Greta Krob, Simone Rose, Caroline Moreau, Claire Pease, Reese Esponda, Charleigh Bullock, and Hezly Rivera (photo courtesy of USA Gymnastics)

A roundup of this week’s news, competitions, social media gossip, and more!

In the News

U.S. updates national teams, names international teams. Following this weekend’s Winter Cup, USA Gymnastics made early season updates to its WAG and MAG national teams and also selected the athletes for a variety of international assignments coming this spring.

Introducing the national teams:

• Senior WAG National Team: Skye Blakely, Charleigh Bullock, Dulcy Caylor, Reese Esponda, Jayla Hang, Gabrielle Hardie, Greta Krob, Caroline Moreau, Claire Pease, Hezly Rivera, Joscelyn Roberson, Simone Rose, Leanne Wong
• Senior MAG National Team: Crew Bold, Taylor Burkhart, Brandon Dang, Asher Hong, Patrick Hoopes, Josh Karnes, Danila Leykin, Riley Loos, Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Kameron Nelson, Dante Reive, Fred Richard, David Shamah, Parker Thackston, Donnell Whittenburg
• Senior MAG Development Team: Sasha Bogonosiuk, Jun Iwai, Preston Ngai, Nathan Roman
• Junior WAG National Team: Espy Chang, Aulya Daniels, Avery Haines, Amariah Moore, Amia Pugh-Banks, Kylie Smith, Cassie Tan, Addalye VanGrinsven, Audrey VanGrinsven, Sydney Williams

And here are all of the spring international assignments!

• American Cup: Charleigh Bullock, Asher Hong, Danila Leykin, Yul Moldauer, Claire Pease, Hezly Rivera
• Antalya World Cup: Brandon Dang, Patrick Hoopes, Donnell Whittenburg
• Cairo World Cup: Crew Bold, Patrick Hoopes, Parker Thackston
• Osijek World Cup: Brandon Dang, Kameron Nelson, Donnell Whittenburg
• City of Jesolo Trophy: Charleigh Bullock, Reese Esponda, Avery Haines, Greta Krob, Caroline Moreau, Amia Pugh-Banks, Simone Rose, Kylie Smith, Addalye VanGrinsven, Audrey VanGrinsven, Sydney Williams
• DTB Pokal Team Challenge: Andres Aranda, Cooper Gunderson (reserve), Jason Hao, Asher Hong, Josh Karnes, Jakson Kurecki, Danila Leykin, Bo McCrea, Nixon Miles, Yul Moldauer, Kameron Nelson
• International Gymnix: Espy Chang, Aulya Daniels, Amariah Moore, Amia Pugh-Banks
• Grizzly Classic: Peyton Boerner, Hunter Egan, Cooper Gunderson, Elijah Gutierrez, Jovan Jimeno

Competition Updates

Cottbus World Cup kicks off worlds qualifications. A lot happened at this weekend’s Cottbus World Cup, but the most important takeaway from this competition is that we now have the first leaders in the world championships qualification process! For a brief refresher, gymnasts who compete at world cups receive points that coincide with their rank, and at the end of the six-meet series, the top-ranked eligible gymnasts will qualify as specialists to worlds this year.

Currently leading the WAG rankings after winning gold this weekend are Elisa Iorio of Italy on bars, Sugihara Aiko of Japan on beam, and Anna Kalmykova of Russia (competing “neutrally”) on vault and floor, while for MAG, Artem Dolgopyat of Israel leads floor, Gabriele Targhetta of Italy leads pommel horse, Artur Avetisyan of Armenia leads rings, Nazar Chepurnyi of Ukraine leads vault, and Kawakami Shohei of Japan leads parallel bars and high bar.

Most of these athletes will end up not eligible to qualify as specialists, however, as nearly all of their programs are likely to qualify full teams through the continental championships. Among these, I think most likely to rely on the world cup circuit are Avetisyan and Chepurnyi, and then possibly also Dolgopyat if the Israeli team ends up not qualifying and if he opts to not attempt all-around qualification via Euros.

We’re tracking the world cup rankings and point system all season, so be sure to keep an eye on our trackers! [WAG Rankings] [MAG Rankings] [WAG Results] [MAG Results]

Rivera, Richard win Winter Cup, 13 WAG athletes qualify to nationals. I headed down to Louisville for the Winter Cup this weekend, which was a lot of fun even with an unexpected three additional days in Kentucky as a result of every single flight back to NYC getting canceled due to the blizzard.

The WAG fields were pretty small, especially in the senior competition, but there was a lot I was excited to see live, including the return of Hezly Rivera after she bowed out of the worlds selection process last season. She looked fabulous, solid, and controlled to win the all-around with a 56.750, while first-year senior Charleigh Bullock was stunning to get the silver with a 55.200, and Claire Pease fought through a fall on her bars dismount to win bronze with a 54.350. In the junior competition, Kylie Smith won the all-around title with a 52.700 after an especially great performance on bars, while Amia Pugh-Banks showed a powerful Yurchenko double full to win silver with a 50.950, and Addalye VanGrinsven got the bronze with a 50.500.

All of these athletes also qualified to national championships, as did Reese Esponda, Greta Krob (on vault, bars, and beam only), and Caroline Moreau in the senior field along with Espy Chang, Aulya Daniels, Avery Haines, and Sydney Williams in the junior field.

Fred Richard, who missed out on worlds last year, easily won the senior MAG title with an 84.359, which without bonus is an 83.650. Yul Moldauer in his first major competition back since his suspension ended won the silver with a 79.710 (a 79.100 without bonus), looking especially great on parallel bars, while Stanford standout David Shamah won the bronze with a 79.608 (or a 79.200 without bonus). [WAG Results] [MAG Results]

Cheetham, Ward are Scotland’s national champs. Former English gymnast Ellie Cheetham, who came out of retirement and back to training just three months ago after retiring seven years ago, won her first Scottish national title with a 46.900, making her a surprise frontrunner for the country’s Commonwealth Games team! The WAG podium race was a close one overall, with Cassie Taylor winning silver with a 46.700 while Lottie Smith won the bronze with a 46.600. Jessica Gow won the junior title with a 45.750, and Olivia Murphy won the aspire title with a 42.900.

On the MAG side, Reuben Ward put up a massive 81.002 to win the gold, showing an incredible routine on pommel horse that earned a 14.734 in the all-around competition and a 15.067 in the apparatus final. Also on the senior podium were Cameron Lynn with a 78.768 for silver and Hamish Carter with a 76.701 for bronze, while the junior and youth champions include Caiden-Jay Malone (U18) with a 72.103, Ryan Nicholson (U16) with a 71.003, Jared Tobias (U14) with a 67.268, and Kruz Gebbie (U12) with a 61.436. [WAG Results] [MAG Results]

Font leads Egiba to first Spanish League win. Many of Spain’s top elites, along with a bunch of international guests, came out to compete in the first Spanish League series meet, where Egiba won the first division team title ahead of L’Hospitalet. Laia Font was the strongest all-arounder of the meet with a 51.133, leading Egiba to their victory. Second-place L’Hospitalet’s strongest standout was Marina Escudero with a 50.567, though the best all-around score of the day came from European medalist Alba Petisco, who scored a 52.667 to lead Les Moreres to the top team score in the second division.

Notable international guests included Djenna Laroui of France, who put up a 13.5 on vault and a 13.733 on bars for Palma, 2024 Olympian Tisha Volleman of the Netherlands, who wasn’t in top shape but still cranked out three scores for Egiba, and Alva Eriksson of Sweden, who helped Les Moreres out with a 12.9 on bars and an 11.967 on beam. [Results coming soon!]

Ticknor qualifies elite in Louisville. In her first attempt at elite qualification at the Winter Classic national qualifier last week, junior Lily Tickor became the only athlete among 17 hoping to earn elite scores to make it happen, also getting a last-minute Winter Cup spot just a couple of days before that competition, where she went on to place 13th. Another five athletes qualified to the Hopes levels, including Kyndall Keys, Lindy Reynolds, Harper Usseglio, Kinslee Seifert, and Piper Graves. [Recap] [Results] [Elite Tracker]

Army defeats Simpson in close match. With most U.S. guys focused on the Winter Cup last weekend, we only saw one NCAA match on the MAG side, with Army traveling to Simpson and eking out a win by just over a tenth in a rare close race. [Results]

Upcoming Meets

English Championships. The English Championships will be held this weekend, with the WAG aspire and MAG youth competitions happening on Friday, the WAG senior, MAG senior, and MAG U18 competitions on Saturday, and the WAG junior and MAG U16 competitions on Sunday.

Most exciting is Becky Downie on the roster, which would be our first glimpse at her since the 2024 Olympic Games and her announcement that she would be coming out of retirement, so fingers crossed this ends up happening! Same goes for Max Whitlock on the MAG roster. He was also on the list for Wales a couple of weeks ago, but ended up not competing, so hopefully second time is the charm.

Other names of note for WAG are 2025 world floor medalist Abi Martin, last year’s English and British champ Alia Leat, and Olympian Jennifer Gadirova, who recently made a comeback as a guest at the Welsh Championships, on every apparatus but floor. For MAG, we’ll get 2025 world medalists Jake Jarman, Luke Whitehouse, and Joe Fraser, and their Jakarta teammates Courtney Tulloch, Harry Hepworth, and Alexander Yolshin-Cash.

All live scores, schedule details, and streaming information will be available through GymData.

Serie A. The first of Italy’s Serie A league competitions this season takes place in Modena this Saturday! The Italian federation’s article has links to the full list of teams and athletes expected to compete, you can watch the A2 competition at 9 am and the A1 competition at 2:30 pm local time on Sportface TV (you have to register to watch, but it’s free), and live scores will be available through LiveGym.

Top 12 Series 3. The third MAG regular season meet for the Top 12 league in France will take place on February 28, with Sotteville at Vallauris, Franconville at La Madeleine, Noisy le Grand at Antibes, and Bourges at Orléans. More details are available on the competition website, including full team rosters for each meet-up.

NCAA Week 8. Things are picking up again in NCAA MAG competition now that the Winter Cup is over! On Saturday, we’ll see Stanford back at home to host Cal and Oklahoma back at home to host Nebraska as the two top draws for the night, while Illinois will host Greenville and Navy and Ohio State will host Army and William & Mary that afternoon. There’s also a Sunday afternoon meet, with Penn State hosting Springfield College. Links to live stats and streams (if available) are all on Road to Nationals.

Must-See Content

Ally Damelio debuts a Seitz! This bars routine as a whole was a rough one for Ally Damelio at the Winter Cup, as she first came off when she wasn’t able to get her opening Weiler to handstand and then she sat her double front dismount, BUT I loved getting the debut of her Seitz, which she caught and connected to a Pak! Once she puts it all together, this will be such a great routine overall.

Article by Lauren Hopkins