The Pan American Games are due to take place July 11-15 in Toronto, Canada. In early June, following a training camp, USAG announced the Pan American Games squad, made up of eight gymnasts - Nia Dennis, Madison Desch, Rachel Gowey, Felicia Hano, Amelia Hundley, Lauren Navarro, Emily Schild, and Megan Skaggs. From this squad, five gymnasts will be chosen to represent the USA at the competition.

From June 29th to July 3rd, USAG will be holding another National Team Training Camp at the Karolyi Ranch, and the Pan Am team will be named during this time. In advance of the official announcement, we thought it would be worthwhile to look at the current squad and analyze how each gymnast can contribute to Team USA, event by event. What gymnasts do you think will be officially named to the team? Let us know in the comments section below!

Vault

Top Gymnasts to Consider: Rachel Gowey, Nia Dennis, Emily Schild, Megan Skaggs, Felicia Hano

The American gymnasts have always been particularly strong on vault, and this group is no exception. All of the gymnasts in the squad can perform at least a double twisting Yurchenko. Rachel Gowey stands out as being the only one who has competed an Amanar in the past. Having been injured for some time with a broken ankle, however, it’s unclear if she is ready to perform this tough vault in competition.

Nia Dennis, Emily Schild, and Megan Skaggs are also at the top of the pack for their execution scores. All three have scored above 15.0 on their DTYs in past competitions. Felicia Hano is another vaulter to watch, as she’s recently been training a second vault, a Kasamatsu. It’s unclear whether she is ready to compete this vault, but the fact that she’s training it shows what a powerful vaulter she is.

Uneven Bars

Top Gymnasts to Consider: Madison Desch, Emily Schild, Amelia Hundley, Nia Dennis

Madison Desch comes out on top on this event with the highest potential D-score that we know of - a 6.2, which she competed at Jesolo this year. Highlights of her routine include a Downie release, a Ricna connected to Pak Salto, and a stalder shaposh half.

Emily Schild also competed a tough bar routine at Jesolo this year, boasting a 6.1 D-score. Her routine included a tough in between bars connection of a Komova transition to overshoot to handstand to Ray. To top it off, she competes a full twisting double layout dismount.

Amelia Hundley is also worth considering. Hundley has competed on bars in the past with a 5.9 D-score, and she has scored well on this event (she achieved a 14.5 at 2014 Nationals). She has some tough elements in her routine already, such as a Ricna and Van Leeuwen, both E-level skills. It will be interesting to see if Hundley has upgraded her routine since last year.

Nia Dennis is also a big performer on bars, with sky-high release skills and a great swing. Dennis was competing with a 5.8 D-score in the past, however we know she has upped her difficulty a bit in training, adding in skills like a Church release move (E-level). She also has good execution and has scored highly on this event in the past (she achieved a 14.65 at 2014 Nationals).

Balance Beam

Top Gymnasts to Consider: Rachel Gowey, Nia Dennis, Lauren Navarro

Rachel Gowey is one to watch on beam, having competed with a 6.3 D-score at 2014 Classics. Her routine included a lot of connections, such as a back handspring, layout stepout, layout stepout combination, front tuck to wolf jump, front walkover to sheep jump, and a switch leg half to back pike. She is also capable of a triple twist dismount, although she injured herself on this skill just before Nationals in 2014. Besides having tough skills in her routine, she also has great execution. She scored a very high 14.85 at 2014 Classics.

Another beamer to watch is Nia Dennis, who has competed with a 6.0 D-score, though she has been somewhat inconsistent during competition, having sustained falls and scoring in the 13s. Dennis’s routine includes a double wolf turn and a sky-high standing arabian.

Newcomer Lauren Navarro was likely chosen for the squad because of this event. She scored a 14.8 at Junior Nationals in 2014 and competed with a 5.8 D-score. Our favorite part of her routine is her unique jump to split mount. She also competes the tough back handspring, layout stepout, layout stepout tumbling series, in addition to a front tuck to wolf jump connection.

Floor Exercise

Top Gymnasts to Consider: Nia Dennis, Felicia Hano, Madison Desch

Given her natural ability for height and power, it’s no surprise that Nia Dennis performs well on floor. At 2014 Nationals, she competed with a 6.0 difficulty on this event and scored a massive 15.1 on day 2 of competition. Highlights of her routine include a double layout, a double arabian, and a Wevers turn.

Like Nia Dennis, Madison Desch also has the potential to score highly. She last competed in Jesolo with a 6.0 D-score during the team competition. Big skills from her routine include a whip to double arabian connected to a stag jump and a triple twist.

Felicia Hano, while last competing with a relatively low D-score (5.2 at 2014 Nationals), has been seen training the Biles recently, a skill that will boost her score considerably, and so we’re excited to see what she has planned for her floor routine this year. The routine she competed last year already included a double layout as her opening pass, and it's clear she has the power for big tumbling.

What's your vote for this year's Pan Am Games team?


Related:
USAG Announced Pan American Games Squad
The 2011 Pan Am Team: Where are they now?
Canada Announces Pan Am Games Team