As We Wait for Worlds - Vault
The Universiade Games proved to be an excellent preview for the gymnasts we might see in the 2013 Vault Finals. Of the 8 finalists, there were 6 with a chance of earning a medal. Maria Paseka delivered her cleanest Amanar vault yet and Russian teammate Ksenia Afansyeva surprised us further with another Amanar and somewhat better execution. We saw the 2008 Olympic Vault Champion Hong Un Jong return to competition and land two of the hardest vaults being competed.You can watch the entire VT EF here or below:
In recent years, vault has been one of the best chances at a medal for countries outside of the Big 4 - USA, Russia, Romania, and China. However, the Big 4 has caught on and will return to the World Championships with more athletes competing 2 vaults. Afansyeva is an addition to Paseka for Russia, and Alla Sosnitskaya is waiting in the wings. Olympic Champion Sandra Izbasa is now joined by teammate Larisa Iordache. There are multiple Americans training 2 vaults alongside silver medalist McKayla Maroney. This includes Simone Biles, Elizabeth Price, Lexie Priessman, and Mykayla Skinner. While we haven't seen Priessman and Price's second vaults, Skinner proves to be competitive with the high difficulty combination of an Amanar and a Cheng. It will be interesting to see who makes the Worlds team and who continues to train 2 vaults throughout the quadrennium since it takes valuable time from training on the other events - most important for strong all-arounders like Larisa Iordache.
Here's a list of the vaulters with a chance of making finals at the 2013 World Championships. For those who have mocked vault finals previously, this is shaping up to be a very competitive final!
The list includes the highest start value the athlete has competed. * indicates these vaults have not been competed this year.
Athlete | SV 1 | Name VT1 | SV 2 | Name VT2 | Total SV |
Yamilet Pena* | 7.0 | Produnova | 5.8 | DTY | 12.8 |
Hong Un Jong | 6.3 | Amanar | 6.4 | Cheng | 12.7 |
McKayla Maroney* | 6.3 | Amanar | 6.0 | "Mustafina" | 12.3 |
Ri Un Ha | 5.8 | DTY | 6.4 | Cheng | 12.2 |
Fadwa Mahmoud | 7.0 | Produnova | 5.2 | ? Tsuk 1/1 | 12.2 |
Janine Berger* | 6.2 | Rudi | 6.0 | Tsuk 2/1 | 12.2 |
Ellie Black | 6.2 | Rudi | 6.0 | Tsuk 2/1 | 12.2 |
Alexa Moreno | 6.2 | Rudi | 6.0 | Tsuk 2/1 | 12.2 |
Giulia Steingruber* | 6.2 | Rudi | 6.0 | Tsuk 2/1 | 12.2 |
Phan Thi Ha Thanh | 5.8 | DTY | 6.2 | Rudi | 12.0 |
Sandra Izbasa* | 6.0 | "Mustafina" | 5.8 | DTY | 11.8 |
Ksenia Afansyeva | 6.3 | Amanar | 5.6 | Lopez | 11.9 |
Simone Biles | 6.3 | Amanar | 5.6 | Lopez | 11.9 |
Maria Paseka | 6.3 | Amanar | 5.6 | Lopez | 11.9 |
Oksana Chusovitna* | 6.2 | Rudi | 5.5 | Tsuk 1.5 | 11.7 |
Jade Barbosa | 5.8 | DTY | 5.6 | Lopez | 11.4 |
Noel van Klaveren | 5.8 | DTY | 5.2 | Tsuk 1/1 | 11.0 |
Larisa Iordache | 5.8 | DTY | 5.2 | Tsuk 1/1 | 11.0 |
Maegan Chant | 5.2 | Tsuk 1/1 | 5.4 | FHS 1/2 | 10.6 |
* Explained:
- Pena has not competed these vaults since the Olympics. She was injured causing her to withdraw from an FIG meet earlier this year. Her coach was also having difficulties with funding/his salary so Pena's status for Worlds is currently unclear.
- Maroney has not competed these vaults since the Olympics.
- Berger was injured earlier in the year and did not attend European Championships. These are her Olympic vaults.
- Steingruber competed these vaults at the Olympics but has not competed them since. She competed a clean Tsuk 1/1 at European Championships where she earned gold and talks about upgrading again in an interview with GymNewstics.
- Izbasa not competed these vaults since the Olympics.
- Chusovitna not competed these vaults since the Olympics. This year, she has competed a front handspring full twist with a 5.8 D-score as her 1st vault.
The list was compiled with help of Uncle Tim's UTRS as well as my Explaining VT EF from the Olympics.
There was a mistake on Ri Un Ha's vault d-score. She actually has a 12.2 combined d score, not 12.4. This was very helpful for the d scores! I think Maroney has the best chance for gold because she executes her vaults the best.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Just corrected it! I know the change in D-scores threw me off and I knew I would get the math wrong somewhere. Thanks so much!
DeleteHer execution for those 2 vaults is definitely very clean but she taught as at the Olympics: anything could happen!
Yes, that's true! For all we know, vault could be a splat fest like it was at the Olympics! Hopefully, everyone will hit!
DeleteIf you want to be a super duper Code nerd…
ReplyDeleteThe CoP's name for a Rudi is a Chusovitina.
A DTY is a Baitova.
A Tsuk 1/1 is a Kim (after Nellie Kim).
A Tsuk 2/1 is a Zamolodchikova.
But few are nerdy enough to use those names. :)
Why do your own list of vault E scores. Uncle tim already did all the work. Just put a link to his list. Mckayla Maroney & Simone Biles have the highest E scores 15.7 & 15.475. Afan & Jong are tied for third with 15.125. If Mckayla Maroney & Simone hit they go 1st & 2nd. Kyla is a bars medal threat she has scored 15.4 or above more than ANYONE else.
ReplyDeleteSo I think you're commenting on 2 posts in one. I did link to Uncle Tim's list, as you can see. I wanted to edit this because at least 5 of these athletes won't be at Worlds and Uncle Tim's list has so many VTers from Chinese Nationals that won't be there. The list in the next post should be realistic to the upcoming finals. His list has the highest in the world while only a few of those gymnasts will actually have the chance to compete.
DeleteAlso, if you looked at Uncle Tim's most recent UTRS, you'd know that Kyla no longer has the highest execution. Yao Jinnan has the highest and Kyla's tied with Aliya Mustafina and Huang Huidan. That's 4 gymnasts in the "top 2" with 3 medal spots. It's definitely possible that she medals, she just has to get through the 2 Chinese, Aliya, and Nabieva. Nabieva's updated D score is a 6.1. As always, it matters who hits on that day.
I already knew all of that. I looked at Uncle Tim's list right when he updated it. I think Kyla will medal because, she has been so consistent all year. Only once did she score lower than 15.4. Jesolo event finals when she had an error. If all her scores were listed. She would by far have the most in the top ten. If I'm not mistaken the other girls, have only hit their high scores once. With their second best scores all ranking below Kyla's top five. I kind of feel like people are short changing her.
DeleteJesolo 15.4
Germany 15.45
Secret Classic 15.4
P&G 15.45 15.5