at what's in store for the final day of event finals and the World Championships. The events for today are men's vault, parallel bars and high bar and women's balance beam and floor exercise. I'll start with the women's events since that's what I'm most familiar with.

She's back. The glorious, one and only Catalina Ponor has made her international return to competition for Romania. Catalina showed everyone she's still got it, and probably never lost it when she won the gold medal at this weekend's Doha Cup on her signature event, the balance beam.

It's Tuesday and that means it's time for NCAA Power Rankings. These aren't the official Road to Nationals rankings, rather they are stories and people that have caught my attention throughout the week, whether it be note-worthy events or a reaction to something. Last week, I talked about: # 1 LSU at Florida - Florida's home scoring benefits the visiting team, LSU # 2 Kelly Garrison's Oklahoma home meet commentary # 3 Maddie Gardiner is basically holding her whole team together # 4 Epic Beam Saves # 5 If Ebee Price Deserves a Traveling Group of Back-Up Dancers then Risa Perez deserves her own act in Vegas. # 6 Julia Ross of Denver FINALLY is Rewarded for her Glorious Beam Routine # 7 The Push to the Post Season Without further adieu, I present week 9 Power Rankings:

It's Tuesday and that means it's Power Rankings day. These are not the official rankings, but they are stories, people, topics and/or events that are interesting or worth talking about. To refresh, last week I talked about: #1 RQS #2 Southern Utah and Upsets in General #3 Joslyn Goings & Myia Hambrick and all underrated athletes #4 LSU's floor line-up #5 Ebee Price's back up dancers Without further pause, let's get into this week's NCAA power rankings,

Casey Jo has still got it. Casey Jo MacPherson, nee Magee is a former Arkansas gymnast and US national team member and since finishing her education, she has taken to coaching at Missouri.  Recently, after the team finished their beam workout, MacPherson showed her team in a special exhibition that she's still got it and "It" being gymnastics skills. MacPherson still has an impressive repertoire of skills.

With the Rio Olympics just around the corner, gymnasts are adding new skills to their repertoire that they may possibly add to their routines when the time comes. US gymnast, MyKayla Skinner is one such person. Skinner has been busy at work.

The beam has been a source of contention for many teams in the NCAA.  Over the past few weeks, I have seen many beam meltdowns.  Most recently, UCLA melted down on beam at their meet at Cal. In response I have decided that  th ere should be a cardinal rule for balance beam every NCAA team (every gymnast ever really) must follow: “DON’T PANIC.” If you're familiar with Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , then you'll know the book in the title has the words "DON'T PANIC" on it's cover.

Olympic alternate Sarah Finnegan has made her official debut at LSU.

Toni Ann Williams threw her Produnova during the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Just to be clear, we're not talking about the scary handspring double tuck splatfest vault, but the glorious double front dismount off beam.

The FIG has released the proposed code of points that will be in effect for the 2017-2020 quad. This code will be in effect through the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. So just what changes are they proposing? Is this good, bad, or just plain ugly? Keep reading to find out.

The Chinese are known for their talent on bars and beam. 

Peng Peng is ready to get "on the road again." After two years of dealing with an ACL tear that required two surgeries and two years away from competition, the glory that is Christine "Peng Peng" Lee, was finally able to grace us with her presence during this past NCAA season, wowing on bars and beam with beautiful, rarely seen skills for both elite and NCAA. Photo by Owen Emerson via dailybruin.com

Hollie Vise was a talented athlete on the US National team in the 2001-2004 quadrennium. She trained at the legendary World Olympic Gymnastics Academy or "WOGA" in Dallas, Texas alongside 2004 Olympic Champion, Carly Patterson under the tutelage of Evgeny Marchenko. She was a world champion with the US team and on the uneven bars in 2003. She was known for her classic, WOGA style, long lines, elegant fluidity and her glorious toe point. Hollie has been compared with junior, Norah Flatley, a beam savant who trains with legendary coach, Liang Chow, who coached 2012 Olympic Champion Gabby Douglas and 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist and beam gold medalist, Shawn Johnson.

Great Britain's Catherine Lyons is only one of the most promising talents on the junior scene, with beautiful artistry and glorious form and execution, her gymnastics is breath taking. Recently, a GIF of the 14-year-old training a Memmel turn (double spin in Y position) on beam surfaced on Tumblr.

Let's face it, when one thinks of beam, awesome choreography is not the first thing that comes to mind. Mostly, beam choreography is a lot of arm waving in between a leap series or a turn. The gymnasts at Stanford University are looking to change that.

Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland is already known for being a European champion on vault and a strong contender for medals on the floor exercise. This year, Giulia is upgrading.

This week in NCAA, Christine "Peng Peng" Lee made her glorious return to competition at UCLA's first meet of the season at Oregon State. Peng Peng, a former elite gymnast from Canada has been out for two years as the result of an ACL tear that kept her from competing for Canada in the London Olympic Games.

Olivia Cimpian of Romania showed off a unique beam mount series at Elite Massalia in France. Romania is historically a team that is proficient on beam and Olivia, a junior is no exception.

For a girl that was retiring from elite gymnastics several months ago, Tatiana Nabieva has come back with a vengeance. After helping the Russian team to a bronze medal at the World Championships in Nanning, China, Tataina aka "Tanya" has decided that this is an ideal time for her to train upgrades.