Woman's US team
Simone Biles, Kyla Ross, Madison Kocian, Mykayla Skinner, Alyssa Baumann, and Ashton Locklear
Alternate: Maddie Desch
Team Results
1. USA- 179.280
2. China- 172.587
3. Russia- 171.462
4. Romania- 170.963
5. Italy- 169.023
All Around Results
1. Simone Biles(USA)- 60.231
2. Larisa Lordache(ROU)- 59.765
3. Kyla Ross(USA)- 58.232
4. Aliya Mustafina(RUS)- 57.915
5. Yao Jinnan(CHN)- 57.465
Vault Final Results
1. Hong Un Jong(PRK)- 15.599
2. Simone Biles(USA)- 15.554
3. Mykayla Skinner(USA)- 15.366
4. Alla Sosnitskaya(RUS)- 14.966
5. Claudia Fragapane(GBR)- 14.716
Bars Final Results
1. Yao Jinnan(CHN)- 15.633
2. Huang Huidan(CHN)- 15.566
3. Daria Spiridonova(RUS)- 15.283
4. Ashton Locklear(USA)- 15.266
5. Rebecca Downie(GBR)- 15.166
Beam Final Results
1. Simone Biles(USA)- 15.100
2. Bai Yawen(CHN)- 15.033
3. Aliya Mustafina(RUS)- 14.166
4. Asuka Teramoto(JPN)- 14.100
5. Larisa Lordache(ROU)- 14.066
Floor Final Results
1. Simone Biles(USA)- 15.333
2. Larisa Lordache(ROU)- 14.800
3. Aliya Mustafina(RUS)- 14.733
4. Mykayla Skinner(USA)- 14.700
5. Vanessa Ferrari(ITA)- 14.666
My Highlights:
1. Mykayla Skinner- Floor Finals (14.7)
As I've said before, I love Mykayla. Although a lot of people dislike her due to the lack of artistry and form. But there is something about her that I love, and always will love. This was Skinner's first World Championships, and I think she did pretty well. She won bronze on vault, and had the floor routine of her life in finals. I said back in August at Nationals that she had improved. But after seeing this floor routine, I can say she has improved her form and artistry immensely. I knew Biles would take home the gold on floor, but I was hoping that Skinner could place 2nd or 3rd. Unfortunately, she missed the bronze medal by just .033 of a point. Don't get me wrong, I love Aliya Mustafina, but I just really wanted Mykayla to medal on floor. She qualified to floor finals with a 14.7, and personally, I think she deserved a little higher because this routine was performed better than in qualifications. But she was smiling throughout this whole routine, and you could tell she was just really happy to be there. Skinner has one of the most difficult floor routines in the world, with a difficulty value of 6.5. She mounts with a double double layout, which is getting straighter and straighter every time we see her. She lands with a small hop back. Her second pass is an incredible, pretty much stuck, double double tuck. Her full in has another small hop back. Her final pass is an excellent 1.5 through to 2.5. Overall a fantastic routine from her.
2. Larisa Lordache(ROU)- Beam (15.100 in AA finals)
I love Larisa! She is definitely one of my favorite international gymnasts! Larisa is a great gymnast all around, but my favorite event of hers is definitely beam. This girl has insane difficulty, and is capable of a 7.0 start value, but sticks with a lower start value for this competition. I am so proud and happy for her on winning the silver medal all around because she honestly deserves it so much. She has had amazing success in her career, but has never won a world championship all around medal before now. What makes this win even better, is she really challenged Simone Biles. Biles is no doubt the best gymnast in the US and World, but if Lordache improves her difficulty on some events, she could definitely win an AA gold. As I previously mentioned, Larisa is a beast on beam. She nailed every beam routine, except in balance beam finals. I was really rooting for her to win gold on this event. But unfortunately she fell on her bhs tuck full. It was devastating when she fell, and you could tell she was really upset about it. She placed 5th in beam finals with a score of just 14.066. Since she messed up her final beam routine, I'll talk about her AA final beam routine which was incredible! She started with a tiny step back on her bhs tuck full, and her bhs layout was good, but a little piked. Her double turn was great, and her leap series(switch-switch side-sissone) was perfect. She hits her front aerial and side somi and then dismounts with a gorgeous triple twist with the tiniest hop.
3. Simone Biles- Floor Finals (15.333)
Honestly, what else is there to say about this girl besides she's absolutely incredible? I just love her so much, and who couldn't love her. Simone made history by becoming the first US woman since Shannon Miller to win 2 consecutive World All Around titles. She also has a total of 9 world medals for the past 2 years, and 6 of which are gold, the US record for gold medals. Biles is amazing on every event, but her stand out event for me personally is her floor. Her routine may not be graceful, but she has so much power and excellent choreography. I can't help but smile when she's performing. She loves performing her routine and has so much fun with it, smiling at every point. Her music is perfect for her personality and really engages the audience. Her consistency on this event is also really good, and she hit all floor routines at worlds. She, along with Skinner had the most difficult floor routines at these championships. Her opening pass is a tuck double double, which she lands with a hop back. Her signature layout half out (the biles) was incredible as always with a small hop forward. Her double layout was perfect in the air with a hop back. Finally, she dismounts with a full in and a hop back. She is capable of so much more difficulty, and those hops on the landings are all from insane power. She brings home the gold, once again.
4. Ruby Harrold(GBR)- Uneven Bars (14.066 in TF)
Great Britain is known for throwing crazy unique skills on bars. It's a breath of fresh air to see different connections and skills. My favorite bar routine ever comes from the former elite and now retired, Elizabeth Tweddle. But Ruby Harrold is a close second. Her teammates also have unique and great bar routines, but this one stood out the most to me. She may not have the highest difficulty (5.9) or the greatest execution scores, but I still absolutely love her routine. She qualified to bar finals, but unfortunately arched her handstand pirouette to much and fell, resulting in just a 13.666. Her best bar routine was in team finals, where she had some form issues, but a solid routine, and a nice double front dismount, scoring a 14.066. If she improves her form, and adds more difficulty she could be in contention for a medal on bars in the future.
5. Claudia Fragapane(GBR)- Floor (14.4 in qualifications)
I've mentioned a lot of floor routines, but I can't write this without mentioning Fragapane's floor. I am in love with this routine. Honestly, her choreography synchs with the music perfectly, and it is so original and entertaining to watch. She lacks the elegance, but makes up for it with such amazing power, just like Simone Biles. She qualified to floor finals, but unfortunately crashed her first pass and landed on her stomach, taking her out of the running for a spot on the podium. She scored a 13.1. Which really sucks, I was hoping she could medal, but the good news is she's only 16 and has plenty of time to bring home a medal for floor. My favorite routine of hers was from team qualifications. Her full in double layout was nice with a small hop on the landing, the double layout could have better form, but she masked a bad landing with a wolf jump for extra points which looked great. The double Arabian was fantastic, other than the squat on her STUCK landing. She dismounts with a nice double pike and step back on the landing. Her execution score was an 8.4 and scored a total of 14.4. I really hope to see her medal on this event in the future!
6. Simone Biles- Vault Finals (15.554)
I know I've already talked about Simone, but I have to mention her one more time for her phenomenal vaulting. With Mckayla Maroney being out due to injury, I was hoping Biles could win the gold on vault, because she is the only gymnast that I've seen come close to Maroney's sky high block, difficulty, and perfect form. Simone just looks gorgeous when she's vaulting. Her ankles or legs never cross when she twisting, her legs stay absolutely straight, she gets a super high block off the table, and she is very consistent when sticking her landings, with only hops from so much power. She started with a beautiful Amanar resulting in a 15.9. her second vault only has a 5.6 difficulty and scored a 15.208. If she upgrades her second vault, which she is very capable of, she could take home gold next time. I'm disappointed she couldn't place 1st this time, but Hong Un Jong deserves the gold just as much. In the future, I really hope to see a triple twisting Yurchenko from either Biles or Maroney!
Vault #1
Vault #2
7. Aliya Mustafina(RUS)- Beam
Like most Russians, Aliya is so elegant and beautiful on all the events. But her stand out event, in my opinion, is beam. She came into this final as the reigning world champion on beam. Unfortunately, this world championships was not her best though, but she still looked really good. She won the bronze medal on beam this year, but only out of pure luck. There were multiple falls during this final, and Mustafina was one of the few that stayed on. However she missed her acro series resulting in a big deduction for a 14.166. I believe that is the lowest score I have ever seen win a medal. Though she won this out of luck, I'm still very happy for her, and seeing her full of smiles was amazing! I think her best routine was the one she performed at team finals, earning her a 14.766. But I believe her best routine this year definitely came from the Russian Cup, where she won gold on the event. During team finals, she began her routine with a very messy double turn with her leg coming up. But she stuck a very nice standing arabian, however she paused in between her jumps resulting in a missed connection. Her switch half to onodi was a lovely connection though, and her onodi looked beautiful! She hit her side aerial, and her front aerial-front aerial- back handspring acro series was excellent. She dismounted a near stuck double back. Even though she didn't have the best beam routines, her fluidity, lines, grace, and elegance is what sets her apart from many other gymnasts.
The 2014 World Championships brought many excellent routines, but those are my absolute 7 favorite routines.
Other notable routines and gymnasts:
1. Kyla Ross- I love Kyla, and always will. Due to injury, she had to lower her difficulty which is why she couldn't medal on an event. I'm so happy she won bronze AA, but to be honest, if Aliya Mustafina hadn't sat down her first tumbling pass of her floor, Ross would've probably moved down to 4th. However, her consistency and execution on every event is a major factor for her 2nd place finish at Nationals, a spot on the world team, and a bronze medal AA. Once Ross is able to upgrade, I think she'll be back as a big threat.
2. Ashton Locklear- I've talked about Ashton before, where she won the bars title at Nationals and Pan Ams. She went to China as a bar specialist, and proved herself in consistency. She made the bar finals but unfortunately just missed the podium by .017 of a point. She is incredible on this event though, and once she upgrades a little more, she'll definitely be in the running for gold. This was her first world championships, and she has had such great success in the matter of only 3 months. She has time, and I think she could potentially be in the running for a beam medal once she improves her execution.
3. Vanessa Ferrari (ITA)- Vanessa is a veteran of this sport, and has had amazing success in her career. At 24, she still continues to have success in the sport. I've always loved her routines, and when it does come time for her to retire, she will be missed. She placed 6th in the AA this year with a score of 57.166. Her star events are vault and floor though, where she made the finals for floor. I think her floor is outstanding, and I love her music, she placed 5th in finals.
4. Yao Jinnan (CHN)- Yao Jinnan's best event is by far the uneven bars, which is usually the case for all chinese gymnasts. She earned a well deserved gold medal on bars. The problem with China is they're incredible on beam and bars, but lack the difficulty in vault and floor. I would love to see Yao place on the AA podium eventually though, she is such a gorgeous gymnast to watch.
5. Roxana Popa (ESP)- If it were up to me, I would have Roxana somewhere on the podium. I love her, ever since I saw her in the 2014 American Cup. Unfortunately, she only placed 13th in the AA final with a score of 55.299. Her floor routine is my favorite, and this is her most difficult event (5.9) but she placed 9th in qualifications, just missing the floor final, sadly. If you ask me though, her floor in qualifications was underscored. Her Bar routine is also incredible with a lot of difficulty. Hopefully within the coming years, Popa can find herself on the podium for an individual event or AA medal.
