2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships: Podium Training notes
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The 2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships begin Thursday, August 24, at the SAP Center. Ahead of competition, the Gymnastics Now team is on-site for podium training and will share notes and quotes here.
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For the field, start lists, schedule, and how to watch, check out our 2023 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships 411 story.
Laurent Landi says Simone Biles is planning the Cheng as her second vault
Simone Biles’ coach Laurent Landi said she will add a second vault down the line, and it will be the Cheng. But for now, it’s all about the Yurchenko double pike, as it is so mentally and physically draining, it will take time to build to two vaults and add that second skill.
Jess Graba says Suni Lee eyeing all-around for world team selection camp
Reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee is planning to do the all-around at world team selection camp, according to her coach Jess Graba, who spoke with the media after podium training on Wednesday.
Lee was expected to petition to the all-around at championships, just to try to add bars and floor as she continues to battle an ongoing kidney-related health issue, but Graba said they would have had to change some routine construction to do something in San Jose, and they would rather stay healthy and training. Instead, they’ll focus on vault and beam.
As far as whether the condition is chronic, Graba said: “My understanding is it’s something that they caught early, so they think they can get a really good handle on it. Obviously, if they caught this when she was 35 or 40 or something like that, it would’ve been a big issue… I’m not really sure exactly how you would categorize it. I don’t know if it’s gonna be chronic. I think this is something she was born with – they just didn’t know it – and they found it, so now they’re just trying to manage it a little bit. Hopefully we’ll have more clarity on that as we go.”
Key takeaways from senior women’s pre-meet press conference
Note: Simone Biles is not planning to speak to the media until after the final day of senior women’s competition on Sunday, August 27.
- Shilese Jones’ first meet since 2022 worlds: “Overall, I feel pretty good. I know there’s been some bumps in the road since worlds, but just trying to work those out and get as healthy as I can for the future and worlds.
- Jones eyeing upgrades on beam and floor:
- Beam: Not a brand new upgrade, as she competed it a few years ago, but will be doing a back handspring step-out to two-footed back handspring layout series.
- Floor: Front full step-out to double tuck – new pass.
- More upgrades to come closer to worlds, but this meet is primarily about getting her feet wet after not competing the past 10 months.
- Zoe Miller on her dance after bars at the Core Hydration Classic and what teammate Simone Biles had to say after she won the bet they had that she would/wouldn’t do it: “I think it is definitely a big reflection [of the current culture] because last quad, or when the other national staff was there, I would have never done that in my right mind… I definitely feel more at peace and more comfortable. And yeah, after the bar routine, I did grab my phone immediately [to text Simone]. I was like, ‘Run me my money. I did it.’ And she was like, ‘NO!’ I was like, ‘Yes.'”
- Miller, who is the reigning Winter Cup and Core Hydration Classic bars champion, said she isn’t trying to bill herself as a two-eventer for worlds or any other specific strategy: “I wouldn’t really call it a strategy, just trying to maintain where I am on bars. Maybe try to get stronger on another event – as much as my body allows me to. But not really a strategy, just reinforcing my gymnastics that I have now.”
- Skye Blakely is excited to compete floor for the first time officially since qualifications at 2022 worlds. She said if she can get past that, everything else she’s feeling pretty confident about.
- Joscelyn Roberson, who finished third all-around at the Classic, said the meet was a huge confidence booster, showing she can be competitive against Olympians and some of the sport’s biggest names.
Kickoff press conference with Li Li Leung
USA Gymnastics CEO & President Li Li Leung spoke with the media Wednesday afternoon. Here are the key takeaways from the presser:
- The news you all want to hear: USAG mascot unveiling tomorrow, with a naming competition happening this week and to be revealed during Sunday’s competition.
- USAG has started up conversation and asked for requests for expression of interest for the planned training & wellness center, for all disciplines, that’s been discussed for years. USAG says they’ve received over a dozen responses so far and will name finalists hopefully around the start of 2024.
- Leung said she apologized to Simone Biles for whoever (identity unknown) called her the “gold medal token” in Tokyo. Simone saying that to the media was apparently the first time she had heard about it.
- Leung on the ongoing SafeSport cases that are taking sometimes years to resolve: “I think it’s unfortunate that cases are taking so long and the organization wishes that they would resolve them quicker.” Coaches Al Fong and Valeri Liukin, who are coaching this week in San Jose, are currently under investigation.
Fred Richard gives his world team prediction
Fred Richard shared during media availability that he’s definitely thought about the layout of the 2023 U.S. men’s world team, which will be announced following the conclusion of competition on Saturday, and he candidly shared his thoughts:
“We’ll start with the first roster. I think me and Asher [Hong] would be def, like, pretty high chance of making the team, because, number one, our events, some strengths, like they need high bar, and I’m a great all-arounder of course, and Asher’s vault and his rings and everything. So I feel like those two are locked down.
“Then the third… we’ll go to event specialists before I go to last all-arounders. Now, the event specialists, I think it would be between… or maybe both. Honestly, I think probably both Khoi Young and Curran [Phillips]. Curran.. we need a high bar still; Curran has high bar. He’s obviously super strong on p-bars, and he has his vault, it’s very clean. So he could honestly count for three events. Koi: strong vault again, but we need pommel horse guys and Khoi is a pommel horse guy. It’s tough to count a full pommel horse specialist when they’re just doing pommel horse, so I think Koi is a better [choice]. I mean, he’s going to do what? Within four-tenths of a pommel horse specialist and still get to provide on any other events you need, plus his vault is strong.
“So if I was going to do those four spots, we kind of fill up all events, but we need a solid all-arounder to finish it off. And that’s where I would say it’s between Yul [Moldauer] and Paul Juda… they’re both very great, full all-arounders. I think that’s their strongest role.
“If we create that team, I feel like every event is padded well.”
Key takeaways from senior men’s pre-meet press conference
The junior and senior men kicked off their week with podium training on Tuesday. After, Fred Richard, Asher Hong, and Yul Moldauer met with the media. Here are some key takeaways from the press conference:
- Moldauer called this meet a world trials, similar to Olympic trials, since the world team will be determined after the conclusion of championships and not at a selection camp. The last time there wasn’t a selection camp just so happened to be 2017 – the same year Moldauer won his lone U.S. all-around title.
- Richard explained why he decided to compete at the World University Games: “My goal stands the same, which is to compete against the highest level guys across the world and get to that level myself, and I knew this opportunity I couldn’t miss, because I’d be competing against Daiki Hashimoto, the Olympic champion, and Zhang Boheng, world champion, and just so many other high caliber guys.”
- Hong talked about his “unorthodox” freshman year at Stanford, which we discussed with him recently.
- Asher also commented on him and his brother Xander’s sweep of the Core Hydration Classic earlier this month, expanding on the phrase “Hong Dynasty” in reference to the two and their other brother, Kiefer, who also competes in elite gymnastics: “We could technically build a dynasty with this. Hopefully Xander gets into an NCAA school, hopefully Stanford, and then Kiefer, too. If I take a fifth year, then all three of us will be competing on the NCAA floor at the same time, so I think that’d be a really cool thing.
- Richard is planning upgrades for championships, but the Dragulescu on vault, which he plans to have ready for worlds, is unlikely. “The goal is to balance some upgrades but also maintain that high level of cleanliness,” Richard said. In San Jose, Richard is planning to add a front-uprise Stutz on parallel bars – a four-tenth increase – and a Quast one arm on high bar.
- Richard on mistakes at the World University Games and battling nerves: “I think, nerves-wise, I realized how directly the correlation between preparation and nerves really is. Number one, going into championships now, I’m at a higher point in terms of being in shape than I was going into China, because you’re still getting into it… The way I watched the other guys from China and Japan… They enter meet, the standard that they hold, it works in a way that just kind of helps with handling pressure. You know, you belong at this level. And now that I’ve come from a competition where I was pushed at this level with these high guys with 5000 people in the crowd, going into this competition I think I can handle that pressure a lot easier.”
Senior men’s podium training observations
The senior men had one of two scheduled podium training sessions today at the SAP Center ahead of the first day of competition Thursday. They’ll have one more session tomorrow. Here are some takeaways from today’s training:
- Pommel horse specialist Ian Skirkey has been removed from the field.
- Still rings specialist Alex Diab was in attendance today and is still listed in the field but was wearing a significant brace (not just a sleeve) much of the day. He focused on conditioning and did no full routines (or anything beyond basics) that we saw.
- Pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik warmed up a little earlier at the start of podium training. Came around to the 5th rotation, when he’ll compete horse, and then immediately laid down a full set. Very clean. Clearly getting into the rhythm for what the first day of competition will look like.
- Shane Wiskus just tried/did Simone and Jordan’s little celebration dance over on pommel horse. Watch it here.
- Parallel bars standout Curran Phillips (who will also compete high bar and vault at championships) worked through his difficult routine a number of times today. No run throughs were perfect, but there’s a clear desire to hit and do so again and again and show the selection committee that he’s consistent. Despite being the reigning Winter Cup and Core Hydration Classic parallel bars champion, Phillips has struggled to hit his world-class set in competition to the level he’s capable of this year. The former Stanford standout is a prime candidate for the world team, which will be named following the conclusion of competition this week, if he can hit his set both days while also contributing competitive scores on high bar and vault.
