In elite gymnastics, a lot of focus is often put on the difficulty level of a gymnast's routine. In the U.S. in particular, where there is so much depth of talent, gymnasts are always trying to increase their D-score to stay competitive. There's no doubt that high difficulty is important, but execution is equally (and some might argue, more) important. Adding a lot of tough skills to a routine if they are not executed properly is often not worth it - a gymnast's E-score will cancel out any benefits that a high D-score might have.

In our previous posts, we looked at the highest D-scores in the U.S. at the moment on each event. This time, we're looking at the highest execution scores and recognizing those gymnasts who have top notch form. For the purposes of this exercise, we have considered all current members of the U.S. National Team (including those juniors who are seniors this year but were named to the junior national team in 2015), and we've looked back at all major competitions over the past year.

We're starting with execution on vault - check out our top five vaulters below.

5. Bailie Key

Although it's been a while since she last competed, Bailie Key showcased consistently high execution scores on vault last year at Classics and Nationals. Her highest execution score came at Nationals when she notched a 9.45 for her double twisting Yurchenko, resulting in a total score of 15.25. Check out her vault from this competition below:

4. Nia Dennis

Nia Dennis is another National Team member who hasn't competed in a while due to injury. Like Key, Dennis competed last year at both Classics and Nationals, and she competed a sky-high double twisting Yurchenko for her vault. She got her highest execution score at Nationals, where she scored a 9.5, totaling a 15.3 for her vault score. Check out her vault from Nationals below:

3. Gabby Douglas

Gabby Douglas has had her fair share of competitions this year in an attempt to make a comeback for the Rio Olympics. Starting with Classics last year, she's competed at five major competitions since then. Although she was once capable of performing the Amanar back in 2012, she has stuck to a double twisting Yurchenko so far this year, putting up a solid performance in each competition. Douglas' vault has scored highly with both domestic and international judges, as well. In fact, her top execution scores have come in international meets - World Championships in 2015 and Jesolo this past March, where she notched a 9.5 both times to score a total 15.3. Check out her vault below from Jesolo:

2. Maggie Nichols

Maggie Nichols is often talked about as being one of the most improved gymnasts over the past few years, and vault is one of those events that she has improved on dramatically. She started competing the Amanar vault last year, and despite the higher difficulty, she does fairly well in her execution of the vault. Nichols unfortunately injured her meniscus while warming up this vault at a recent camp, and she performed just a double twisting Yurchenko at her last competition, the American Cup. Regardless, her execution on vault is top notch. Check out her Amanar from Nationals last year, where she scored her highest execution at 9.55 for a total score of 15.85.

1. Simone Biles

Surprise, surprise - guess who is at the top of our list? Simone Biles hardly needs any introduction when it comes to her vaults. She performs two of the toughest vaults in the world - the Amanar and her recently introduced Cheng - and she competes them with the best execution in the world as well. Biles has scored high on her E-scores both domestically and internationally as well. Her highest international score came at World Championships last year, when she got a 9.7 in team finals. Her highest E-score in the past year was a massive 9.9 on her Amanar at Nationals last year. Check out that vault below:





Related:
Understanding the E-score in Elite Gymnastics: Vault
The Best on the Floor: The Top D-scores
The US Beamers: The Top D-scores