The Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships will take place from April 8-10 in Everett, Washington. The competition includes member federations from the Pacific Alliance of National Gymnastics Federations (PANGF) and takes the form of a team competition, all-around competition and apparatus finals.

In artistic gymnastics, this competition normally comprises both juniors and seniors with a limit of three seniors. But since this is an Olympic year, the rules are modified so that a team may bring any number of seniors. 

It will be an exciting competition that will mark the international elite debut of many of the world's top performers. We have provided a preview below of what you can expect and which competitors to look out for in the women's artistic field. 
 

Format

 
The format of the team competition is modified 6-5-4: a team of six athletes, with five scores that could count for the team. Out of those five, the best four scores will count. A sixth gymnast may compete on each event unofficially for the team, and that gymnast’s scores will be eligible for the individual all-around and event finals. The all-around rankings are determined from the team competition.
 
For apparatus finals, the top eight junior athletes (max two per country) and top eight senior athletes (max two per country) will advance to finals.
 

Team Competition Predictions

 
The U.S. team will be the favorite to take the team gold medal. In addition to three-time world champion Simone Biles, the team is comprised of Olympic and World medalist Aly Raisman; World medalists Ashton Locklear and Brenna Dowell; junior national champion Laurie Hernandez; and junior national beam and floor champion, Ragan Smith. Smith and Hernandez also won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the City of Jesolo Trophy in March.
 
Canada and Australia will also battle it out for medals. Canada's team consists of Megan Roberts, who captured the silver medal in the all-around at Elite Canada earlier this year; Shallon Olsen, Elite Canada vault gold medalist; and Brittany Rogers, a member of the 2012 Olympic team and 2015 Worlds team. Rose Kaying-Woo, Meixi Semple and Kirsten Peterman will round out the team. 

Australia's team will be led by veteran Emily Little, a member of the 2012 Olympic team and three-time World team member. Teammate Larissa Miller also brings years of experience as a four-time World team member. Also competing is Georgia-Rose Brown, a two-time world team member who helped capture the bronze medal at last year's Pacific Rim Championships.  

Top Competitors to Watch For

One of the top competitors to watch for is of course Simone Biles. This is Biles' first competition since the 2015 World Championships, and she'll debut a few new skills -- most notably, the Cheng vault. Combining the Amanar and Cheng vaults in event finals will put Biles up in serious medal contention when it comes time for Rio. She also has a new floor routine, and she'll use this competition to test the dance elements on international judges. Check out USA Gymnastics' video of Biles performing the Cheng in practice in Everett:




Another vaulter to pay attention to is Australia's Emily Little, who performs an impressive double-twisting Yurchenko. She performed this vault at Worlds last year and scored a high 9.0 in execution. Little also shows huge power on floor -- check out her routine below from podium training at 2015 Worlds:



Other top floor performers include Biles, Aly Raisman and Ragan Smith from the U.S. team. Raisman achieved the top score on floor at Jesolo in March, competing with a 6.1 difficulty level, same as teammate Smith. Smith showed off a fun, new floor routine at Jesolo that seems to fit her personality perfectly. 

On uneven bars, Canada's Brittany Rogers will be one of the top competitors. Rogers competed with a 6.3 difficulty level at Worlds and has kept tough skills in her routine during her NCAA season with Georgia. Australia's Larissa Miller will also be one to watch with a 6.1 D-score and unique connections like a Ricna to a Gienger between the bars. The U.S. has a number of strong bar workers, including Ashton Locklear and Brenna Dowell. Locklear recently received the top score on bars at Jesolo, with a 6.5 D-score and impressive 9.15 in execution. Dowell is capable of performing an even higher difficulty routine -- she notched a 6.7 D-score at 2015 P&Gs, but had an unfortunate fall at Worlds later that year. She'll look to post a strong performance in this event at Pac Rims. Check out her huge routine from podium training at 2015 Worlds below:



 
USA's Laurie Hernandez will also be exciting to watch. She placed second in the all-around at the recent National Team Camp, and she put up a solid performance at Jesolo. Beam is one of her strongest events, where she competes with a 6.4 D-score. She finished first in this event at Jesolo. Teammate Smith finished just behind her with an equally difficult routine, although we know she has been training a Patterson dismount, so it will be interesting to see if she chooses to debut this in Everett. 

Check out Hernandez's solid beam routine from Jesolo below:



Be sure to check out the Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships live on USA Gymnastics' YouTube channel this weekend. FloGymnastics will also prove live updates of the competition here.


Related:
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2016 U.S. Pacific Rim Championships Team Announced
Biles to Debut New Rio-Inspired Floor Routine & Cheng Vault at Pac Rims
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US Men's Team Named for 2016 Pacific Rim Championships