Hello everyone, and welcome to Gymnastics Insider!
The NCAA postseason is in full swing. Only one major upset so far, much to my chagrin (bring on the drama!) Most of the seeded teams progressed in the regional semifinals:
Michigan St. (197.350), bested Georgia (197.125) in the Tempe semifinal. Meanwhile, Florida (198.125) continues to kill it with sky-high scores, progressing alongside California (196.675) in the second session. Florida won by 1.45, and continued their streak of strong bar rotations with a 49.625.
Also, Skye Blakely got her first-ever bars 10. We’ll see all four tonight at the Tempe regional final, which begins at 8 p.m. ET.
Stanford (197.175), Michigan (196.600), LSU (198.375) and Clemson (196.800) will compete in the Baton Rouge regional final tonight at 6 p.m. ET. LSU won their semifinal by 1.575.
LSU’s Kailin Chio continues her 10 streak, with one each on vault and floor this time. Out of 13 meets this season, Chio has earned at least one 10 in eight of them.
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Last night in Lexington, Missouri (196.8750) and Arkansas (197.1750) advanced in predictable fashion. But the second session was a nail-biter. Oklahoma easily took the lead with a 197.875 — still one of its lowest scores of the season. Kentucky had a rough beam rotation, putting Rutgers and Ohio State ahead. In the end, Ohio State (196.550) advanced by only a couple tenths. We’ll see the four winners compete in the Lexington regional final, which begins at 5 p.m. ET.
In Corvallis, Alabama (197.225) edged out Oregon State (196.375) to make it through alongside Utah (197.500). The second session was very close, but UCLA (197.450) and Minnesota (196.975) advanced, despite Iowa’s valiant effort, including Aurélie Tran’s 10 on bars. The Corvallis regional final is on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
My official prediction is Florida will run away with this. It’s just too good a narrative to pass up.
Full standings and schedule at Road to Nationals. If you want in-depth coverage of each and every routine, I highly recommend you head over to The Balance Beam Situation.
Elite news
- Kailin Chio is considering an elite comeback. Do it, Kailin!
- So is Rebeca Andrade. Do it, Rebeca!
- Georgia Godwin announced that she won’t be attending the Osijek World Cup, to protect her physical and mental health. Rest up, Georgia!
Jesolo (results)
Jesolo happened. Honestly this meet hasn’t been super high on my priorities list since the U.S. stopped going. But Team USA is back, and narrowly won the team competition over France.
There was a lot of great emerging talent showcased at Jesolo. Here are some quick hits:
- Elena Colas of France took the all-around title with a 54.032, as well as bars gold (14.450). Her set there was gorgeous, with clean lines and a stuck full-in dismount.
With a strong junior career behind her, Colas made her highly anticipated senior debut earlier this season. So far, it looks like she’s thriving, with her 14.450 on bars being the top score of the meet. I’ve officially joined her fan club and I’m excited to see her grow as a competitor this year.
- Charleigh Bullock of the U.S. followed Colas for silver in the all-around (52.966) and bars (14.000). As usual, she showed off her gorgeous extension there:
- Benedetta Gava of Italy won the vault final (13.675) with a stuck double twisting Yurchenko with some form in the air and a Yurchenko half-on front tuck with a shaky landing:
- New senior Maïana Prat of France won beam with a 13.550 and a silver on floor (13.400). Her layout step out (loso) mount was gorgeous, and she followed with a back handspring (bhs)-loso-loso with some form in the air. I loved her unique side aerial to split jump half to split jump. She landed a double tuck with her chest down:
- Reese Esponda of the U.S. took the floor title (13.650). Her double double was nearly stuck cold, and her whip to double layout and whip half to double tuck are treasures.
In the vault final, Esponda’s hand slipped on her block and she landed on her butt, giving her a zero.
- These team dances are becoming more and more elaborate; we might as well start scoring them too.
If you want a play-by-play, Lauren at The Gymternet live blogged the all-around and event finals.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
April 3-6 Cairo World Cup (start lists)
Qualifications started yesterday and continued today at 10 a.m. ET. Vault and bars finals are on Sunday, and beam and floor finals are on Monday.
The updated roster features Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour; China’s Yu Linmin, Qiu Qiyuan, Jiang Shuting and Ke Qinqin; Teja Belak of Slovenia; and Mariia Agafonova and Elizaveta Us, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete.
In a refreshing turn of events, this event has its own informative website and Instagram account. Live scores are posted on the former.
April 9-12 Osijek World Cup (roster)
Osijek is now the final world cup of the season. It’s been a couple of weeks since the nominative roster was posted, so we’ll see if anything changes as we get closer.
Five at the IX
Florida’s Kayla DiCello spoke to ESPN about her elite career and her return to collegiate gymnastics following her 2024 Achilles tear.
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