MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

It's a new season of NCAA gymnastics and that means, I'm back with my power rankings for the week. This is not RoadtoNationals.com rankings. These rankings are determining who holds the power in NCAA gymnastics this week... or not so much.Who is winning at life and who is breaking our hearts this week. Get the lowdown below the cut -

Today is a sad day. It's sad because 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist, world champion and multiple time world medalist Kyla Ross announced via her Twitter account that she has decided to hang up the grips on her elite career.

Kyla Ross has ended her bid for a  spot on a third world championship team and withdrawn from worlds selection camp for the world championships in Glasgow, Great Britain. USA Gymnastics released a statement earlier today confirming Kyla's withdrawal from the selection camp, which starts Oct. 6th. 

Kyla Ross like many high school seniors has made the tough choice on where she will attend college. Yesterday, on her Twitter account, Kyla announced her commitment to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

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. 

For the second year in a row, Simone Biles of the USA was named the World All-Around Champion, she is the first woman to win back to back world titles since Svetlana Khorkina in 2002 and 2003. Simone is the first US woman since Shannon Miller in 1993 and 1994.

Surprise surprise (not really) Team USA pulled out another world championship win during today's team final. Team USA, led by Simone Biles and Kyla Ross, left no prisoners as they led their team to victory with a huge 6.693 lead over team China. Taking the bronze, team Russia, led by Aliya Mustafina. The ladies of team USA pulled out all the stops and performed near flawlessly while their competitors littered the floor with falls and mistakes.

After two full days of competition in Nanning, China, world qualification results are out. Team USA is of course leading the pack, qualifying first to the team final over four points up on Team China, with Aliya Mustafina and team Russia in third. Team Great Britain is on the cusp and of course will be looking to  inch their way onto the medal podium after winning the silver medal at the European Championships earlier this year.

The ladies of Team USA will head to the Karolyi Ranch on Monday to decide who will represent the United States at the World Championships in Nanning, China.

After two full days of competition at the P&G Championships, Simone Biles successfully defended her national title and Maggie Nichols proved that she is one of the top gymnasts in the US. On the Juniors side, Jazmyn Foberg took her first national all-around title after taking an early lead on night one, stealthily hitting 8 for 8 routines while her competitors had mistakes. A huge feat, especially considering this was her first nationals ever.

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:

Two years into the quad and we're starting to see up and comers likely to be big contenders for Rio. This was the first real meet of the elite season, so most everybody was a little rough around the edges. Since I don't have time to analyze every single routine by every single athlete, I'm going to be analyzing some top players and up and comers.

Elite season is full force in the US, with the upcoming Secret Classic and the P&G Championships. USA Gymnastics has released the roster for the athletes competing at the upcoming Secret Classic, which  serves as the final qualifier for the P&G National Championships (Aug. 21-24), which will determine the national team and serve as a qualifying step to USA's worlds team.

Elizabeth "Ebee" Price is continuing her awesome year with another win at the Pacific Rim Championships. Make that two wins. In addition to taking home the all-around title, she and Team USA took the team gold medal

After dealing with an injury that kept her out of the American Cup (and gym switching adventures), 2013 World Champion is competing for the first time this year at the Pacific Rim Championships.

The latest news coming from the City of Jesolo Trophy is young Bailie Key once again was the triumphant leader.

Following the conclusion of last week's training camp, USA Gymnastics has named the teams going to the City of Jesolo Trophy this weekend.

There has been a shake-up in the line up for the upcoming American Cup.

This video, from Sport Everywhere on YouTube, shows Ukrainian gymnast, Olessia Dudnik's 1989 world championship balance beam routine in today's code of points. This routine has a difficulty score of 6.1 under the current FIG code of points

2013 is almost over, as of 11:59 p.m. tonight, it will mark the close of another post Olympic year. There were new faces to cheer for, triumphs and tragedies and more. Here are some of the highlights of the past year: