Top Ten Takeaways from the U.S. Women's Podium Training

Oct 1, 2014 by Becca Reed

The official podium training for the U.S. women was held today and here are our top ten takeaways from the practice session. The girls on the team are Alyssa Baumann, Simone Biles, Madison Desch, Madison Kocian, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross, and Mykayla Skinner.

1. The girls went through line-up today and the order is likely a preview for team qualifications. The format for qualifications is 6-5-4: six on a team, five up on each event, and four scores count. The U.S. will start on beam.

Beam:

Skinner, Kocian, Baumann, Biles, Ross, Locklear, Desch

Floor:

Kocian, Baumann, Ross, Skinner, Biles, Desch

Vault:

Kocian, Baumann, Ross, Skinner, Biles, Desch

Bars:

Skinner, Biles, Ross, Kocian, Locklear, Desch

2. Team USA hit 20 for 20 routines out of the first five gymnasts for each event. There was only one fall out of all 27 routines (counting everyone who put up a full routine and the two vaults from Biles and two vaults from Skinner).

3. RED leos! The team strayed from their usual pink and they looked sharp in their red long sleeve leos. The coaches matched in bright red jackets.

4. Biles is ready to defend her title. At training today she proved why she deserves another Worlds title. She not only had incredible routines but was calm, composed, and stepped up to lead the team. Watch her Amanar in slow motion here.

5. Desch looks to be the alternate. At this point there has been no official announcement but with Desch up last on all events, it looks likely that she will be named the alternate. While this choice makes sense, Desch looked great in training today and it's a shame that we might not get to see her compete.

6. Baumann is back. She had a great competition at P&Gs, but suffered a minor elbow injury on her last event at the meet. At training today, she didn’t practice bars, one of her strongest events, so she is likely not completely healed but her other events looked strong. Watch her beam routine here.

7. Kocian practiced all four events. While Kocian has competed at multiple meets this year, she hasn’t yet done vault and has only competed floor once at the Jesolo Trophy in March. At training today, she practiced all-around and looked solid on every event. Watch her beautiful bars here.

8. On bars, USA’s typically weak event, the team looked incredibly strong and hit all their routines. The only downside to this depth is that with bars stars Locklear and Kocian, it's possible that 2013 silver medalist Ross won't make event finals. Watch Locklear's bars here.

9. Skinner, Kocian, Biles, and Ross all look to be competing all-around. Ross had her hamstring and hip flexor taped and didn’t look as sharp as usual, but she got through training and hit all her routines. If Ross has a major mistake or fall, it’s possible for Skinner to sneak into all-around finals. Skinner's form is continuously improving and her layout double double in training today looked like her best one yet.

10. Great energy and all smiles from team USA. They seemed to be having a great time at training and Biles was cracking jokes between rotations. Even Martha Karolyi looked more at ease and happier than usual. In this interview with Biles she talks about the atmosphere at training today.