Finally we’re able to get to the all-around preview for the women at worlds now that we have at least some of the start lists and can get an idea as to who we’ll actually see in the all-around.

So, to start off, a few gymnasts expected to be in the top eight are no longer going to be competing all four events, including Liu Tingting of China, Eythora Thorsdottir of the Netherlands, and Rebeca Andrade of Brazil.

Both Liu and Thorsdottir have strong enough all-around programs that in this field with so many possibilities, it was possible that both could end up at least close to the podium, if they weren’t exactly frontrunners.

Liu is unfortunately dealing with a foot injury, and while she warmed up a little bit on vault and floor, it was just run-throughs and not actual skills. It’s a bummer, but I’m glad they’re being smart with her and not risking further injury when she has a legitimate shot at beam gold.

As for Thorsdottir, she had a bad catch on her Bhardwaj in training, badly bruising her ribs and making it hard for her to train. Like Liu, she’s focusing on her best events — beam and floor, the events on which she medaled at European Championships this year — with the hopes of making finals in both, so while we’ll miss her in the all-around, it’s probably for the best.

Andrade has been forced to withdraw from the competition entirely due to yet another ACL injury. She has looked great in training this week, but then showed up to podium training and abruptly left without doing a single event. It was super bizarre, but a rep from Brazil later said she was being examined by a trainer to see if she’d be able to perform this week. The trainer determined that the injury was too serious for her to risk competing, and so because we live in a horrifying fever dream, Andrade again will not get to compete at worlds.

What about those who are here? We obviously have to start off with the Americans. No pressure, but Ragan Smith and Morgan Hurd have a legacy to defend, as U.S. gymnasts have won every world and Olympic all-around title since 2011, and in the last quad, were known for getting two women on the podium in every year.

Things don’t seem so absolute for Smith and Hurd this year, though Smith has generally been super consistent in her all-around performances this year, and has a strong enough balance of difficulty and execution to keep her in a good spot under pressure, which is when everyone else tends to melt down.

Hurd lacks experience and has had some issues with consistency this year, but showed major improvement at camp, winning the all-around to prove herself as a major contender for a worlds medal. If she hits in competition, she’s capable of big scores on all of her events, but it’s hitting that will need to happen. I hope it can because Hurd is fabulous and I love seeing the underdog that no one expected to come out and win end up having a breakthrough meet.

The Americans are always the favorites, but the fan favorite this year is Larisa Iordache, who has tried and tried and tried to win a gold medal at worlds, but last quad she had Simone Biles as her biggest competition and could never get close enough to challenge, nor could anyone else. But this year, she comes in with top difficulty and a newfound confidence, so if she hits, she’s going to be almost impossible to beat.

I wouldn’t count either of the Russians out. While Angelina Melnikova looked a little rough in podium training, the Russians never compete full-out in training the way the Americans do. She is nursing a bit of a foot injury, and her form can be a bit rough, but I wouldn’t count her out for the podium if she hits.

Elena Eremina has an even better shot, as she’s generally more consistent and she’s a bit cleaner overall. She struggled with some of her bars skills in the training gyms, but if she just shows up and hits in the final, she has a very strong shot at getting a medal here. What I like about Eremina is that while bars is a great event for her, she’s generally well-balanced across all four and is capable of scores around a 14 or better on everything, which could really help her survive over others who depend mostly on one or two events to get by.

I’m also super into what Mai Murakami can do in the all-around, and hope that she ends up factoring into the equation. The Japanese gymnast looked very serious after podium training, where she was very strong and made only minor mistakes. She’s banking on big vault and floor scores to help her through, but her bars and beam when hit could score well enough to at least carry her through.

Ellie Black is kind of an outside hopeful for a medal compared to the rest of these if everyone hits, but when Black is on fire, she is super capable. Her form could be an issue, but as the home country favorite, Black will feed off of the amazing crowd’s energy, as the Canadian men did when their boys — none of whom is a star the way Black is — competed yesterday. Black excels on beam, but also has strong difficulty on vault and bars, and I think while not a frontrunner, she’s in a great position to take advantage of the stronger gymnasts who tend to get a bit nervous.

Another favorite of mine is Hungary’s Zsofia Kovacs, who got the silver medal at Euros this year after a fantastic week of nonstop fabulous routines. She’s kind of like Eremina in that she doesn’t have any huge scores, but she’s generally consistent enough and balanced enough to make every score look good. Floor has been a weakness for her due to a lack of dance elements, which drag her D score way down in comparison to others, but she’s been working hard on perfecting her elements on bars and beam and she also has a lovely DTY, so on a good day, just hitting floor could be enough.

From France, Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos doesn’t have a single bad event, is clean on every skill, and is so excited to finally get the chance to challenge at a major competition. I’m also hoping Wang Yan of China, the country’s sole all-arounder, has a strong meet after not originally being expected to compete all four events, and my other favorites include Nina Derwael of Belgium, Tabea Alt of Germany, Ana Perez of Spain, Lara Mori of Italy, and Thais Fidelis of Brazil.

Finally, we can’t forget about Amy Tinkler of Great Britain, who hasn’t been at top strength this year, but who can put together a really strong day when she needs to, and she just might do that this week.

By the Numbers | Best All-Around Score

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Meet	Score
1	Larisa Iordache	Romania	Romanian Championships AA	58.466
2	Elena Eremina	Russia	Russian Cup QF	57.900
3	Ragan Smith	United States	U.S. Championships D2	57.850
4	Angelina Melnikova	Russia	Russian Cup AA	57.650
5	Mai Murakami	Japan	NHK Trophy	56.450
6	Zsofia Kovacs	Hungary	Elek Matolay Memorial AA	56.202
7	Ellie Black	Canada	Universiade QF	56.050
8	Morgan Hurd	United States	U.S. Championships AA	55.650
9	Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos	France	French Championships AA	55.450
10	Wang Yan	China	Chinese National Games QF	55.399
11	Tabea Alt	Germany	European Championships QF	54.866
12	Aiko Sugihara	Japan	All-Japan Championships AA	54.450
13	Thais Fidelis	Brazil	Brazilian Championships AA	54.400
14	Marine Boyer	France	French Championships AA	54.050
15	Elisabeth Seitz	Germany	German Championships AA	54.000
16	Georgia-Rose Brown	Australia	Australian Championships AA	53.625
17	Lara Mori	Italy	3rd Italian Serie A	53.500
18	Ana Perez	Spain	Spanish Championships	53.450
19	Amy Tinkler	Great Britain	London World Cup	53.433
20	Barbora Mokosova	Slovakia	Gym Festival Trnava AA	53.333
21	Georgia Godwin	Australia	Australian Championships QF	53.300
22	Rune Hermans	Belgium	FIT Challenge AA	53.265
23	Lorette Charpy	France	French Championships AA	53.250
24	Nina Derwael	Belgium	City of Jesolo Trophy AA	53.200
25	Maellyse Brassart	Belgium	FIT Challenge AA	53.099

By the Numbers | Average Score in 2017

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Score
1	Ragan Smith	United States	57.116
2	Larisa Iordache	Romania	56.972
3	Mai Murakami	Japan	56.325
4	Ellie Black	Canada	55.209
5	Wang Yan	China	55.066
6	Zsofia Kovacs	Hungary	54.904
7	Elena Eremina	Russia	54.638
8	Tabea Alt	Germany	54.553
9	Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos	France	54.379
10	Morgan Hurd	United States	54.229
11	Elisabeth Seitz	Germany	54.000
12	Angelina Melnikova	Russia	53.931
13	Aiko Sugihara	Japan	53.883
14	Thais Fidelis	Brazil	53.517
15	Amy Tinkler	Great Britain	53.433
16	Georgia Godwin	Australia	53.300
17	Georgia-Rose Brown	Australia	53.200
18	Rune Hermans	Belgium	52.833
19	Nina Derwael	Belgium	52.541
20	Marine Boyer	France	52.436
21	Lara Mori	Italy	52.311
22	Maellyse Brassart	Belgium	52.075
23	Lorette Charpy	France	52.037
24	Ana Perez	Spain	51.547
25	Barbora Mokosova	Slovakia	51.244

Article by Lauren Hopkins