Podium training for Jesolo got underway yesterday and the U.S. ladies look more than ready.

We were able to get a look at how things have been going in Italy…and let’s just say we’re impressed. After watching every available routine, follow along as we give you an athlete-by-athlete glimpse into how prepared everyone is for the competition this weekend.

Gabby Douglas

We might as well start with the comeback girls, right? Gabby D is ready for this. I’m usually pretty gentle with comebacks, getting excited about basic skills and brushing off things like wobbles and leg separation. So when I called Gabby out for not fully piking her inbar stalders on bars, I knew the mere fact that I’m nitpicking two days into her competitive return shows that she’s ready.

When I watched what she did yesterday, I was actually shocked. Who doesn’t compete for 2.5 years and then shows up to podium training at an international event for her first meet back and hits a beam set like it’s no big deal?!

Here’s what she’s up to.

Vault– DTY

It looks good in all clips. Should be a no problem event for her. She looked like she stuck it on day 3, and it looked excellent in the air.

Bars– Inbar full (E) + piked Tkatchev (E) + pak salto (D), inbar (D), inbar half (D) + Endo half (D) + Chow (D), double layout (D)

This should be around a 6.3 start value, and it mostly looks really good. I picked on her for not really piking her inbars enough, making them look slightly more than toe-ons, and she also had some leg separation on the inbar full today, but for the most part it’s a solid routine. I do miss her old giant Tkatchev, but her piked Tkatchev soars high enough to satisfy my needs.

Beam– Punch front pike (E), bhs (B) + loso (C), standing full (F), switch ring (E), punch front tuck (D), full turn (A), switch leap (C) + switch half (D), front aerial (D) + sissone (A) + split jump (A), double pike (E)

Not too shabby for your first time back, especially when you look as clean and confident as she did in training. This is the routine that made me gasp when I first saw it on Tuesday, if only because if you had to guess, you’d think she never left the sport. If we’re being picky, there are some moments that need a little cleanup, but as a whole this routine is excellent.

She looked even better on day 3, if at all possible, showing not a single hesitation or wobble. I almost cried. She also has a double pike dismount, bringing her start value to about a 6.4.

Floor– Memmel turn (D), double Arabian (E) + stag (A), tucked full-in (E), double pike (D), double L turn (D), Ferrari (D), double tuck (D)

We didn’t see much of her here, but we did get to check out a full dance through and I looooove her music. A million times better than her cheesy Americano number in 2012. The tumbling we did see on day two looked solid, and included a stuck double tuck as her final pass.

On day 3 she took out the stag after her double Arabian, which caused her to go out of bounds on one occasion and her landing is much better controlled now. She also added a tucked full-in and a double pike, looking great on both.

Overall, as I said on Twitter, Gabby doesn’t just look good for this point in her comeback. She looks good PERIOD. She more than holds her own against those who haven’t had more than a week off in the past five years, and I’m really impressed with absolutely everything I’ve seen.

Aly Raisman

I am equally impressed with Aly. I’ve never doubted her comeback legitimacy as others did, if only because I know Mihai wouldn’t put up with that nonsense. And this is about as legit as a comeback can get.

Vault– DTY

She has the same form issues here that she did in the past, and that’s notably her one knee bending as she comes in for the landing. That aside, she has a ton of power, and I’m glad she’s waiting to do the Amanar, even though it looked good at the ranch. Oh, now looking at day 3, her form is a million times better! She barely even bends that knee, and almost sticks. Good for her.

Bars– Maloney (D) + Tkatchev (D), hop + front giant (B) + Jaeger (D), stalder (B) + bail (D) + toe full (D), Ray (C), toe half (C) + front giant (B) + double front (D)

In both days of training she looked so much better there than she has in the past. She looks more confident, more aggressive, and even a lot cleaner, so I can’t wait to see how she puts this together in competition. She stuck the double front a couple of times, and though this might not ever be a brilliant event for her, she does the best she can and with a solid 5.8 start value. Also, like her beam connections, she’s smart here too – she’s about one of the only gymnasts who can casually bust out a Maloney straight into a Tkatchev, which just happens to add 0.2 in difficulty, necessary when your highest level skills are mostly Ds.

Beam– Punch front pike (E) + wolf jump (A), bhs (B) + layout (E) + split jump (A), tour jete half (D), side aerial (D), switch (C) + switch half (D) + back pike (C), punch front tuck (D) + sissone (A), full L turn (C) + full turn (A), double tuck (D) or Patterson (G)

Holy connections, Batman. Not only is her routine chock full of combinations that make her start value absolutely stacked (she gets about 0.7 in connection bonuses, maximizing nearly every possible bonus available!), she does them so quickly, there’s no way judges will be able to take anything off. On the first day of training she stuck with a double tuck, but on day two she worked the Patterson and it looked good. Without the Patterson, she seems to be at about a 6.5 SV, and with it? 6.8. Bless.

In her day 3 routine, she was just as quick and seamless with her connections, and her form was actually much better in the first half of her set, especially on her flight series. There was the tiniest pause between the leap series to the back pike, but otherwise she was solid, and finished with the Patterson, which was a bit deep in the landing but honestly, not bad at all.

Floor– 1.5 (C) + double Arabian (E) + front tuck (A), piked double Arabian (F) + wolf jump (A), double layout (F), double pike (D)

We didn’t get a full routine from her – or anyone, really – but we did see some great glimpses into her tumbling and it’s awesome. In one instance she did the 1.5 to double Arabian to punch front tuck, which is what I think she’s hoping to compete, and then in another run she stuck to the 1.5 to double Arabian. She has nicely controlled landings (I saw the Dos Santos to wolf jump go OOB in one instance) and a really fast-paced old Russian folk song she seems to have fun with.

On Thursday, she did her full set, including the 1.5 through to arabian double front to punch front tuck with a slight hop, a crazy amazing stuck Dos Santos (it was beautiful, and like Gabby, she took out the connected jump that caused her to go out of bounds earlier in the week), a double layout, and a double pike.

Overall, like Gabby, it’s hard to imagine she took as much time away as she did. It’s hard to say how they’ll look in competition based on training, but aside from floor, it’s not like they’re training bits and pieces of routines. They’re both going full-out with great difficulty in the all-around, something they haven’t done since 2012, and they both look very good doing it. I give them a ton of credit for getting this far, and if right now is any indication of how fast they’re moving, both could be huge threats for the remainder of the quad.

Kyla Ross

The third member of the Fierce Five in Italy isn’t quite as exciting because we’ve seen her in just about every competition since the Olympic Games, but she’s doing lots of really clean work and even has some great new upgrades on bars. Oh, and her new floor routine is to die for.

Vault– DTY

Phenomenal as usual. Stuck it a couple of times. Do we expect anything less?

Bars– Toe on (C) + toe full (D) + Maloney (D) + pak salto (D) + van Leeuwen (E), toe half (C) + forward giant (B) + Jaeger (D), double front (D)

Ross joins the trend of shoving as many possible combinations into the first half of your bar routine, and it’s a smart strategy. She doesn’t fully maximize the connection values in the way someone like Ashton Locklear was able to do, and I think it’s mostly because she hasn’t been able to get her inbar stalders going again since her back problems last year. But it’s a great start and I loooove the change of dismount to the double front. She really did struggle a few times last year with getting her double layout around, which can definitely be chalked up to how tall she is. Tucking makes a lot more sense, and she’s able to get it around cleanly with no cowboying or other form errors, so it should be a safe bet in competitions.

Beam– Punch front tuck (D) + wolf jump (A), split (A) + sissone (A), front aerial (D) + sheep (D), bhs (B) + loso (C), full turn (A), switch ring (E), side somi (D), switch (C) + back tuck (C), side aerial (D), double tuck (D)

She had some wobbles in the first days of training, looking a little nervous on a few of her elements, but I think for the most part she’s clean, and on day 3 she was a rock, hitting every skill and connection without any problem.

Floor– double Arabian (E) + stag (A), double pike (D), 1.5 (C) + layout full (C), double tuck (D)

She trained a routine with the arabian and the double tuck, but then later showed the other two passes, and all looked solid and controlled. Her new routine is pretty magical, and she has lots of sassy bits in her choreography, like a little step out with her foot that she slowly drags back and it’s simple but so effective. Her music is crazy in a good way (with the same operatic shrieking Kyla loves so much), and I think once she gets used to performing it, it’ll be a highlight routine for her. She’s come leaps and bounds since we first knew her on floor, and this is her way of saying “still think I have no artistry?” Just a fantastic routine.

When she put it together with all of the tumbling on Thursday, she hit everything really well, and I’m just obsessed with the levels of fierceness she brings to her performance.

Simone Biles

The two-time World champ looks as cool as ever…in fact, I barely watched any videos at first, and later realized it, thinking I almost never watch her podium training videos because subconsciously I just assume everything she’s doing is perfect, same old same old, why bother watching when you know what you can expect?

That said, I’m glad I watched, even though I was right.

Vault– Amanar, Lopez

The Amanar is as big and awesome as ever, as is the Lopez. Time for a TTY and a Mustafina, Simone?

Bars– Weiler half (D) + Maloney (D), toe full (D) + Tkatchev (D), piked Tkatchev (E) + pak salto (D), toe shoot (C), toe on (C) + full-in (D)

As her ‘weak’ event it’s pretty damn good, though there’s definitely always work that can be done. She’s still a tiny bit tentative here, though she’s aggressive on her releases and should earn a decent score in competition.

Beam– wolf 2.5 (E), split jump (A) + pike jump (A), front aerial (D) + wolf jump (A), bhs (B) + loso (C) + loso (C), side aerial (D), switch (C) + switch half (D) + back pike (C), punch front (D) + sissone (A), full-in dismount (G)

Stacked, and I believe the front aerial to wolf jump is a new connection. Like Raisman, she also maximizes bonuses in a smart way, and she also looks great at hitting the combinations, none of which can be considered easy. She’s solid here, physically and mentally, and though she didn’t do the full-in dismount in training – just a timer like many of her teammates – I’m sure it’ll look awesome as usual.

Floor– Double layout full-out (H), Biles (G) + stag (A), double double (H), full-in (E)

She warmed up the Biles and full-in during a dance through, and in another video, stuck a full-out like it was no big deal. Just another casual day for Simone! She looked fantastic, and is practically impossible to beat on this event.

She went through the whole routine on day 3, hitting the full-out with no problems, doing the stag out of her Biles, showing a small hop on her big double double, and sticking the full-in.

Alyssa Baumann

Worlds gold medalist Baumann reportedly did very well at camp in February, placing second to Biles, and she looks so much more confident than she did in her first meet of the year, the WOGA Classic, where she had a mental break on bars and had to withdraw from the rest of the meet. She’s looking pretty much the opposite here on all four events, and even her bars – definitely her weak spot – look much improved.

Vault– DTY

Her legs were a bit crossed on her vault, and though rumors surfaced of an Amanar she’s competing at camp, she didn’t show it in training here.

Bars– Chow (D) + pak salto (D), toe full (D) + Maloney (D), Jaeger (D), toe half (C) + toe on (C), full-out (D)

So the difficulty isn’t insane here, she works what she can, and has some nice connections…especially the Chow to pak. I believe she was working a van Leeuwen at one point but it doesn’t seem to have made it into the routine just yet (it’s one of the skills that gave her trouble at WOGA, so this makes sense).

On day 3 she missed the toe full to Maloney combination, but everything else looked good.

Beam– Standing Arabian (F), switch ring (E), bhs (B) + loso (C), full turn (A), switch (C) + switch half (D), front aerial (D), Onodi (D) + wolf jump (A), side aerial (D), double pike (E)

Easily her best routine, both in the awesome skills she’s doing as well as in how easily she performs it. There were some nervous mistakes, like a bobble on her switch ring and a bit of a slow connection between the Onodi and wolf jump, and I’d like to see a little more power going into her double pike, but I’ll chalk that up to being tired after a long day of training. She definitely had one of the best switch to switch half combinations out there, and while she doesn’t knock it out of the park with difficulty, I could see her making a beam final if she hits cleanly.

Floor– Memmel (D), piked full-in (E), double L turn (D), quad turn (E)

I think she’s only doing three passes, based on what I could see in her dance through, where she only went for the piked full-in and then subbed in layouts in two more spots. But she more than makes up for it with three difficult turns, including a Memmel, double L turn, and a pretty sweet quad turn, one of the most difficult turns you can do on floor.

Madison Desch

Last year’s Worlds alternate is ready to prove herself as a key player for team USA and she’s definitely working routines that can get her there. Her bars are my favorite, and she looked ready to put up a good fight in the all-around this weekend based on how she looked over the past two days.

Vault– DTY

Her landing was a bit low, but she looked clean in the air in one attempt, and on day 3 she looked fantastic and stuck it.

Bars– Stalder half (C) + front giant (B) + Jaeger (D), Downie (F), Ricna (E) + pak salto (D), Chow half (E), stalder full (D), full-in (D)

Desch is the release queen of the U.S. team, showing a Jaeger, Downie, and Ricna to pak in quick succession with no problems at all really. Very impressive work, and aside from some leg separation on her Chow half, she looked pretty clean in what I saw from her. I’d love to see her start her routine on the low bar with an inbar transition to high, just to spice things up and add a couple of tenths in difficulty…right now she should be in the realm of a 6.0 or so counting a C element. But considering the rest of the U.S. bars field in Jesolo, she could have a very good shot at making the final.

Beam– Full turn (A), bhs (B) + bhs (B) + layout (E), split leap (A) + split jump (A), punch front tuck (D), switch ring (E), front aerial (D), side somi (D), switch leap (C) + switch side (D), double tuck (D)

There were a few bobbles here, like on her flight series, and she also had a pause between her switch leap and switch half, but for the most part I was happy to see her hit relatively well here, as she’s had trouble with consistency here in the past. In the 3rd training day, her flight series was much better, and she was otherwise was steady, minus a tiny check here or there.

Floor– whip (A) + double Arabian (E) + stag (A)

This is all we saw from her floor routine, just as a random side pass in the ‘senior tumbling’ video. It looked good! Can’t wait to see what else she has on the docket.

Maggie Nichols

I think many were surprised to see Nichols’ name added to the Jesolo roster when she mentioned earlier in the year that this meet wasn’t a focus for her as she continued to heal from her knee injury sustained at the Pan American Championships last summer. But she looks fantastic.

Vault– DTY

Big and clean, maybe the slightest hint of leg form issues at the end, but honestly not bad for someone coming off an injury.

Bars– Toe full (D) + Chow (D) + pak salto (D) + Maloney (D) + bail (D) + toe half (C) + van Leeuwen (E), toe half (C) + front giant (B) + Jaeger (D), double layout (D)

You know the “add as many connected skills as possible” club Kyla joined? Maggie’s the leader. She connects seven skills in the first half of her routine, and gets a nice little connection bonus there in addition to counting all D or higher elements in her start value, putting her around a 6.2-6.3 difficulty, one of the best in the country at the moment. There are some minor problems, though – like leg separation on her toe full, and a little bit of struggle toward the end of her crazy sequence, but that aside it’s a fantastic set.

Something I noticed on day 3 is just how clean her van Leeuwen is…her legs were glued! Not many van Leeuwens look like Maggie’s.

Beam– Front tuck half (F), tour jete half (D), full turn (A), bhs (B) + loso (C) + loso (C), front aerial (D), switch (C) + sissone (A), switch ring (E), punch front tuck (D), timer dismount

Nichols is apparently hitting a full-in dismount off beam, though we sadly didn’t see any dismounts from her in training videos. Though overall this routine isn’t the most difficult, it has some really strong moments, like the front tuck half. Considering beam isn’t her best event, she makes it work for her and will hopefully show a solid set this weekend.

Floor– Piked full-in (E), double tuck (D)

Like most of her teammates, Nichols only went for two passes, so I’m not sure what else she’ll be competing. In terms of dance elements, she had some nice work going on, including a triple turn to a full turn, and though the choreography isn’t my favorite, it’s a fun routine for her and she looks good doing it.

Bailie Key

I feel like the long-awaited senior debut of this kid has gone somewhat under the radar with the 2012 comeback kids taking the spotlight. And while Bailie isn’t looking at her best at the moment, remember she had an elbow injury last summer and has been out of competition for nearly a year. She probably just needs a little bit of practice, and it’s also possible she just didn’t go full-out for training, and is instead saving her best stuff for Saturday. And even though she’s not looking 100%, she still doesn’t even look bad, which says a lot about just how polished we usually see her.

Vault– DTY

Like Baumann, there have been rumors of an Amanar for Key, who showed one in a training video last year. It’s probably not ready yet, especially judging how her DTY looked in training…her knees were a bit bent in the air and she just barely made the two twists around, coming in a little short on the landing. Could’ve been just one rough vault on the video compared to the billion she probably threw in practice this week, though.

On day 3, her knees are still a bit tucked in the air and she’s not absolutely all the way around, but it looks better overall.

Bars– hop + front giant (B) + Jaeger (D), Ricna (E) + pak salto (D), Chow (D) + bail (D) + stalder full (D) + Ray (C), full-out (D)

For the most part, this was clean, especially the Ricna to pak salto, which she makes look effortless. This should be out of 6.1-6.2 thanks to some smart connections in her Chow to bail to stalder sequence, and while she’s not the most fluid bar worker, she definitely seems to have improved since we last saw her.

On day 3 there was some leg separation in her stalder full, but again, she was otherwise super clean.

Beam– Standing Arabian (F), bhs (B) + bhs (B) + layout (E), wolf turn full (B), switch half (D), punch front tuck (D) + sissone (A), front aerial (D) + wolf jump (A) + straddle jump (A), switch ring (E), double pike (E)

This is a good set for Bailie, and she manages to hit everything well, aside from a little struggle on the standing arabian landing. There’s a lot of difficulty here on its own, and she’ll add about 0.3 in connection bonus as well, bringing her to about a 6.2 in start value, definitely an increase from last year. There is still a tentative quality but her form for the most part is great.

Floor– Double Arabian (E) + stag (A), Memmel turn (D), double pike (D)

We got to see parts of her floor, and while the form on her double Arabian is a little wonky at the moment, she’s getting some good amplitude in her dance elements and her double pike looked great.

Emily Schild

One of two senior gymnasts added to the national team for the sole purpose of competing in Italy, we haven’t really seen Schild compete in about two years, so I was excited to see how she’s looking. She missed her first senior year in 2014 due to injury, and it’s possible she’s still recovering – she only trained bars and beam in podium training, despite the fact that vault and floor are easily her best events (or were two years ago). She’s very tiny but very powerful, so I hope she’s able to get these two back ASAP.

Psych, they’re back! She did both on day 3, so we’ve added info below.

Vault– DTY

Powerful and clean, just a step to the side.

Bars– Toe on (C) + toe half (C) + front giant (B) + Jaeger (C), toe full (D) + pak salto (D), Maloney (D) + bail (D) + toe shoot (C), full-twisting double layout (E)

I think she seems to struggle a bit here with form, especially on her toe full and Maloney, as there was considerable leg separation for both. But she comes through to show her power on both her huge straddle Jaeger as well as on her effortless full-twisting double layout, so even though it may not be the most impressive bar routine, there are definitely elements that’ll show off her talents. Note…most of her toe-on skills could actually be inbars, but her feet touch the bar and are much more sole circles than true pikes. We wouldn’t credit them as inbars, but we’re also not Nellie Kim…

Beam– Full turn (A), bhs (B) + bhs (B) + layout (E), punch front tuck (D), sheep (D), side aerial (D), switch (C) + back tuck (C), switch side (D), front aerial (D) + sissone (A) + pike jump (A), double tuck (D)

Like bars, there are little bits of excellence in this routine, though she struggles a bit with form once again. She bent her knees on the second back handspring in the flight series which didn’t give her enough of a punch into her layout, causing her to stumble a bit in one training session, there was a missed connection between the front aerial and jump series, and the pike jump itself was low with her legs straddled quite a bit. But she seems very calm and very aggressive, to words that seem to contradict one another, yet work for her.

On day 3, her form was much better on the flight series, though she still had a tiny bit of a stumble on the layout, and she was otherwise solid. She also changed the front aerial to jump series a bit, taking out the messy pike jump and doing a split jump to sissone instead. Same connection value, but a whole lot cleaner.

Floor– double Arabian (E), triple full (E), 2.5 (D) + punch front (B), double tuck (D)

Though she is little, she is fierce. Didn’t Shakespeare say this? She has a lot of power, and she hits really clean skills. I’d say her biggest problem was her triple being a little underrotated, but even that wasn’t really much of an issue…it was short by the smallest of degrees and though she had a little stumble she was quick to control it.

Megan Skaggs

Skaggs was also named to the national team with this assignment, and I was very excited to see it happen. We saw her working everything but floor over the past couple of days, though floor was my favorite of hers last summer (she has some nice big skills there) and I hope we get to see her shine there this weekend.

Vault– DTY

Her form was a little ‘meh’ in the first practice, and her landing could be better, but I’ve seen her hit more solid efforts in the past so I won’t read too much into one vault. Cut to day 3, where she looks pretty fantastic. See? She’ll be great here.

Bars– Toe half (C) + front giant (B) + Jaeger (D), toe full (D) + Tkatchev (D) + pak salto (D), toe on (C) + Maloney (D), double front (D)

I believe it was bars that tripped her up last summer and knocked her down from what was a pretty excellent standing on day one, and there’s not much going on in this routine, where she counts three C elements in addition to a few Ds. But it’s mostly clean…and aside from the leg separation on her pak salto, she seems like she can hit it in her sleep.

Beam– wolf 2.5 (E), front aerial (D) + sissone (A), bhs (B) + loso (C), switch (C) + back tuck (C), side aerial (D), split (A) + wolf (A), switch side (D), side somi (D), double pike (E)

She definitely shows strength here on elements like the wolf 2.5 and the double pike, and I believe she looks like she’s improved here compared to last summer. I think she must be nervous in anticipation of her international debut, however – she had several wobbles (on the flight series, side aerial, and side somi) and just didn’t seem quite as confident as some of her teammates. But it’ll be good to see her get out there and get some experience.

Floor– Double Arabian (E), 1.5 (C) + double tuck (D), Rudi (C), double pike (D)

She did her full floor on day 3. Her double Arabian was a bit deep but stuck and had lovely form, though she did lose steam a bit for her 1.5 through to double back, stumbling on the landing. Her Rudi looked nice, though a bit easy for this level, and she stuck her double pike with no problems.

Article by Lauren Hopkins