There wasn’t a huge field in the senior division of this year’s South Korean Championships, held on May 1 in Yanggu-eup, and from the looks of it the country is continuing to struggle with getting strong performances from its gymnasts who were once a top 16 program in the world but now just don’t have the difficulty or strength to contend.

With injuries from top gymnasts hampering South Korea’s performance at the Olympic Test Event last year, and a number of retirements from top gymnasts since then, the best in the country right now is Kim Jury, a first-year senior with almost no competitive experience under her belt.

Earning a 47.275, Kim also put up the highest scores on beam and floor, where she earned a 12.15 and a 12.225 respectively, and she had the second-best score of the meet on vault with a 13.075. Bars was her only weakness, though it was a rough competition for everyone on that event as not a single score broke past the 11.0 mark, a dismal number as they’ll go into Asian Championships this month unable to challenge at all if they can’t figure out how to fix it.

Yang Semi, 16, was the silver medalist with a 46.325 and top vaulter with a 13.3, newcomer Seong Gaeun was third with a 45.325, 2016 Olympian Lee Eunju was fourth with a 44.075 and the top bars score of 10.375, Byeon Jeonghwa was fifth with a 42.875, and Yun Boeun was sixth with a 40.125.

Of these, 18-year-old Lee just happened to have a bad meet in addition to being pretty heavily downgraded across the board. With multiple falls across all events but floor, Lee is capable of scoring at least five points higher than she did here, and should headline both the Asian Championships team as well as this year’s worlds team once she’s back in top shape.

This was Lee’s first meet since Rio, where she won everyone’s heart as she asked North Korea’s Hong Un Jong to take a selfie, crossing the political minefield that is North and South Korean relations. It’s expected that she won’t be at full strength right off the bat, but she’s really all South Korea has at the moment, so hopefully she will be able to come back strong in the coming months.

As for the rest, it’s hard to say how they’ll be able to improve in the coming months having not seen any video of their performances here, but based on how the rest of the world looks, if they can’t make improvements going toward the 2018 season, South Korea is going to find qualifying to the next stage in the Olympic process incredibly difficult, a huge letdown after making it so far last quad.

Full results from the competition are available here.

Article by Lauren Hopkins