Welcome to the live blog for the 2018 American Cup, held in Hoffman Estates, Illinois!

We are sadly NOT live at the Sears Centre Arena this year due to storms canceling all flights out of New York City, but we’re excited to catch the meet streaming online, and hope you bear with us as we try to bring the action to you in our live blog just as we would if we were there.

For live updates, refresh your browser every few minutes, with the most recent updates appearing at the top.

3:02 pm. WAG FINAL STANDINGS

1. Morgan Hurd, United States, 56.599
2. Mai Murakami, Japan, 55.633
3. Maile O’Keefe, United States, 54.365
4. Grace Charpy, France, 52.965
5. Kelly Simm, Great Britain, 51.898
6. Elisabeth Seitz, Germany, 51.866
7. Brooklyn Moors, Canada, 49.498

MAG FINAL STANDINGS

1. Yul Moldauer, United States, 85.964
2. James Hall, Great Britain, 83.297
3. Petro Pakhniuk, Ukraine, 83.064
4. Phillipp Herder, Germany, 81.965
5. Allan Bower, United States, 81.864
6. Kenzo Shirai, Japan, 81.498
7. Sun Wei, China, 80.932
8. Francisco Barretto Jr, Brazil, 78.832
9. Nestor Abad, Spain, 78.432

2:54 pm. Moldauer HB: One-arm giant is nice. Kolman caught a little close, hop full, Rybalko, full-twisting double layout stuck. CHAMP.

2:52 pm. O’Keefe FX: Double arabian to stag, a little low on the landing into the jump. Switch ring to switch half. Stepped out on her pass after that, my feed froze a bit, but she hit her last two passes well.

Morgan finishes with a 56.599. Amazing. She is the queen.

2:48 pm. Hurd FX: EXCELLENT STUCK DOUBLE DOUBLE COLD MY LOOOOOOORD. Double layout, bounced back but nice in the air. Front lay to front double full, knees get a little soft in the layout but the double full is basically stuck, tbt to when that was a worrisome pass??? Finishes with a double pike. THE CHAMP, LADIES AND GENTS.

2:46 pm. Sun HB: Stoop full, huge Yamawaki, rough fall, the bar reverberates for 25 minutes after, and he smacks his chin on the floor HARD when he falls. A funny fall in slo mo though and I hope he goes back and giggles at it later. But prob not for like a year or two. Layout Tkachev to straddle Tkachev half, SITS IT UGH. To go from a steady silver medal position all competition long and then have this happen, I’m destroyed for him. They’re like “we’re just not gonna show you the rest” lol.

55.633 for Mai Murakami!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:43 pm. Murakami FX: Double double with a bounce back. Solid double layout. 2.5 to front full is PERF. Great double pike with a bounce back. The crowd was way too quiet during that routine. What a day for her!!! 14.033

52.965 for Charpy, which should be good enough for at least fourth…and we didn’t see her once.

2:41 pm. Charpy FX: She doesn’t exist according to this broadcast unfortunately. I think she’s the only one that hasn’t been shown on the main feed? Sorry France. This is Freedom Fries all over again.

2:39 pm. Abad HB: Layout Tkachev, layout Tkachev half, stoop half, leg sep, straddle Tkachev half, catches but doesn’t pull hard enough to get back up into handstand, bends his hips and rests his feet on the high bar before coming off. Rybalko, Endo full, full-twisting double layout with a good landing.

Only an 81.498 for Kenzo, I’m depressed

2:33 pm. Shirai HB: Yamawaki, Endo half, Kolman is piked and super close on the catch, gets stuck in his jam to handstand and holds it in a pike for a second but can’t shoot up and ends up taking the fall. 😦 I missed something after that, Kovacs, stalder full, hop on the dismount. Poor baby.

2:30 pm. Moors FX: CRUSH IT BROOKLYN. Front layout to double front, great, better landing than at Elite Canada EFs. Podkopayeva, good landing, chest just down a bit, double attitude turn, switch ring to Ferrari, casual, she’s so perfect at literally everything on floor. Split full to stag ring jump. 2.5 to barani, didn’t quite get enough punch for the full at the end but so happy she finished strong.

2:28 pm. Herder HB: Yamawaki, layout Tkachev, straddle Tkachev, giant full, stoop, Endo full, stoop half is a little late, stalder, lovely double twist in the air on his double layout but he’s a little short on the flip rotation and has a big hop forward.

2:26 pm. Simm FX: Great double layout!!! DAMN. I was kind of like “interesting that she made Commonwealth Games” since she was out for pretty much all of last year and when we did see her she wasn’t at top strength, but tbh she looks so freaking put together, more than she has in her career. Full-in with a step back OOB unfortunately. 1.5 to double tuck is way short. Front tuck through to double pike, much better rotation there. Just those two middle passes but otherwise this was great, very happy for her.

2:25 pm. Bower HB: Yamawaki to Endo half to one-armed giant, stoop half, Kovacs caught super close and he bends his knees as he comes out of it, stalder, full-twisting double layout low with a big hop forward.

2:23 pm. Seitz FX: I love her routine and how much fun she has with it. Front tuck through to double tuck with a hop. Solid double pike, just a little bounce. Split jump full to stag ring jump. Tour jeté half. Double full with some messy legs when she twists but a good landing. Switch ring to switch half. Little Charleston action because she’s high key adorable. Good routine.

2:15 pm. WAG ROTATION 3 STANDINGS

1. Morgan Hurd, United States, 42.566
2. Mai Murakami, Japan, 41.600
3. Maile O’Keefe, United States, 40.899
4. Lorette Charpy, France, 40.099
5. Kelly Simm, Great Britain, 39.432
6. Elisabeth Seitz, Germany, 39.400
7. Brooklyn Moors, Canada, 36.065
8. Fabiane Valentin, Brazil, 14.233
9. Mao Yi, China, 12.900

MAG ROTATION 5 STANDINGS

1. Yul Moldauer, United States, 72.298
2. Sun Wei, China, 69.632
3. Petro Pakhniuk, Ukraine, 69.631
4. James Hall, Great Britain, 69.431
5. Kenzo Shirai, Japan, 69.332
6. Allan Bower, United States, 69.998
7.Philipp Herder, Germany, 68.865
8. Francesco Barretto Jr, Brazil, 66.632
9. Nestor Abad, Spain, 66.099

2:09 pm. Hurd BB: My heart is exploding!!!!!!!!!!! I’m gonna die. EXCELLENT standing full, her chest position is SO GOOD. Side aerial, switch leap to split leap, bhs loso is solid, front aerial, little bobble, split jump to straddle jump, nice amplitude, punch front is so good, my GOD, side split half and she is officially the ONLY PERSON WHO IS ALLOWED TO COMPETE THIS FROM NOW ON, full turn, switch ring, SHE HAS NEVER LOOKED SO CONFIDENT AND SOLID ON EVERY. SINGLE. SKILL. Piked full-in, just a tad low with a step forward. But MY GOD that routine was good. 13.8, so I guess at least they were tough on her too after being tough on Mai.

2:08 pm. Bower PB: Holds a handstand literally 45 degrees short, his straddle salto to his arms is cool, then saltos into a pike sit, double pike with a little slide back. 13.6, way harsh on deductions, even Nastia was like EFF THESE JUDGES.

2:06 pm. Murakami BB: Switch leap mount, punch front pike is golden, bhs loso is solid, switch ring with a little shuffle, side aerial, solid punch front tuck to straddle jump to split jump, awesome, switch half, front aerial, full turn, she downgraded the double that she fell on in Montreal, huge double pike with a rebound back, I love her, she is our queen.

2:04 pm. Pakhniuk PB: Well we get to see another dude on p-bars who isn’t anywhere near the top of the standings so that’s fun for the narrative, nice work from him though, just bent his knees on his last handstand, good landing on his double front half out.

2:03 pm. Shoutout to NBC for cutting Yul off after he’s like “hi to my mom in Colora–” LOLLL. They’re like “shut up.”

2:00 pm. Anyway we missed Lorette’s beam but she got a 12.866 which was the second highest so far after Maile’s. On the men’s side we’ve missed literally every single p-bars routine except Yul’s, but it looks like Francisco Barretto Jr had a nice set…still Yul, Sun, and James for the top three, though, they’re pretty much set for medals at this point and unless Yul falls 33,000 times on high bar, he’s defending dat title.

1:59 pm. Moldauer PH: Oh, p-bars is happening? MAG is a thing??? I wouldn’t have known!!! One-arm spin is nice into his little barani thing. Love his salto work between the bars. Double front half with a tiny bounce. This kid is a literal dream.

1:54 pm. Moors BB: Excellent punch front mount. Bring it back, Brooklyn! Split jump to sissone, switch to switch half, not quite on par with the rotation and ends up a little sideways but she pulls it back, good. Front aerial to front tuck UGHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO, a fall. 😦 Just a little too far to the side, but VERY aggressive in the connection. Full attitude turn, side aerial with a little bobble, Rudi dismount with a slight hop.

1:51 pm. O’Keefe BB: Double wolf turn, a little slow and then she LEANS BACK AND FALLS WHY!!!!! Side aerial into two layout stepouts, wonderful. Nails jump series. Front aerial, bhs bhs layout with a wobble but fights it. Switch ring. Double pike low with a hop back.

Simm BB: I have her going on one feed and O’Keefe on the other. Standing back tuck, front aerial, bobbled into leap series, bhs layout is a little piked. Straight jump full from a sideways position, nice. Double tuck with a step. She’s just doing WORK today.

1:50 pm. Watching meets from home SUCKS TREMENDOUSLY if you can’t tell how much I’m hating life.

We missed Kelly Simm on beam I believe…and I caught a little of James Hall on p-bars, looked good from what I could tell, just a little low on the double front dismount.

1:48 pm. Cool that we saw one routine and then a commercial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1:45 pm. Seitz BB: Layout stepout mount, very stable. Wobble on punch front tuck. Back handspring meant to go into a layout but it’s pretty piked, side split jump half a little low, side somi is good though, full turn with a wobble, switch leap to split jump, side aerial with a check, stuck gainer pike. Well, that could’ve been better if she wanted to stay in the medal hunt, but she didn’t fall at a competition where everyone falls, so good for her. 11.6

1:44 pm. The international feed has said “now on p-bars for Spain, Nestor Abad!” at least 350,000 times in the past minute so congrats for this whole freezing and skipping thing going super well.

1:42 pm. Bundesliga update, Laura Jurca got a 13.05 on vault and an 11.0 on bars, all scores are pretty low. Tisha Volleman only 11.95 on floor and 13.3 on vault, everyone’s prob super downgraded. Kim Bui got a 13.9 on bars, though, so that’s cool, and Janine Berger did bars as well, getting a 13.15.

1:38 pm. WAG ROTATION 2 STANDINGS

1. Morgan Hurd, United States, 28.766
2. Mai Murakami, Japan, 28.000
3. Maile O’Keefe, United States, 27.833
4. Elisabeth Seitz, Germany, 27.800
5. Lorette Charpy, France, 27.233
6. Kelly Simm, Great Britain, 26.799
7. Brooklyn Moors, Canada, 24.599
8. Fabiane Valentin, Brazil, 14.233
9. Mao Yi, China, 12.900

MAG ROTATION 3 STANDINGS

1. Yul Moldauer, United States, 57.798
2. Sun Wei, China, 57.032
3. James Hall, Great Britain, 56.298
4. Allan Bower, United States, 55.232
5. Kenzo Shirai, Japan, 54.832
6. Philipp Herder, Germany, 54.699
7. Petro Pakhniuk, Ukraine, 54.698
8. Francesco Barretto Jr, Brazil, 53.132
9. Nestor Abad, Spain, 52.966

1:36 pm. Murakami UB: Short handstand before toe on to Maloney to Gienger, blind change to piked Jaeger is nice, her arms are nicely extended, straddle Jaeger, toe full a little late, bail to toe shoot, full-in nearly stuck. Handstands were problematic but that was great for her on bars.

So yes, Fabiane Valentin withdrew which is kind of a bummer.

1:35 pm. Herder VT: Handspring double front, really low landing with a hop back.

1:34 pm. Bower VT: Kaz 1.5, a little messier, low on the landing with a wobbled fight to hold his balance.

Charpy UB: toe full, Chow half, toe half to piked Jaeger, Ricna to Pak is great, she looks SO good this season, van Leeuwen, double layout with a little bobble, very nice work and I really like how this routine is constructed! 13.833

1:33 pm. Moors UB: Clear hip full, bends her knees and they drag on the floor but stays on, Maloney to Bhardwaj, some leg sep but nice on the catch, van Leeuwen, clear hip to blind change to Markelov is nice, Moors dismount with a small hop. Shame about that little piece at the beginning, but great recovery.

1:31 pm. Moldauer VT: Kaz 1.5, really nice! Beautiful, just a tiny little baby bounce.

1:26 pm. O’Keefe UB: Toe full with ankles crossed to Chow to Pak to Maloney to low Ricna, but gets it over, just caught close with bent elbows, hop change to piked Jaeger, SUPER close, then catches her ankles on the bar but DOESN’T COME OFF, stalder full, to arabian double front dismount, beautiful in the air and stuck. Her coach is like AWWWWW lol. 13.233.

1:24 pm. Simm UB: Front toe half, nice, to toe full, Chow to Pak, Maloney to clear hip to Ray, VERY nice! Ricna, double layout small hop. Really impressive! 12.966, they went AFTER her.

Sun VT: Hit what I could see on USAG’s frozen international stream, maybe a hop on the landing.

1:21 pm. Hall VT: THEY DIDN’T SHOW IT BYE

Seitz UB: Maloney to Ricna, piked Jaeger, then the stream gave out AND STARTED SHOWING AN AD LITERALLY I’M GOING TO KILL. OKAY, piked Jaeger, Downie to Pak, van Leeuwen is clean, toe full to full in with a hop. 14.2.

1:20 pm. Hurd UB: Komova II to stalder full to Tkachev, nice, Ricna to Pak is great, her Pak has improved so much! Ray to high, inbar half to front giant half, ingar full to full-in with a small hop back, some little things here and there but mostly GREAT work. 14.2

It looks like Fabiane Valentin has scratched???

1:19 pm. Shirai VT: Yurchenko triple full, literally makes it look as easy as a double.

1:15 pm. WAG ROTATION 1 STANDINGS

1. Maile O’Keefe, United States, 14.600
— Mai Murakami, Japan, 14.600
3. Morgan Hurd, United States, 14.566
4. Fabiane Valentin, Brazil, 14.233
5. Kelly Simm, Great Britain, 13.833
6. Elisabeth Seitz, Germany, 13.600
7. Lorette Charpy, France, 13.400
8. Mao Yi, China, 12.900
9. Brooklyn Moors, Canada, 12.433

MAG ROTATION 3 STANDINGS

1. Yul Moldauer, United States, 43.065
2. Sun Wei, China, 42.299
3. James Hall, Great Britain, 41.965
4. Allan Bower, United States, 40.699
5. Phillipp Herder, Germany, 40.299
6. Petro Pakhniuk, Ukraine, 39.932
7. Kenzo Shirai, Japan, 39.766
8. Francesco Barretto Jr, Brazil, 39.466
9. Nestor Abad, Spain, 38.766

1:13 pm. Bower SR: I missed a good amount of this, double front tuck to double front pike to straddle planche, wobbly on handstands before dismount, double double with a step back.

1:12 pm. Okay, I’m turning on the international feed which apparently ISN’T HOT GARBAGE.

1:10 pm. Moors VT: She’s vaulting in the background BUT WE’RE LOOKING AT MAILE’S EAR. The crowd said “WUHHHH” when she landed which didn’t sound great but fingers crossed. Most likely did handspring front lay full, 12.433. 😦

They just showed Morgan’s DTY, just a big hop back, tons of power.

1:09 pm. O’Keefe VT: Mostly DTY with a hop back, ankles are pretty crossed in the air. 14.6 tied Murakami’s even though Murakami’s was 300,000,000% better NBD.

1:06 pm. Moldauer SR: Good work so far, double front to double pike to cross, amazing, straddle planche, legs get a big wonky on a handstand before his giants to double double stuck COLD.

APPARENTLY MORGAN HURD VAULTED BUT WE DIDN’T SEE IT BECAUSE WHY WOULD WE NEED TO???? She got a 14.566, Kelly Simm got a 13.833, and Elisabeth Seitz got a 13.6. So now I get why y’all are perennially annoyed at this broadcast.

1:03 pm. Well that wasn’t so bad. I’m just shocked they wouldn’t want a CEO who could get out there and hammer it into people like “here’s what we’re doing to change.” If anything this shows that the organization is committed more to how they present themselves than changing anything. If they’re afraid she’s going to slip up in a live interview, why not get someone who can stand up and speak like a human person to reassure other human people that they’re doing something that matters?

1:01 pm. There’s a Larry Nassar news break and IT’S IN THE STUDIO MY SHOW FILMED AT. Oh, that wasn’t the point of this update? Andrea Joyce is talking now and said Kerry Perry declined her request for an interview which is like…you’d think she’d want to get out there and be as present as frigging possible?

1:00 pm. Okay there’s a break in coverage right now, but it doesn’t look like anything has happened beyond what I’ve mentioned. I HATE THIS WHOLE “SWITCH FROM OLYMPIC CHANNEL TO NBC SPORTS” NONSENSE.

12:54 pm. Barretto Jr SR: Maltese, clean double tuck to double pike to straddle planche, gets a little wobbly on a handstand after that, second handstand looks a little arched. Piked double front with a little hop. Nice! 13.3.

12:51 pm. Hall SR: Ararian to cross, Maltese is angled a little low, iron cross, double tuck to double pike to stradde planche, good control, handstand near the end gets a tiny bit wobbly, double double with a tiny step. 14.033.

Mao Yi is still on the mat. 😦 Can they not take her out????

12:49 pm. Abad SR: Good Maltese work, just a little arched, double front up into a handstand, double pike up into a straddle planche, double double with a big hop back. 13.733.

We missed Shirai’s routine. And like, every rings routines so far. He got a 13.7.

12:47 pm. Mao VT: DTY, not a great block, rough landing, and hurt her ankle or knee. NOOOOOOOOOO. UGH NO. 12.9.

12:46 pm. Valentin VT: I know they say Brito is her last name officially for the FIG but she uses Valentin personally and I’m gonna ride with her decisions. So excited for her…DTY, leg form is a little messy as she comes in for the landing, step back to control it. 14.233.

12:44 pm. Murakami VT: DTY, huge, super tight and clean in the air, flairs into the landing, bounce back is pretty minor. 14.6!

12:41 pm. MAG ROTATION 2 STANDINGS

1. Yul Moldauer, United States, 28.732
2. Sun Wei, China, 28.166
3. James Hall, Great Britain, 27.932
4. Allan Bower, United States, 27.299
5. Phillipp Herder, Germany, 26.866
6. Francisco Barretto Jr, Brazil, 26.166
7. Petro Pakhniuk, Ukraine, 26.132
8. Kenzo Shirai, Japan, 26.066
9. Nestor Abad, Spain, 25.033

12:38 pm. Pakhniuk PH: My stream keeps freezing but I got it back right as he started. Thanks gym gods. Pretty piked out of his scissors to handstand, Tiny form breaks here and there, hips are SUPER low on his circles into his Russian dismount, just kind of horizontally flies sideways. 13.066.

12:35 pm. Moldauer PH: Scissors are so pretty, right into the flairs, MARRY MEEEEEEE MY GOD, traveling flairs, his extension is SO gorgeous, single pommel skill is nice and controlled, clean handstand up into the dismount, fantastic. WE ARE BLESSEDDDDD. 14.066.

12:32 pm. Sun PH: Scissor into a nice handstand, slow coming back down to the horse, does another one equally well, bends his knees when he starts his circle but somehow fights through it and continues, good, another mistakes where he starts leaning forward and fights through it to stay on, damn, gets into the handstand super easily. Awesome fight. 13.733.

12:30 pm. Barretto Jr PH: Wonky scissors, he’s just a little like…awkward and bumbling? He’s the Hagrid of pommel horse. But a hit routine. 13.466.

12:27 pm. Hall PH: Some simple work at the beginning, Shows good single pommel work, travels well, just a little rushed it seems, slightly muscled handstand into the dismount, mostly solid work for him. 14.166!

12:25 pm. When Tim Daggett talks about his son he means his actual child. When I talk about my son I mean Milad Karimi and Carlos Edriel Yulo.

12:22 pm. Abad PH: Yikes, scissoring (hahaha), he kind of gets stuck mid-scissor and just like, hangs out in a handstand for a second walking back and forth on his hands hahaha. Then he’s like “byeee” and jumps off because there was no saving that. Muscles a handstand out of a scissor, now into his circles, traveling back and forth, super muscles handstand for his flairs, but that was a cool skill, struggles up into the handstand before the dismount as well. 11.6.

12:18 pm. Shirai PH: Scissors up into a handstand, bent knees when he starts his circles, goodness he’s a mess, his legs are everywhere, and then he loses his rhythm and comes off. Comes back with bent knees right away, then loses his rhythm again and comes off a second time. Tbt to last year when Bart Deurloo was last up and came off the horse and the judges thought he was finished and started into the next rotation but Bart just got back up again and kept going LOL. That was hands down my fave American Cup moment in history. #BallsInjury Kenzo’s back up and circles on the POMMELS are better, hits the dismount, but oof. Poor baby. 11.1.

12:16 pm. Herder PH: Scissors up into a handstand back down into scissors then back up to another handstand before he starts swinging. Omg I didn’t know the handles were literally called POMMELS. I just call the handles or rails?? I’M LEARNING SO MUCH. Leg sep on one of his swings after hitting his leg on the horse, travels well though, just some hip pikes and crossed toes, and then muscles handstand a ton before his dismount. 13.3.

12:13 pm. Bower PH: Okay I know zero skills so I’ll just be like “sucky!!!” or “amazing!!!” Scissor skills to start before he moves onto the rails and then onto the horse, traveling goes well, which is apparently a WU, thanks TIM, hips just slightly piked, good handstand up into his dismount, that was actually great. 13.966.

12:12 pm. I actually LOVE Tim’s MAG commentary so much. From now on when I’m at MAG meets I’m going to secretly watch the broadcast as well because Tim adds so much context and information that I would never have known. I think people forget how smart, knowledgeable, and chill he is.

12:09 pm. MAG ROTATION 1 STANDINGS

1. Kenzo Shirai, Japan, 14.966
2. Yul Moldauer, United States, 14.666
3. Sun Wei, China, 14.433
4. James Hall, Great Britain, 13.766
— Phillip Herder, Germany, 13.766
6. Nestor Abad, Spain, 13.433
7. Allan Bower, United States, 13.333
8. Petro Pakhniuk, Ukraine, 13.066
9. Francisco Barretto Jr, Brazil, 12.700

12:08 pm. Little Bundesliga update for you during the commercial break…Laura Jurca got an 11.5 on floor, ugh, I just want her to be amazing?? She’s still repping Ulm, which I believe was second-league last season. Moving on up. Highest score so far is a 12.85 for Sidney Hayn’s vault.

12:06 pm. Moldauer FX: Randi to start, nice. Double arabian half-out, stuck cold. Front double full to stuck front full, amazing. Air flairs like a BOSS, beautiful as always. 2.5 to barani is stuck. HIS LANDINGS. Stuck perfect double full, my goodness GRACIOUS YUL. Triple full to finish, clean, tiny baby bounce. Beautiful genius. 14.666.

12:04 pm. Sun FX: Piked double front, little slide and a large step back. Double double layout, YAS. Great landing and it’s GORGEOUS in the air. Front double full to front full is also nice. Double double with a tiny bounce back. 2.5 to stuck barani. I was rooting for him so hard last year and he imploded basically everywhere but he looks GOO-OOOD today. Triple full, very pretty in the air, whips it around for a solid landing. He clapped for himself at the end BLESS BLESS BLESS. 14.433!!!

12:01 pm. Barretto Jr FX: Tucked double front, very low but stands it up. Front double full with a hop to the side. 1.5 to front full with a little baby hop. Clean double full side pass with a slight hop. 2.5 short with a stumble over. This guy is literally ginormous, THOSE ARMS. I want a piggy back ride. 12.7.

11:58 am. Hall FX: Please be brilliant today James??? OKAY? Double double, chest down and a step back but mostly nice. Tucked full-in with a tiny little slide on the landing. Front double full to barani, stuck. Double full a tad short with a hop. 2.5 to barani. Triple full with a slight hop to the side. Prob the cleanest set yet. 13.766.

11:55 am. Abad FX: Front layout to double front, hard to tell if it was meant to be tucked or piked because his knees were bizarre. I missed his second pass, something tucked and twisted, prob a full-in? Hopped back. 2.5 to tuck front full. Double arabian is low with a big hop to the side. Triple full to finish is beautiful in the air, slightly short with a big hop over as well. 13.433.

11:50 am. Shirai FX: This is gonna be harder for me to catch everything he does than it is for him to physically do. Triple double layout, just a tad short. Then does it in the tucked position, better. 2.5 to Randi I think, I def didn’t get his pass after that, front tuck full through to front double full maybe? God I hate you for these twists. 3.5 to barani is a little short. Quad to finish is underrotated by at least a quarter, hops it around to finish. Tim is thinking they’ll credit the quad as a 3.5, which he did earlier, so he wouldn’t get D credit, but I think he’d still have the highest D score here by like 75 points. In the replay, his feet are almost in position for a 3.5 but he hops it so quickly it’s hard to say if the judges will be able to catch it in real time. 14.966, 7.1 D, so they gave him the quad. Tim is like “HE ESCAPED PERIL” lmao I love him. #DRAMA

11:47 am. Herder FX: Oh gosh everyone trying to do the German accent on HERDER, just say it the Americanized way. Dowell, better landing than Bower’s, but his knees are pretty soft. 2.5 to front full, ankles are helicoptery. 1.5 to Rudi is also pretty sloppy. Nice flairs. Easy and clean double full side pass. Super helicoptered triple full, with a hop. 13.766.

11:44 am. Bower FX: Long wait for Pakhniuk’s score. Opens with a DOWELL, which yes, I’m going to call it a Dowell in MAG as well. Low landing. Double double stuck cold, nice. Front double full to front half, not bad, but then he’s weirdly way short on his double full side pass, the easiest in his program. 1.5 to front full, a little fight on the landing. 2.5 with a hop forward. 13.333.

11:40 am. Pakhniuk FX: Double double half-out which is crazy. Super low with a hop back. I missed the second pass, Randi maybe? Then he sat the front double full out of a 1.5. Double double which has a shaky landing. 2.5 side pass, and triple full to finish, a bit short. 13.066. Why don’t they put the D score?? They have this crazy system but don’t tell you the D?

11:39 am. The first in the Bundesliga and Serie A meets are happening as we speak as well, so occasionally if anything exciting happens I’ll update you. Gaia Nesurini, who competed for Switzerland at YOGs in 2014, competed in the second league at Bundesliga this morning and I was SO EXCITED but unfortunately she’s not quite where she once was. But I love her style.

11:37 am. I can’t remember the last time I watched a legit broadcast of a meet without being there. It feels so weird! Anyway, Al Trautwig is gone, replaced by a new dude whose name I didn’t catch…oh, it’s Steve Schlanger. So far he seems pretty chill and respectful, which is a HUGE UPGRADE lmao.

11:32 am. Athletes are marching out now! I just realized the saddest thing about not being there in person this year is missing out on on seeing my favorite person on the planet, Elvira Saadi.

MORGAN HURD WITH ALL THE CHEERS BECAUSE SHE’S A SUPERSTAR. So excited for Maile O’Keefe’s senior debut as well. Goodness, I love them both.

11:30 am. How excited are we for the American Cup?!?!? I mean…MORGAN HURD. BROOKLYN MOORS. It’s almost like the gym gods were like “Lauren, would you like a competition that’s just for you?” and I was like “why yes, I’d love it, thanks.”

Anyway, if you’re a little behind in your gym this season and want a preview, we’ve got you covered.

Article by Lauren Hopkins