What to Watch For in Jesolo

Mar 21, 2014 by Anne Phillips

The 2014 City of Jesolo Trophy serves as the first big team competition of the season with the World premiere of upgraded routines and new faces for the 2014 elite season. Two days of exciting competition will take place Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23 in Jesolo, Italy and Gymnastike is on-site providing unprecedented coverage of the event.

Each year, Jesolo gives fans the first look at the stars of the upcoming season. For instance, last year's Jesolo all around Champion was Simone Biles who went on to become World Champion. Past Jesolo all around champions include Fierce Five members Aly Raisman (2010), McKayla Maroney (2011), and Kyla Ross (2012). In fact, the entire Fierce Five team competed together at the 2011 Jesolo Trophy!

Looking ahead to this year's World Championships, the highlight event will be the team competition as we have not seen a worldwide team event since the 2012 Olympic Games. Jesolo will serve as the first test for World Championships selection for Team USA, Italy, Australia, Japan, and Romania.

What else is at stake in Jesolo? Here's our rundown of key Jesolo story lines.

Team & All Around Medals

USA, Italy, Australia, Japan, and Romania will face off on Saturday for junior and senior team and all around titles.

Team USA comes in as the defending Jesolo, World, and Olympic team Champions and will absolutely be the favorites to win again. USA has a strong team led by World and Olympic medalist Kyla Ross in the senior division and reigning U.S. National Champion Bailie Key in the junior division.

Australia is participating in their first competition after pulling out of the 2013 World Championships to focus on building competitive potential. We anticipate big routines from the Aussies in their 2014 competitive debut.

Romania has lacked depth in past years, but their junior team has really generated excitement. Romania is sending a large junior team and will definitely will contend for a team medal.

Event Finals Glory

Event finals for juniors and seniors will take place Sunday, March 23. Mykayla Skinner of USA is gunning for the meet titles on vault and floor. Norah Flatley looks to be the favorite for the junior beam title but will face tough competition from Bailie Key who has an upgraded routine.

Anticipated International Debuts!

Team USA has quite a few new faces on their roster including Jordan Chiles, Ragan Smith, and Rachel Gowey who were just added to the U.S. National team on Sunday. This meet will serve as international debuts for this trio, first year senior Alyssa Baumann, plus junior National team members Norah Flatley and Nia Dennis.

Pacific Rim and World Championship Selection

The next big international meet will be April's Pacific Rim Championships highlighted by USA, Canada, Australia, China, and Japan.

USA, Australia, and Japan will use Jesolo to help select their final squads for Pac Rims. For the USA, National team coordinator Martha Karolyi is always watching how her athletes perform in pressure situations in both practice and competition, and World Championship selection is always on the line. Team USA even used the exact same selection procedure for Jesolo that they use for World Championships - name the team at selection camp, then travel straight to the competition.

Mykayla Skinner in particular has a lot to prove. She has some of the highest difficulty scores in the World with skills like a laid out double double on floor and a Cheng on vault, but this is her first international competition since her senior debut at the 2012 Jesolo Trophy. She must prove to Karolyi and the selection committee that she can contend for medals on the international stage.

Fans have the opportunity to watch all the action from Jesolo as Gymnastike is providing video coverage of the entire event! Click here to sign up for Gymnastike Gold and watch exclusive footage of training and competition from Jesolo.

Schedule:

Wednesday 3/19, Thursday 3/20, and Friday 3/21: Gymnastike Gold is the only place you can watch the World premiere of new routines with exclusive workout and podium training coverage coming to you all day long Wednesday through Friday, right here.

Saturday, March 22

10:30am CET (5:30amEST): Junior Team & All Around Finals

Gymnastike Gold is the ONLY place you can watch videos from the Junior Team and All Around Finals

4pm CET (11amEST): Senior Team & All Around Finals

Full competition Routines, Video Interviews, and Results will be available immediately following the competition.

Sunday, March 23

11am CET (6 amEST) Junior & Senior Event Finals

Competition Routines, Video Interviews, and Results will be available immediately following the competition.