MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

Ok, it's time for the final session of the P&G Championships. The senior women. After night one, Ragan Smith was leading by 1.3 points over Riley McCusker. She's got a comfortable lead, so she really just has to stay the course and keep hitting and she'll probably win. Night one was a bit of a splat-fest for the seniors, so it will be most interesting to see if they've gotten it together for night two. So come on in and keep refreshing the page every 10 minutes or so for all the good stuff.

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.

Two of the most prominent US juniors, Ragan Smith and Jordan Chiles will be representing team USA at Top Gym in Belgium; a rare showing of USA juniors outside Jesolo and a few scattered international and national competitions.  Ragan, who will turn senior this coming year, placed third in the junior division at this year’s P&G Championships. She trains at Texas Dreams under the tutelage of 1991 World Champion, Kim Zmeskal and her husband, Chris Burdette.  Jordan will turn senior in enough time to compete for Team USA in Rio, but will turn senior in 2017. She trains at Naydenov Gymnastics in Vancouver, Washington.  She won the junior title at the Secret Classic in 2014. Top Gym will be held Nov 28-29 in Charleroi, Belgium.  Gymnastike will live stream the event. The competition format is unique due to the fact that all-around competition will be held on Day One. Day two will feature event finals and a team competition. The team composition will feature four athlet...

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:

Date of Birth: April 15, 2001  Hometown: Tualatic, Oregon Current Residence:Vancouver, Washington Club: Naydenov Gymnastics Coaches: Erica Bakacs & Dmitri Taskov Thirteen-year-old Jordan Chiles is a promising junior on the US National team.  Recently, she made waves when she took the all-around title at the 2014 Secret Classic.

 Here is young Jordan Chiles,another junior on the US National team, during the May training camp. She's only 13 and won't be old enough for the 2016 Olympics in Rio since she'll just be 15. She's got beautiful form and artistry and surprisingly powerful for such a tiny wispy little thing.