Men's AA

[profmom]

Wow, that was incredible! I felt really bad for Oleg -- it was his to lose, and he just did not have a good night. Belyaskiy's high bar fall in the last rotation was tragic too. The whole crowd groaned. But both Lin and Xiao were terrific and finished the meet strong. I was also thrilled to see Kenzo Shirai have such a great outing. He is truly a solid all arounder now.

The big news for the US is that Yul Moldauer went six for six. He's young and he's giving up almost three points in D to the very top guys. If he keeps improving and stays healthy, he is going to have a great international career. He was hitting consistently when it counted. I feel so fortunate that we saw his debut at Worlds. Great to see Nile Wilson also have such a good day!

The energy in the crowd for Canada's Zachary Clay was wonderful. He had some very nice routines -- very fun to watch.

 

[gymmomx2]

It was a great meet! I have to say the AA lost a bit of shine for me after Kohei got injured. In his absence I was rooting for one of Manrique, Oleg, Kenzo, or David to win so obviously things didn't go the way I hoped either I'm especially sad for Oleg who had such an off night and for David who had the gold in his hand only to fall on a relatively easy skill. I really can't be mad at the Chinese who both had 6 very solid routines though.

Hoping for Kohei to return to win another AA....if not, I think the next quad will be VERY interesting if my 4 favorites manage to stay healthy!

ETA: Nile and Yul are adorable LOL. I'm glad they did so well.

 

[skschlag]

Those were my favs too gymmomx2. So hard to watch David fall like that.

From what I have read, Kohei is looking to specialize right now. I guess time will tell. It does open it up for some new champions.

 

[profmom]

I am a much bigger fan of Xiao and Lin than I was before the meet. They really did some beautiful gymnastics. I can confess it now -- I REALLY wanted Kenzo to win. But still, it was so great to see him celebrating after his last routine.

Lin celebrated after he finished his stuck hi bar, but Xiao just looked like he had finished running three marathons. Someone reported online later that during the post-meet interview, he was giving one-word answers to questions and giggling. Next year's team competition is going to be insane!

 

[wandrewsjr]

Thank you all for the recap! Was out all day so didn't get to watch, and great to hear the in person reports. The top 8 all such great gymnasts, glad they all performed mostly well and kept it a great competition. Was routing for Manrique, the Cubans are always my sentimental favorites. And Yul is so young, when he gets those weaker events a little stronger and up into the high 5's he will contend. I hope this is just the first stepping stone to great things! In fact that group is ALL so young - Yul, Nile, Manrique, Kenzo, Xiao all 21. Exciting future for men's gymnastics!

 

[duyetanh]

Go Yul! Loved it!