Shang Chunsong, the 20-year-old from Hunan province, won her second national all-around title in as many years in Hefei earlier today, reaching a 59.55 to top the podium by over a point.

Beginning on vault, Shang looked a little short on her FTY, but landed with no problems, earning a 13.8. She went on to get a 15.4 on bars, a score which included a one-tenth stick bonus. Her Shang to pak looked especially strong, and she also hit her shaposh to Gienger, Ono to Healy to huge straddle Jaeger, and full-in dismount excellently.

Shang showed excellent work on beam, nailing her bhs bhs layout into her jump series effortlessly before going on to hit a huge switch half, a clean bhs loso, a punch front tuck, a controlled double spin, a front aerial to sheep jump, a side aerial to sissone, and a high near-stuck triple full dismount, earning a 15.5, which included two tenths in bonus. She finished things off on floor with a 3.5 to punch front, a 1.5 through to triple to punch front, a 2.5 to barani, and a low double pike to finish. There were another two tenths in bonus here, bringing her to 14.85 to wrap things up.

Following the competition, Shang said she wasn’t really satisfied with floor, where she was a tiny bit short on a couple of passes and wasn’t as energetic in her performance as a whole. “With the back-to-back competitions, I’m a bit tired and wasn’t at my best,” she told the press afterwards, adding that her biggest wish is to make it on the podium this season. With China looking as strong as they do right now, they’ll definitely be there as a team, but Shang herself is now looking like a medal contender in several finals and will hopefully see her wish come true.

Mao Yi was a surprise second-place finisher after landing the only hit DTY of the competition, as everyone else with this vault ended up crashing. Mao’s was one of her better attempts, looking clean in the air and upright on the landing, which barely had a bobble, getting a 15.4 with a two-tenth bonus. She was actually pretty heavily spotted on bars, on nearly all of her skills, including her Tkachev to pak, Maloney, and Jaeger before hitting a clean double layout. With this as her weakness, she only managed a 13.05 here, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was partly due to coach interference, but it was steady enough all things considered.

Her beam, which picked up two tenths in bonus, included a solid roundoff layout, a side somi with a slight wobble, a clean side aerial, a switch leap to wolf jump, a clean switch half to sheep jump (perhaps a tiny bit slow, a double turn, and a low triple full dismount with a step forward, for a 14.45. Mao finished on floor, once again killing it, this time for a 15.2 (including three tenths in bonus) for her perfect 3.5 to punch front, a 1.5 through to low triple but she still managed to punch out nicely into the tuck, a 2.5 to barani, a lovely quad turn, and a double tuck with a tiny step to finish.

At the end of the day, Mao had a 58.15 in the all-around. She was proud of her work on floor, but was even happier about managing to show consistency on bars and beam, which have generally been problems for her. She noted that there was a good deal of pressure coming into this meet, since it’s one of the greatest deciding factors for the team going to Rio, but said her confidence got her through. “Compared to last year, I did much better. I’m more mature and more in control.” While Mao was once not even considered a front-runner for the Olympic team, her growth has pushed her into the mix and she’s now becoming one of the locks as we get closer to Rio.

First-year senior Liu Tingting was a bit disappointed in placing third, as her crashed DTY and a weak performance on beam set her back, putting her at a 57.95 all-around just two tenths behind Mao. “I felt my performance was just average,” she admitted. “I didn’t feel like I was mentally at the point where I wanted to be. Vault was a failure, and beam wasn’t my best, but I’m confident that I’ll be in consideration for Rio.”

Liu was one of many who crashed DTYs today, leaving some fans speculating about problems with the vault itself. She had only a 14.1 there, including a two-tenth bonus, but shook it off and managed to go on to pick up a 15.3 for her lovely set on bars. There, Liu showed a Maloney to pak to stalder to Chow to Gienger, all of which looked fantastic, before going on into her front pirouetting (Ono, Healy, and 1.5) and then her clean and near-stuck double layout dismount. It was a nice comeback after her fall, saying a lot about her maturity under pressure.

She only had a 14.3 on beam, however, which – as she said – was a bit uncertain. She hit the front handspring to front tuck, but missed the connection into the jumps, showing her first hesitation from the start. She also missed the connection between the switch ring and sheep, had a check on her ring leap, a small bobble on her turn, and her front aerial to switch leap to back tuck was super slow throughout, with likely none of those connections credited. She did have a nice split leap to side aerial to sissone, and her double tuck dismount was very clean, but overall you could see the nerves showing, which didn’t bode well for her d-score.

On floor, Liu earned a 14.25 for a hit routine that included a triple full to punch front tuck, a double L turn, a 2.5 landed with a little bounce, a double attitude turn to full pirouette, and stuck double tuck. Her performance itself stood out here, showing tons of energy and sass as well as a good command of the arena, which you don’t generally see from the Chinese on this event.

Wang Yan finished in fourth place just a tenth behind Liu with a 57.85. The 16-year-old hit her tsuk double full a little short with a step over the line for a 15.1, which included three tenths in bonus. Her bars weren’t bad, with her best work coming on her weiler to front giant to weiler half, and she also caught her Jaeger, a much cleaner pak than yesterday, and hit a clean and stuck double layout for a 13.75 total, a good job considering this is her weak event.

Unfortunately, she did have a fall on beam, missing her barani right off the bat, but she came back to absolutely nail the rest with a fire I hadn’t yet seen from her. She went on to hit her switch to sheep jump, a solid roundoff layout, a strong punch front, a clean front aerial with a missed connection into the switch half, a switch to wolf jump, a controlled full turn, and well-rotated triple full, with her chest only slightly low on the landing for a 13.9 (including two tenths in bonus). She wrapped things up on floor with a slightly low double double, a 1.5 through to triple full to stuck punch front, a 2.5 to stuck barani, and a perfectly stuck double pike to finish. Her score here was a 15.0, but included five tenths of bonus thanks to the difficulty level of her opening pass and all of her great landings.

In addition to the top four, last year’s worlds alternate Zhu Xiaofang had a rough day with a crashed FTY, a fall on her full-in dismount on bars, several big wobbles and missed connections on beam, and a hit but easy floor routine. New senior Luo Huan had some decent work but a few short or late handstands on bars and a hit beam with a low double pike dismount for a 14.35.

Finally, the teeny tiny 2002-born Li Qi didn’t have the best day, finishing with a 54.4 after crashing her DTY and falling on her bhs bhs layout series on beam in addition to having some extra swings on bars. Her beam aside from the fall was excellent, however, featuring some of the quickest connections ever on her switch to back tuck, front aerial to jump series, Onodi to sheep jump, and side aerial to sissone; she also had a big double pike dismount, though took a step on the landing there. Her floor was also pretty solid, earning a 13.9 with four hit passes, though a couple were a wee bit short.

Two notably missing from today’s competition were Fan Yilin and Tan Jiaxin, neither of whom competed in the all-around during yesterday’s qualifications. Both will appear in the apparatus finals this weekend, and should factor highly into the Olympic team decision.

Article by Lauren Hopkins