Updated Projected World Team for The US

Andy Thornton from American Gymnast has updated his projections for the US team and they are what we were all thinking but will Marta do it? The team he has selected has the gymnasts with the best D-scores and the gymnasts that the people really want to see at Worlds. The gymnasts are as follows,

If this team is selected there would be one slight issue, they are taking a big risk for a big reward. The team could bring home the most medals every by a US national team or they could have a splatter fest and not even bring home a gold in the team event. While the latter scenario sounds highly improbable and one fall wouldn't make a difference but a few would definitely make it happen. 

Andy's line up on each event is as follows, 

The lineup on vault would only have one Amanar (two and a half twisting yurchenko) vault with a d-score of 6.3. The other vaults would be a Cheng (round off half twist onto the board double twisting off) with a 6.4 d-score and a double twisting yurchenko valued at a 5.8. The difficulty would be lower than expected but with the strong vaulting it shouldn't make a big difference for the US team. Simone will definitely get a big number and that should make up for the weaker valued vault. 

The uneven bars is where the US would be taking the biggest risk and would rely on athletes that are seemingly being consistent. Kocian and Locklear have done as good as they possibly could these two past events and could bring big numbers to the team's score. The problem with these gymnasts is that they could face an unappreciative international judging panel. I can think of Anastasia Grishina and her big low 15s and then showing up to the Olympics and being unable to break 15. That could happen at these Worlds and would be a devastating blow to a team that has two bars specialists. 

The lineup on beam is a major strong point for the US team, they have the reigning Silver and Bronze medalist on beam and shouldn't have too much troubles on this apparatus. Their third gymnast on this apparatus is being billed as a potential event medalist with her current routine. I wouldn't go that far but all three are very capable beam workers and shouldn't come as a surprise if any medal.

The floor rotation is a whole different story, I've been saying the team title will be won or lost on floor for a while now and I mean it. The US team has capable gymnasts but they will have a hard time figuring out the best lineup for this rotation. Biles is a lock for this event but the other three options are risky when they go for their full difficulty routines. Skinner is capable of big elements but can easily flop if something goes wrong, Ross has low difficulty and if she goes for higher she will open herself up to mistakes. The Baumann option is hard to analyze given that I don't know what she's capable of doing and is definitely not a Skinner or a Biles. 

I'm not sure how the Worlds is going to go for the US national team but it promises to be a very interesting affair. My team would be much more different than this as I would go with a team that would for sure win Gold by focusing on their strengths and trying to minimize the weak points. I would stick with Dowell because an Amanar will for sure break 15.0 but a bars routine might not. 

What do you guys think are you digging this lineup? If you don't agree comment either on my blow or over at American Gymnast .