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USA Gymnastics has announced the roster of gymnasts slated to compete at the 2023 U.S. Classic in August. The men's field is headlined by World Medalists, Yul Moldauer, Donnell Whittenburg, and Stephen Nedoroscik, as well as 2020 Olympian, Shane Wiskus, all of whom are prequalified for the National Gymnastics Championships in San Jose. The U.S. Classic will also serve as a comeback meet for three NCAA standouts – Paul Juda, Brandon Briones, and Colt Walker. Walker, a member of the World Championships Team that placed fifth in Liverpool last year, sat out most of the season due to injury. At the NCAA Championships in April, he only competed on pommel horse. It is unclear what he will be able to compete just outside of Chicago; However, as he is already prequalified for the National Championships, he has more time, if needed, to bring back his full all-around program, Like Walker, Juda is also prequalified for the National Championships. With a stellar 2022 season, Juda looked poised to win a spot on the 2022 World Championship Team but an injury at the 2022 U.S. Classic prevented him from performing his best at the selection camp. A second injury sustained at the beginning of 2023 meant Juda would not compete at all during the 2022-2023 NCAA season. In his announcement on social media, he wrote "Since I've been injured, I've been working extremely hard on my historically weak events in modified ways." His anticipated performance at the U.S. Classic will be the first time fans have seen him compete in ten months. After serving as an alternate for the 2020 Olympic Games, Briones sat out his junior year at Stanford University due to injury. The extent of his injury is not known, however, Briones only competed on still rings and vault at the NCAA Championships. Briones is the only one of the trio not pre-qualified for nationals and will likely need more than performances on still rings and vault to qualify via the 10-point program. Notably absent from the roster is 2022 World Champion, Brody Malone, who suffered an injury at the DTB Cup in Stuttgart, Germany. He has confirmed that he will not compete for the rest of the season but hopes to compete on four events next year. Qualifying for the 2023 National Gymnastics Championships in San Jose, California The U.S. Classic, first held forty years ago, included men for the first time last year in Salt Lake City. The competition on podium was a big upgrade from their previous qualifying meets at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. Aside from the thirty pre-qualified athletes, the U.S. Classic will serve as the final qualifying event for the majority of the field. According to USA Gymnastics documentation, approximately 12 spots remain to compete at the National Championships and all remaining gymnasts will qualify through the 10-point Program. The full list of prequalified athletes includes Jeremy Bischoff, Landen Blixt, Garrett Braunton, Taylor Burkhart, Taylor Christopulos, Matthew Cormier, Alex Diab, Isaiah Drake, Michael Fletcher, Vitaliy Guimaraes, Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Josh Karnes, Ian Lasic-Ellis, Riley Loos, Brody Malone, Yul Moldauer, Stephen Nedoroscik, Kameron Nelson, Vahe Petrosyan, Curran Phillips, Fred Richard, Tyler Shimizu, Ian Skirkey, Blake Sun, Colt Walker, Donnell Whittenburg, Shane Wiskus, Khoi Young, and Oliver Zavel. Information on tickets and coverage can be found on the USA Gymnastics Website. Article by: Kensley Behel

The 2023 World University Games will take place in Chengdu, China Jul 28, 2023 – Aug 8, 2023. This post will be updated as more teams announce their rosters. Teams are listed in the order they announced their teams. How To Watch the 2023 FISU University Games The 2021/2023 World University Games will stream all events through their own platform FISU.TV. Live scores will be available here. More information will be posted here as it becomes available. Article by: Kensley Behel Special thanks to Sarah for helping compile this list!

A. Dutch Gymnastics Championships The headline for the 2023 Dutch Gymnastics Championships was the return of World Medalist, Bart Deurloo. Deurloo competed in the all-around for the first time since 2019 and claimed the bronze medal behind Casimir Schmidt and Jordi Haginaar. Schmidt, a Dutch standout still in pursuit of his first Olympic Games, was the star of the show. He claimed four event titles in addition to the all-around gold. Luuk Huernink and Jermain Grünberg claimed the final two event titles on vault and high bar respectively. Full event results can be found here. Videos from the competition can be found here. B. Norwegian Gymnastics Championships Several new Norwegian Gymnastics Champions were crowned last weekend. Fan favorite, Sofus Heggemsnes was notably absent from Norwegian Nationals despite having recently made history by winning high bar gold at the Varna World cup. Peder Skogvang captured the all-around title with a 79.400, just shy of that coveted 80.000 mark; he also won the high bar title. Also winning two titles, Harald Wibye took gold on vault and parallel bars; Wibye was also Norway's only repeat national champion. Joar Amblie, Nore Stene, and Jacob Karlsen won the floor, pommel horse, and still rings titles respectively. Results can be found here. C. Social Media Updates Joe Fraser started a YouTube Channel. He joins a long line of successful British Gymnasts on YouTube including Nile Wilson, Brinn Bevan, and Gaius Thompson. In his first episode entitled, "A day in the life of an Olympic Gymnast," Fraser talks about the difficulty of coming back from shoulder surgery. D. Japan announced their University Games Team Reigning Universiade Champions, Japan, announced their lineup for the 2023 Games in Chengdu, China. The team will be headlined by Olympic Champion, Hashimoto Daiki and Olympic medalist, Kaya Kazuma. More information can be found here. E. The Netherlands Announced University Games Gymnasts Wout Teillers and Frank Rijken have been named as gymnasts for the 2023 Universiade. Teillers, a student in artificial intelligence, must self-fund his trip and has started crowdfunding for the opportunity to compete China this summer. It is unclear if Rijken's travel and accommodations will be funded. F. Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games are currently taking place in San Salvador. Mexico took the team title followed by Cuba and Colombia. The all-around and event finals will take place later this week. Video streams can be found here. G. Nebraska's Sam Phillips signs with NIL Agency The Collective Engine signed Nebraska's Sam Phillips as their first male gymnast. The Collective Engine also represents Fisk University's Morgan Price. J. Team Canada in France for Training Like the American MAG Team, the Canadian Team are taking advantage of training in France ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Don't want to miss an update? Scroll to the bottom and subscribe! Article by: Kensley Behel

The 2023 World University Games are set to take place from July 28 - August 8 in Chengdu, China. Last week, Japan released its roster including three 2023 world team members, Hashimoto Daiki, Kaya Kazuma, and Minami Kazuki.. Joining this elite trio are Sugimoto Kaiyoto and Shohei Kawakami. Hashimoto and Kaya are brilliant all-arounders, each with a standout event; Hashimoto is the reigning Olympic high bar champion, and Kaya won bronze on pommel horse at the Toyko Olympics. Minami Kazuki is a power gymnast who specializes in unthinkable combinations on floor. Though lesser known, Sugimoto and Shohei have also had success on the world stage. Sugimoto won the parallel bars title at the 2019 Paris World Cup and Shohei won high bar gold in Cottbus this year. With a combined twenty World and Olympic medals, Japan is not likely to be challenged for the gold. Japan won its first title in 1963 and has since won gold numerous times including the past three titles (2015, 2017, and 2019). Kaya Kazuma was also a member of the 2019 team that took gold in Italy. Qualifications for Artistic Gymnastics at the World University Games begin on August 1, 2023. Fans can watch at FISU.TV. Article by: Kensley Behel

Dutch Gymnastics National Championships are set for this coming weekend featuring the return and comeback of Bart Deurloo. Deurloo, known for his intricate high bar work and for bringing attention to a floor defect at the 2017 Montreal World Gymnastics Championships, announced his retirement from gymnastics in February of this year. After working for a few months as a National Team Coach Deurloo said he, "missed the physical and mental challenge [of being a gymnast]." As reported by DPG media, Deurloo will stay continue to train Jordi Hagenaar and Martijn de Veer until the end of June while simultaneously returning to competition shape himself. His motivation for returning is to help the Dutch Team qualify a team to the 2024 Paris Olympics after failing to do so for Tokyo. The Dutch Gymnastics Finals will take place in Rotterdam on June 24th and 25th. The list of registered athletes can be found here. Article by: Kensley Behel

German gymnastics star, Lukas Dauser, announced yesterday on Instagram that he withdrew from the 2023 German National Gymnastics Championships. Dauser continues to suffer from a partial rupture and a muscle bundle tear of the Teres Major muscle in his left shoulder that he sustained in December 2022 in the Bundesliga final. This same injury was the reason he also withdrew from the 2023 European Championships earlier this year. Dauser is the reigning Olympic and World silver medalist on the parallel bars and a key member for Germany. Germany barely qualified a team to the Olympics in the last Olympic cycle, and is borderline to qualify for Paris. Dauser's team member, Andy Toba reiterated that sentiment in his comments to Dauser stating, "Germany needs you." Dauser wrote that he understands the significance of Olympic Qualifying this year. Should he not be healthy enough to compete this fall, and should Germany fail to qualify a team, he would need to qualify for the Olympics via the World Cup route next Spring. More information about the 2023 German Gymnastics Championships can be found here. Article by: Kensley Behel

Oleg Verniaiev is one of the most exciting gymnasts in recent history. Of all the gymnasts that attempted to end the reign of all-time great, Kohei Uchimura, Verniaiev came the closest during the 2016 Olympic All-Around Final. Falling just short in the all-around, he had renewed momentum and claimed his first Olympic title on the parallel bars. With medals in each of the subsequent World Championships, Verniaiev looked poised to add to his Olympic haul in the Tokyo Olympics. However, in August 2020, Verniaev tested positive for meldonium, a banned substance. Verniaev was given a four-year suspension, meaning he would miss not only the 2020 Olympics but also the Paris Olympics. As reported by Gymnovosti, "Verniaiev fought the suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport claiming that the source of meldonium was contaminated food." His fight was successful and his ban was reduced by two years. Since the ban was lifted in March of 2023, Verniaev has been seen on his Instagram practicing his signature event, parallel bars. Verniaiev has yet to show a full routine but posted a countdown to the World Championships that seems to indicate his intention to be competition ready. Last year without Verniaiev, Ukraine placed 21st in Qualifications, an usually poor performance for a team that placed 7th in the 2020 Olympics. Should he make it back to competition shape, he will be a much-needed member for Ukraine to qualify a team for the Olympics. Article by: Kensley Behel

A. Asian Championships Photo by: Emily Chan and Singapore Gymnastics The Final Qualifier for the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships wrapped up over the weekend. In a shocking turn of events, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan out-qualified Taiwan for the chance to compete in Belgium later this year. This was also Kazakhstan's first team medal at an Asian Gymnastics Championships. A full recap of Team and All-Around Finals can be found here. Carlos Yulo (PHI) took half of the event finals with stellar performances on floor and parallel bars. He managed to also win the vault title despite a fall because six of the other eight gymnasts in that event final also fell. Nabbing his third major pommel horse title this season, Nariman Kurbanov (KAZ) bested World Silver medalist, Ahmad Abu Al-Soud (JOR) , to become Asian Champion. Chinese gymnasts, Lan Xingyu and Tian Hao took the still rings and high bar titles respectively. Singapore Gymnastics did not disappoint in their coverage of the event. Japan MAG were asked to imitate emojis and they delivered! B. The French Elite Gymnastics Championships The 2023 French Gymnastics Championships took place over the weekend in the coastal town of Saint Briuc. It was the long awaited return of Samir Aït Saïd that garnered the most attention. In an interview, he said that he is not back to 100%, but hopes to add floor and vault back into his program. The 2019 World Bronze Medalist improved his score from qualifications by half a point to take his 10th national title with a 14.9. The French Team as a whole has been rather quiet on the international scene in recent years, but the results from this competition are promising for their future. In addition to Saïd's very competitive rings score, gymnasts Benjamin Osberger and Kevin Carvalho eared scores that would be very competitive internationally on pommel horse and parallel bars respectively. Osberger also won the all-around title with an 82.150. A full-recap can be found here. C. USA 2024 Olympic Trials Location Announced USA Gymnastics announced that Minneapolis will host the 2024 Olympic Gymnastics Trials June 27 - 30. Tickets are on sale and now available for each of the four days of competition. D. USA Gymnastics Men's Program Updates The U.S. Men's Senior Selection Committe released their June minutes. Of note, there may be significant changes to the composition of the U.S. National Team. Because few of the athletes in contention for the spots allocated for the senior developmental team are able to meet the required 32 D score requirement, those spots may be reallocated back to the Senior National Team. There will be a minimum of two athletes required to stay on Senior Development Team, however, assuming no other athletes meet the D Score Benchmark, and because Team USA needs to fill a Senior Worlds and Pan Ams Games Team, expect 18 of the 20 spots to be filled by more competitive athletes. E. Illinois High School Boys Gymnastics Was Cancelled In a sad turn of events, Illilnois has decided to discontinue high school boys gymnastics due to low participation. Oklahoma Men's Gymnastics Coach, Mark Williams wrote, " Without high school gymnastics, I would not have been able to afford to participate in the sport at any level, let alone earn a college scholarship and pursue a coaching career. It all start[ed] at LT (Lyons Townships), and these athletes' dreams matter as much as mind did." F. Tomas Gonzalez Announced First Book Chilean floor extraordinaire, Tomas Gonzalez has announced his first book where he will share what he has learned from his sporting and personal experiences. The book, entitled, "Champion: Lessons, triumphs, and falls of an Olympic Gymnast" will launch in July 2023. G. Stanford Updates As Stanford University runs on the quarter system, their end-of-the-year banquets and graduations take place later than most American Universities. Olympian and World Champion, Brody Malone, graduated and walked across the the stage aided by crutches as he recovers from an injury sustained in Germany earlier this year. Stanford men's gymnasts also won a handful of awards at the end-of-the-year banquet. Seniors Riley Loos and JR Chou were awarded senior-specific awards. Loos took home the Donald Kennedy Award, "presented to the senior athlete who best exhibits the combination of excellent academics, strong athletic ability, and a commitment to community service." Chou was awarded the Bill Hoffman award for outstanding senior. Freshman, Asher Hong, added the Stanford Outstanding Freshman Award to his long his of achievements this year including National Champion, CGA Rookie of the Year, and MPSF Gymnast of the Year. Nick Kuebler won the outstanding sophomore award. H. Love Is In The Air Over the weekend, several current and former elite gymnasts celebrated personal milestones. Amernian still rings stand-out, Vaughn Davtyan got married, and the dance floor was filled with gymnastics skills. Olympic Champion, Fabian Hambüechen married fitness coach, Viktoria Diesterbeck at the stunning Kloster Schiffenberg in Gießen, Germany. Photo: Mike Lauterkorn Turkish World Silver Medalist, Ahmet Önder got engaged to Rhythmic gymnastics coach, judge, and dietician, Ezgi Bozdemir. Don't want to miss an update? Scroll to the bottom and subscribe! Article by: Kensley Behel

The 2023 Asian Championships in Singapore served as the final Team qualifier for the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. The first day of competition served as the Team and All-Around Finals in addition to event finals qualifications which will take place over the weekend. China, Japan, and South Korea had previously qualified for the World Championships based on their performances at the 2022 World Gymnastics Championships. They placed first, second, and fourth respectively in the team final at the Asian Championships. The two remaining teams to qualify for the World Championships were Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Neither China nor Japan fielded a full-strength team, missing stars like Hashimoto Daiki (JPN) and Zhang Boheng (CHN). Regardless, the teams were well matched with Japan stronger on Pommel Horse, and China stronger on high bar. In the end, China outscored Japan by less than a tenth of a point. The biggest surprise of the competition was Taiwan failing to qualify a full team for the World Championships, meaning they will not be able to field a full team for the Olympics. After a stellar 2020 Olympic Cycle, including qualifying for the 2019 World Championships Team final, this is an unexpected result. 2023 Asian Gymnastics Championships Team Results China - 256.762 Japan - 256.694 Kazakhstan - 246.828 South Korea - 245.561 Uzbekistan - 244.559 Taiwan - 238.226 Philippines - 237.193 Vietnam - 235.895 Full Results can be found here. 2023 Asian Gymnastics All-Around Finals The top six all-around gymnasts excluding those who were on pre-qualified teams also advanced to the World Championships with the chance to earn a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Nineteen-year-old, Oka Shinnosuke continued his international success in the all-around. The 2019 junior all-around world champion became the Asian All-Around Champion in his senior international debut with a score that would have medaled at the world championships last year. Repeating his performance from the 2022 Asian Championships, Carlos Yulo of the Philippines secured the silver medal and a trip to the world championships. Rounding out the podium was Japanese gymnast, Kitazono Takeru. Oka Shinnosuke - 86.065 Carlos Yulo (PHI) - 85.930 Kitazono Takeru - 85.431 Joining Carlos Yulo in qualifying to the world championships via the all-around are: Van Vi Luong (VIE), Ye Cheng (Taiwan), Lee Chih-Kai (Taiwan), Luqman Al Hafiz Zulfa (Malaysia), and Usukhbayar Erkhembayar (Mongolia). Full results can be found here: 2023 Asian Gymnastics Championships Event Finals Qualification Results Floor Pommel Horse Still Rings Vault Parallel Bars High Bar The Apparatus Finals will take place on Saturday, June 17 and Sunday, June 18th. Live Stream is available with commentary from Olly Hogben and Blythe Lawrence. The price is $14.96 for streaming access. Article by: Kensley Behel

A new company, Elevien, is trying to change the game in gymnastics coverage and gymnastics judging. With several prominent gymnastics competitions failing to provide adequate coverage for qualifications, Elevien is trying to change the coverage accessibility for all. Marketed as, "The Whole Gymnastics Competition in a Mobile App," Elevien offers not only event live coverage, but also live digital judging options. High-level gymnastics officials including Vice President of the FIG MAG Technical Committee, Andy Tombs, Vice President of the European Gymnastics Federation, Tom Thingvold, and Men's Techincal Committee Member, Nikolaos Provias, tested the real-time judging application at the 2023 European Gymnastics Championships. Elevien was later tested at the Osijek World Gymnastics Cup in Croatia. The creators of the app are hopeful that their program will improve the viewer experience from two different angles. They believe that digital scoring will shorten the duration of judging hopefully leading to shorter and more efficient competitions. Finally, Men's Artistic Technical Committee members, Arturs Mickevics and Dmitrii Andreev have stated their desire to "include the audience in the judging and improve the gymnastics viewing experience." Elevien may be the way forward to shorter and more accessible gymnastics competitions with increased viewer experience. You can download the Elevien app for free here. Article by: Kensley Behel

Vault has undergone many changes since the 2009 - 2012 Code of Points. Vault was considered an outlier in terms of D score relative to other events. So, members of the FIG voted to decrease vault start values by one point for the 2013 - 2016 Code of Points. Many have since been further devalued. In the 2012 Olympics, Sam Mikulak performed a Kas double vault (sometimes interchangeably called a Tsuk triple) which was valued at a 7.0D. That same vault under the 2013 - 2016 Code of Points was valued at a 6.0D. From 2017 onward, the same vault is now worth 5.6. Today, most gymnasts perform a vault with a start value between 4.8 to 5.6, so follow along to learn about the most common vaults in Men's Elite Gymnastics. Kas and Tsukahara Vaults The most common entry for men's vaults is a round-off entry otherwise known as a Kas or Tsuk. While there are slight differences in how the vaults are performed, they are considered the same vault in the code of points with one exception. The equivalent Kas vault has one less twist in its name than a Tsuk vault. Tsuk full = Kas Tsuk double = Kas full Tsuk 2.5 = Kas 1.5 Tsuk triple = Kas double. The Kas Full/Tsuk Double (4.8D) The Kas 1.5/Tsuk 2.5 (5.2) The Kas double/Tsuk Triple (5.6) Front Handspring Entry Vaults Handspring Double Front (5.2) Dragulescu (5.6) Yeo II (5.6) Yurchenko Vaults Yurchenko double full (4.8) Shewfelt (5.2) Article by: Kensley Behel

The 14th Osijek World Gymnastics Cup took place in Croatia from June 5 - June 11, 2023. It was a competition of redemption for Bulgaria's Eddie Penev. Penev won his first World Challenge Cup in 2014 while competing for Team USA. Nine years later, he is still winning World Challenge Cup titles. Opening with a difficult and powerful double-double straight, he looked unstoppable. On is second pass, a front-handspring Randi, he grabbed his right knee and it looked as though he might have been injured. Knee injuries have plagued his career, onlookers feared the worst. However, he kept going. Dismounting with a front handspring double full and a small hop, he earned a score of 14.1 that ultimately led him to gold making it two in a row for the Bulgarian. The next three titles were won by Armenian teammates Gagik Khachikyan (pommel horse), Artur Avetisyan (still rings), and Artur Davtyan (vault). Artur Davtyan is nothing if not the art of consistency. The World Champion put an exclamation mark in his bid for gold by sticking both his Dragulescu and Handspring Randi vaults. Illia Kovtun has proven nearly unbeatable on parallel bars this season, despite steep competition. The only gymnast to break the 15 mark on parallel bars, Kovtun beat Olympic Bronze medalist, Ferhat Arican to take the title. Brazil's Caio Souza ended the competition with a surprise gold medal, beating former world champions Arthur Mariano Nory (BRA) and Tin Srbic (CRO). Though he won Croatia's only medal of the competition, it was a fight. Srbic said in an interview with the FIG, "I fought till the end; I had no choice in front of this incredible audience. I couldn't give up in front of the President of the Republic of Croatia." While his fight was admirable, his place on the podium was controversial. The judges mistakenly awarded him credit for a skill he had previously completed (a tak 1/2,) The mistake was never rectified. Therefore, he was given a 6.0D score instead of a 5.7. This is, of course, not a reflection of Srbic, but rather a problem with accountability and due processes being followed. The Osijek World Cup concluded the Spring competitions. The World Challenge Cup series will resume September 1 - 3 in Mersin Turkey. Article by: Kensley Behel