Top 10 Senior Elite Bar Workers To Watch In 2017
Top 10 Senior Elite Bar Workers To Watch In 2017
The elite season is well underway in gymnastics, and countries such as Canada, China and Great Britain have already held their national championships.
The elite season is well underway in gymnastics, and countries such as Canada, China, and Great Britain have already held their national championships. Other countries such as Brazil, Italy, and the USA have their nationals coming up in the next few months. These domestic meets, in addition to some of the international meets we've seen so far such as Jesolo and European Championships, have given us a glimpse into some of the best gymnastics of 2017.
As we transition into the latter half of the year, gymnasts will be getting ready for the crown jewel competition of 2017: the World Championships in Montreal on October 2-8. Given what we have seen so far, we've compiled a list of the top 10 senior elite gymnasts to watch on each event going forward. Will we see one of these gymnasts take home a world championship event title?
In no particular order, take a look at our list below for gymnasts to watch on bars.
Luo Huan turned senior last year and made it as an alternate on the 2016 Chinese Olympic team. Luo caught everyone's attention this year at the Doha World Cup in March when she won the uneven bars final, scoring a 14.433 with a 6.0 D-score. Luo continued her trend up in May when she won both the all-around and the bars title at the Chinese National Championships. She later won the bars title again at the Asian Championships, beating out teammate and fellow star bar swinger Liu Tingting. At Chinese Nationals, Luo competed with a 6.2 D-score. Her routine is composed in the classic Chinese style of difficult pirouetting moves, including a forward inverted giant into full turn to inverted grip (Ling), which she connects into a piked Jaeger. Luo has one of the highest D-scores in the world at the moment on bars -- it will be interesting to see how she fares for the remainder of the year.
Riley McCusker is one of the USA's top senior bar workers at the moment. Like Luo, she also competes with a 6.2 D-score, and she has scored highly on this routine on the international stage. At Jesolo, McCusker notched a 15.05 on bars during the all-around final. She includes stacked combos in her routine, including a stalder full to Maloney to Tkatchev as well as a Ricna to Pak salto combination. Check out her routine below from Jesolo:
Watch our BEYOND THE ROUTINE with Riley McCusker
Belgium's Nina Derwael is known for her highly difficult release moves done in combination. She saw success at European Championships in April when she won the bars final, scoring a 14.633 with a 6.1 D-score. She beat the second-place finisher by over 0.3 of a point. Her connections include a Ricna half to Ezhova, a Chow to Pak salto, and a toe-on 1/1 to full-twisting double back dismount. Check out her winning routine from Euros below:
Elena Eremina is also capable of performing a bars routine with 6.1 difficulty. Her best score this year came at Jesolo, when she scored a 14.85 during the all-around competition. She also won the gold medal in the event final at Jesolo, scoring a 14.75. Later in the year, she captured the silver medal at European Championships in the bars event final. Eremina's signature combo is her Nabieva connected into a Pak salto. She also performs an in-bar stalder connected to a laid-out Jaeger. See Eremina's gold medal-winning routine from Jesolo below:
Elisabeth Seitz won the bronze medal on bars at this year's European Championships, scoring a 14.133. She performed even better in the qualifying round, where she notched a 14.566, tying Derwael as the highest qualifier. Seitz is another gymnast capable of competing with a 6.1 D-score on bars. Her highest score came recently at the 1st Bundesliga competition, where she scored a 14.75. One of her toughest combos on the apparatus is a Maloney connected directly into a Ricna as well as a Downie connected into a Pak salto. She will be one to continue to watch this year.
Ashton Locklear was an alternate for the US Olympic team last year, primarily because of her abilities on uneven bars. She is also the reigning national champion on bars, a title she also achieved in 2014.
Locklear's only competition this year was the Jesolo Trophy, where she helped the team win the gold medal and also captured the bronze on uneven bars in the event final, placing behind McCusker and Eremina. At that time, she was competing with a 5.5 D-score but had incredible execution with a 9.050. Locklear is also capable of competing a more difficult routine -- check out her coach Qi Han's recent Instagram post, which shows Locklear training her in-bar stalder full:
Zsofia Kovacs competed for Hungary at the 2016 Olympics in the qualifying round. Since then, she has competed in several World Cups and the recent European Championships. She had an unfortunate fall during bars event finals but put up a 14.333 on the event in the all-around competition. Her highest score so far this year was at the Elek Matolay Memorial competition, where she won the all-around and scored a 14.734 on bars.
Rianna Mizzen has represented Australia at several World Cup events so far this year and proved she is one to watch on bars. At the Australian Championships in May, Mizzen took the bars title, scoring a 14.5 with a 6.0 D-score. Mizzen is a powerful bar worker and uses her strength to her advantage in her routine. She performs two Weiler kips at the start of her routine, followed by a Maloney to immediate uprise into a Tkatchev.
Great Britain has always produced strong bar workers, and Ellie Downie is currently one of the country's best. She is the 2017 British champion on bars, having scored a 14.6 in event finals earlier this year. Downie also took the bronze medal on bars at the 2017 European Championships, in addition to being crowned the all-around champion. Check out Downie's routine from the event finals at Euros:
Natalia Kapitonova made waves this year when she emerged as the Russian national champion, placing above Olympians Seda Tutkhalyan and Angelina Melnikova. Her best event is uneven bars, and she tied for the national championship on that event with another Olympian, Daria Spiridonova. Although she can be a bit inconsistent on bars, she competes with high difficulty and is capable of scoring big. At Russian Championships, she competed with a 6.2 D-score in event finals. She gets lots of connection bonus in the beginning of her routine, when she competes a stalder full to Komova to Pak salto to Chow half. Kapitonova has a lot of potential and will be one to watch this year.
Honorable Mentions:
Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos (France)
Liu Tingting (China)
Fan Yilin (China)
Daria Spiridonova (Russia)
Kim Bui (Germany)
Tabea Alt (Germany)
Becky Downie (Great Britain)
Georgia-Mae Fenton (Great Britain)
Alyona Shchennikova (USA)
As we transition into the latter half of the year, gymnasts will be getting ready for the crown jewel competition of 2017: the World Championships in Montreal on October 2-8. Given what we have seen so far, we've compiled a list of the top 10 senior elite gymnasts to watch on each event going forward. Will we see one of these gymnasts take home a world championship event title?
In no particular order, take a look at our list below for gymnasts to watch on bars.
1. LUO HUAN (CHINA)
Luo Huan turned senior last year and made it as an alternate on the 2016 Chinese Olympic team. Luo caught everyone's attention this year at the Doha World Cup in March when she won the uneven bars final, scoring a 14.433 with a 6.0 D-score. Luo continued her trend up in May when she won both the all-around and the bars title at the Chinese National Championships. She later won the bars title again at the Asian Championships, beating out teammate and fellow star bar swinger Liu Tingting. At Chinese Nationals, Luo competed with a 6.2 D-score. Her routine is composed in the classic Chinese style of difficult pirouetting moves, including a forward inverted giant into full turn to inverted grip (Ling), which she connects into a piked Jaeger. Luo has one of the highest D-scores in the world at the moment on bars -- it will be interesting to see how she fares for the remainder of the year.
2. RILEY MCCUSKER (USA)
Riley McCusker is one of the USA's top senior bar workers at the moment. Like Luo, she also competes with a 6.2 D-score, and she has scored highly on this routine on the international stage. At Jesolo, McCusker notched a 15.05 on bars during the all-around final. She includes stacked combos in her routine, including a stalder full to Maloney to Tkatchev as well as a Ricna to Pak salto combination. Check out her routine below from Jesolo:
Watch our BEYOND THE ROUTINE with Riley McCusker
3. NINA DERWAEL (Belgium)
Belgium's Nina Derwael is known for her highly difficult release moves done in combination. She saw success at European Championships in April when she won the bars final, scoring a 14.633 with a 6.1 D-score. She beat the second-place finisher by over 0.3 of a point. Her connections include a Ricna half to Ezhova, a Chow to Pak salto, and a toe-on 1/1 to full-twisting double back dismount. Check out her winning routine from Euros below:
4. ELENA EREMINA (Russia)
Elena Eremina is also capable of performing a bars routine with 6.1 difficulty. Her best score this year came at Jesolo, when she scored a 14.85 during the all-around competition. She also won the gold medal in the event final at Jesolo, scoring a 14.75. Later in the year, she captured the silver medal at European Championships in the bars event final. Eremina's signature combo is her Nabieva connected into a Pak salto. She also performs an in-bar stalder connected to a laid-out Jaeger. See Eremina's gold medal-winning routine from Jesolo below:
5. ELISABETH SEITZ (Germany)
Elisabeth Seitz won the bronze medal on bars at this year's European Championships, scoring a 14.133. She performed even better in the qualifying round, where she notched a 14.566, tying Derwael as the highest qualifier. Seitz is another gymnast capable of competing with a 6.1 D-score on bars. Her highest score came recently at the 1st Bundesliga competition, where she scored a 14.75. One of her toughest combos on the apparatus is a Maloney connected directly into a Ricna as well as a Downie connected into a Pak salto. She will be one to continue to watch this year.
6. ASHTON LOCKLEAR (USA)
Ashton Locklear was an alternate for the US Olympic team last year, primarily because of her abilities on uneven bars. She is also the reigning national champion on bars, a title she also achieved in 2014.
Locklear's only competition this year was the Jesolo Trophy, where she helped the team win the gold medal and also captured the bronze on uneven bars in the event final, placing behind McCusker and Eremina. At that time, she was competing with a 5.5 D-score but had incredible execution with a 9.050. Locklear is also capable of competing a more difficult routine -- check out her coach Qi Han's recent Instagram post, which shows Locklear training her in-bar stalder full:
7. ZSOFIA KOVACS (Hungary)
Zsofia Kovacs competed for Hungary at the 2016 Olympics in the qualifying round. Since then, she has competed in several World Cups and the recent European Championships. She had an unfortunate fall during bars event finals but put up a 14.333 on the event in the all-around competition. Her highest score so far this year was at the Elek Matolay Memorial competition, where she won the all-around and scored a 14.734 on bars.
8. RIANNA MIZZEN (Australia)
Rianna Mizzen has represented Australia at several World Cup events so far this year and proved she is one to watch on bars. At the Australian Championships in May, Mizzen took the bars title, scoring a 14.5 with a 6.0 D-score. Mizzen is a powerful bar worker and uses her strength to her advantage in her routine. She performs two Weiler kips at the start of her routine, followed by a Maloney to immediate uprise into a Tkatchev.
9. ELLIE DOWNIE (Great Britain)
Great Britain has always produced strong bar workers, and Ellie Downie is currently one of the country's best. She is the 2017 British champion on bars, having scored a 14.6 in event finals earlier this year. Downie also took the bronze medal on bars at the 2017 European Championships, in addition to being crowned the all-around champion. Check out Downie's routine from the event finals at Euros:
10. NATALIA KAPITONOVA (Russia)
Natalia Kapitonova made waves this year when she emerged as the Russian national champion, placing above Olympians Seda Tutkhalyan and Angelina Melnikova. Her best event is uneven bars, and she tied for the national championship on that event with another Olympian, Daria Spiridonova. Although she can be a bit inconsistent on bars, she competes with high difficulty and is capable of scoring big. At Russian Championships, she competed with a 6.2 D-score in event finals. She gets lots of connection bonus in the beginning of her routine, when she competes a stalder full to Komova to Pak salto to Chow half. Kapitonova has a lot of potential and will be one to watch this year.
Honorable Mentions:
Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos (France)
Liu Tingting (China)
Fan Yilin (China)
Daria Spiridonova (Russia)
Kim Bui (Germany)
Tabea Alt (Germany)
Becky Downie (Great Britain)
Georgia-Mae Fenton (Great Britain)
Alyona Shchennikova (USA)