MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

The Russian Gymnastics Federation has named a provisional team going to the World Championships in Nanning, China this October. The announcement comes on the heels of the recent Russian Cup in Penza, which served as part of the qualification process for the Worlds team.

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.

With the World Championships just around the corner, Romanian gymnast Larisa Iordache has gone into beast mode.

Over the weekend, Texas Dreams' gymnast, Macy Toronjo debuted a floor routine to the exact same music one Miss Sandra Izbasa, Olympic Champion of Romania, had for her routine at last year's world championships.

Like Simone Biles, Sam Mikulak successfully defended his national title this weekend at the P&G Championships.

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.

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

After injuring herself during today's podium training, Rachel Gowey has withdrawn from the P&G Championships.

Just days after Bailie Key withdrew from the P&G Championships, Peyton Ernst has withdrawn from the competition as well. Per the Gymter.net, the 17-year-old has been dealing with a minor, but nagging injury. However, her worlds chances aren't done just yet, she could still petition to the selection camp which will follow Championships.

Since Bailie Key's junior career has come to a close, I decided to feature her last routine as a junior in this edition of Favorite Routines.

This junior to watch,Jazmyn Foberg is teammates with junior dynamo, Laurie Hernandez. Young Jazmyn, aka Jazzy has a few tricks up her leotard sleeve. Full Name: Jazmyn (Jazzy) Foberg Date of Birth: February 2, 2000 Age: 14 Club: MG Elite Coach: Maggie Haney Hometown: Bayville, New Jersey, USA Jazmyn became an elite in 2013 after a strong showing at the Parkette's Elite Qualifier, but 2014 is the year she came out as a contender in the international elite scene.

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:

A little Friday fun... I found these series of images on Tumblr this afternoon while going on there to post a blog entry. This is a series of images of the 2008 US Olympic team with captions as to what they were "really" thinking. These Mystery Science Theater ad libbing is via SparklesandChalk on Tumblr.

Since injuring herself post Russian Nationals, all has been quiet on Viktoria Komova's front. The 2012 Olympic silver medalist injured her ankle shortly after the Russian national championships, leaving her unable to compete for Russia at the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Today, a video surfaced of Vika training on the uneven bars, her signature event.

Noemi Makra of Hungary is an athlete with form that is a judge's (or an execution snob's) wet dream. Her lines are so long and extended and her twists are beautiful, straight and high. It's poetry in motion. These GIFs are of Noemi during the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.

Worlds preparation is entering the home stretch. This means getting in routine shape and putting together new skills. Olympic vault bronze medalist, Russian gymnast Maria Paseka has been seen training a handspring Rudi vault.

Courtney McCool is a gymnast who was known for her impeccable form. The 2004 Olympic Silver medalist had form that would rival the form of some gymnasts today.

Bailie Key will be unable to defend her national title this year since she has pulled out due to an elbow injury. Bailie, aka Miss I-win-everything-all-the-time was also absent at the Secret Classic last week due to the same injury.  Her coaches, 1991 World Champion Kim Zmeskal and her husband, Chris Burdette announced Bailie's forfeiture via the Texas Dreams website earlier today.

For the second year in a row, Romanian gymnast Diana Bulimar will be out of the World Championships due to injury.

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.

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.

After much speculation, 2013 World All Around Champion, Simone Biles has made the decision to spend her college years in Hollywood.

Gabbygate 2014 made new waves when it was announced that Miss Gabby Douglas, 2012 all around champion would not be attending the P&G Championships later this month. The news doesn't really come as a surprise since Gabby left Chow's gym earlier in July for parts unknown. She was spotted training at Buckeye, home of the standing Arabian officianado, Nia Dennis. Gabby is still making a go for 2016, or so she says. Only time will tell whether she is successful or not.