MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

NCAA season - so much gymnastics so little time, that's going to be my NCAA motto for the rest of the season, because this is LITERALLY the case. Not figuratively, literally. Meets all being held pretty much at the same time makes it hard to catch everything, especially when fighting against my television provider, but that's another story.  I wrote a full week one  recap for the Couch Gymnast, so today, I'm recapping the Alabama at UCLA meet, which thanks to the wonder of YouTube, I was able to catch up on.

After winning the American Cup in 2013, US gymnast Katelyn Ohashi has been conspicuously absent. Really, she's just been out dealing with injuries. Today, she posted a video on her Instagram of her back handspring to laid out full series on the low beam.

American Cup winner Katelyn Ohashi has been out of competition for a while due to injuries. Since she won the American Cup in March, she's been largely absent from the USA Gymnastics scene. In April, she turned down international assignments at the City of Jesolo Cup because she was recovering from shoulder surgery. She was absent from the national championships in August, presumably for the same reason.

The P&G National Championships are less than a week away, the athletes are putting their final polishes on their routines in hopes of making that national team. Since nationals performances will weigh heavily on who will be selected to go to Belgium for the World Championships in September, let's look at that athletes and what can be expected of them for a worlds team. Keep in mind, since this is the year after the Olympics, this is an individual all-around and event finals only meet, only four girls will be selected to go. The returning Fierce Two, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross. They are the only two members of the gold medal winning fierce five to return to competition. Kyla has been traveling on the international scene to various competitions and is now a certified veteran instead of the baby of the team.

With the Olympics having concluded almost a year again, it's the beginning of a new quad for the bid for Rio.  The next major competiton is the world championships in Antwerp. For the USA, they need to get through nationals, but to get through nationals, they need to get through the Secret Classic. Here is some information regarding the classic.

Katelyn Ohashi may have won the American Cup title, but Victoria Moors has overthrown Aliya Mustafina as the queen. The American Cup pretty much went as predicted. Katelyn Ohashi scored the top spot and Simone Biles came in second. Victoria came in third, but she certainly got the world's attention.

The final spot up for grabs for this weekend American Cup has been announced and USA Gymnastics confirms that the spot will be filled by (drum roll please)....