Breaking Down: Triple Turn With Free Leg Held at Horizontal

Mexican gymnast Ana Lago is back from a bad ACL injury a few years ago and is practicing some seriously good moves. Ana is quite good on floor and won a medal at the Pan Am games a few years back - I think she won gold. Too much hasn't come out with regards to her or for almost any of the Mexican gymnasts for that case.

Ana posted a video of her performing the triple turn with ease and elegance on her Instagram account. It was seriously good, she is probably going to do a turn out of it to get that one tenth bonus. Given the way the CoP works this move is likely to get credited as an E - similarly to the triple twisting with leg held at 90°. That move is the one that Aliya Mustafina is training and now performing.

If she performs it at the Worlds the move is likely going to be named after her and that's a big achievement when only two elements are named after Mexicans. The one move that I do know is the Magaña - a triple back tuck off the uneven bars.

Breaking Down: Gymnastics Turn Combinations on Floor

The current CoP was updated to reward turn combination but not just any turns can gain the connection bonus. The CoP will only reward a very limited kinds of turns and will only give out one tenth bonuses for any turn combination on floor. For those that don't know what a gymnastics turn is then you should check my previous post here.

The CoP states that a turn worth a D or higher connected to a turn worth a B will earn a one tenth bonus. The specific turn being discussed here is a turn that is performed on one leg and not the turn that is performed on a back or another way. The other method of gaining a one tenth bonus is by performing two B elements in connection without a step.

The current queen of turn combinations is Ksenia Afansyeva, she performs two different complex turn combinations. She can perform a double attitude turn, Semenova, into a double turn - a D turn into a B turn. The second combination that Ksenia is capable of performing is a double turn with leg held at horizontal into a single turn with leg held at 180 degrees. Combining a difficult D turn into a B valued turn. Ksenia really attacks this combination turn and almost goes for a double to double combination. The video below will show that she gets a good 1 and a half turn on the second turn.

There are very few other gymnasts that have these turn combinations down but one that is doing them is Maria Kharenkova who does the same horizontal leg turn as Ksenia. I've noticed some of the US gymnasts are doing turn combinations as well but none are really working on anything extraordinary. 

I'm almost certain that I saw Anastasia Grishina training a double turn with leg at horizontal into an illusion turn but I lack the video to proof that. If anyone has any videos of combinations being done please leave a link in the comments and I will update this post. 

Breaking Down: Gymnastics Turns on Floor

Gymnastics turns have evolved rapidly since the elimination of the 10.0 CoP back in 2005-2008 cycle. Back then gymnastics were only ever doing simple double turns and sometimes single complicated turns. The only real exception was Chellsie Memmel, who was performing a double turn with leg held at 90 degrees. It was poorly performed when compared to modern day gymnasts but a complicated turn nonetheless. A turn is a move that is classified as a dance or non-acrobatic element on floor and gymnasts can only count a minimum of 3 non-acrobatic elements in a floor routine - they can do more if they wanted.

The basic turn is a turn on one leg with the option of having the free leg below horizontal. This is the turn that is often performed with ease on the balance beam. The CoP varies with the values it rewards for this particular spin but one single turn is worth an A, double turn a B, triple turn a C and a quad turn an E. There are two gymnasts that are actively attempting the quad turn and they are Aliya Mustafina and Larissa Iordache. Neither of them are consistently hitting the fourth turn but Aliya has gotten 3 and 3/4 way round.

Just thinking about spinning around on one leg four times makes me dizzy. These gymnasts attempt hard elements and then dance their way into a complicated jump.

The turn with leg at horizontal is the turn that I consider to be the most difficult to execute. As the name says it is a turn with the free leg in a horizontal position. The turn has the option of the support leg being straight or bent - so don't assume there is a deduction for bent legs.

The real difficulty with this turn is that one is carrying their free leg around for a turn or a double. There is no option to have your hand holding it up like there is in some of the other turns. The other problem with this particular turn is that the gymnasts tend to elevate it more than horizontal or drop it below horizontal. It is a very finicky turn.

This particular turn has two options in the CoP so far, a single turn worth a B and a double turn worth a massive D. I'm sure there will be a triple turn in this position sooner or later. I haven't heard anyone actually training it though. Ksenia Semenova and Maria Kharenkova are the two gymnasts that perform this turn and both connect it to a B element for a bonus.

The turn is at the 29 second mark in the video.

The third turn is a turn with the leg held at 180 degrees. The turn must be performed with the free leg held upward in a 180 degree position throughout  the turn. This turn has acquired the name Memmel turn because the double turn is named after Chellsie Memmel. This is a turn that every Russian gymnast seems to want to attempt with quite a few actually completing it. With so many Russians successfully competing it it is almost the Russian turn in my books.

The CoP has a single turn, in this position, worth a B and a double worth out of a D. The triple turn is provisionally valued out of an E. The FIG came out with that because Aliya Mustafina submitted it but was not able to complete it at the 2013 Worlds. I'm sure that Aliya, Anna Rodionova or some other Russian gymnast will perform it in a competition by the end of this cycle.

The fourth turn is an attitude turn, it is commonly called that because the free leg is held in a position associated with attitude - that's what I found online. The turn is executed with the free leg held back in attitude - knee of free leg at horizontal throughout but bent upwards. It is quite difficult to explain how this turn works unless you see the actual picture or a video. 

The single attitude turn is worth out of a B and the double is worth out of a D. The double is named after Ksenia Semenova, the 2007 World Champion on uneven bars. The only person performing it is Ksenia Afanasyeva, a gymnast from the same town as Semenova and trained by the same coach. This turn appears to have a certain technique that is hard to pick up and is the least performed in double but is more seen in a single turn.

The next turn is a seldom performed and it is a scorpion turn. I believe it is called that because the gymnast holds their leg in a way that looks very much like a scorpion. The CoP stipulates that the gymnast must hold their free leg backward and upward throughout the turn. The single turn is worth a B. It is a very difficult turn to execute and thus is hardly done yet not rewarded sufficiently for a gymnast to attempt it.

The only gymnast that I have seen perform this turn on the floor was Anna Pavlova back in 2008. After watching her performance a few times I almost thing that she was going for a double scorpion turn but couldn't get the force to rotate it.

The illusion turn is an actual turn even though its name makes it sound like it isn't actually one. This particular turn is more typically performed on the balance beam but is gaining a presence on the floor with the updates to the CoP. The code stipulates that the gymnasts must perform the turn through standing split without touching the floor with their hand or hands. Halfway into the turn the gymnast will have one leg at 180 degrees.

If the thought of doing one of those turns sounded difficult then doing two in a row should be even more difficult but that's now what the CoP says. A single illusion turn is worth out of a B and a double out of a C - yes, a C! That's a sure way to kill anyone actually training the move, maybe the FIG things that it's a dangerous move and needs to not be rewarded.

The tuck turn is making a comeback with Simone Biles performing it and in the recent past by the Australian Lauren Mitchell. The tuck turn begins in a tuck stand with the free leg either bent or held at a horizontal position. If the gymnast does two turns held at horizontal then it is worth a D  and a triple an E but if they do a double with the free leg bent then it's worth a B. A single of either version is worth a sad A.

Below is a video from YouTube that shows all of the turns in the CoP. Thanks to MostepanovaFan for making such a great video.

Opinion: Russia Needs Maria Paseka

Maria at the Olympics.

The sorry state of Russian gymnastics, at the current time, means that Russia needs Maria Paseka more than anything now. Maria Paseka is far from being an elegant and polished gymnast but what she lacks in execution she makes up in difficulty. As many of you might remember that she trains the very difficult Amanar vault and while she isn't consistent with it, it is a risk the Russian national team needs for now. Russia took the risk at the 2012 Olympics and it paid off when Maria came home with a Bronze medal on vault.

Maria is the Russian gymnast that blew up Twitter with her looks. During Team Final men and women were captivated by her beauty and tweeted their admiration. Sadly for her she was only able to barely land her Amanar vault keeping her team in contention.

Maria is back in training and this time she is working on a second vault, a Rudi vault. The Rudi is a difficult vault to explain so I shall leave that for another day. It is the vault popularized by Alicia Sacramone who was known for performing it throughout her career. It is worth above 6.0 which makes it a very rewarding vault if a gymnast can land it. Below is an video of Maria training it and it appears as though she is very close to landing it on regular surface.

Vaulting isn't just the reason that the Russian team needs Maria, it is the floor that she could be critical. The Russians have a very weak floor lineup, with Aliya and Vika coming out of surgeries they are likely going to be absent from floor. Ksenia Afanasyeva is definitely out of Worlds and that leaves very few options. They have two promising new faces in Alla Sosnitskaya and Maria Kharenkova but both are fresh and need more time to upgrade their floor routines to compete with the international stars.

This is where Maria comes in, she was shown training some of the hardest tumbling passes in recent videos. She does a double layout stretched with ease, a double arabian tucked with command and can land an arabian double piked! I can't think of any other Russian who has ever trained that tumbling pass. On top of that she has dance elements that are good - a double turn with leg held at 90°.

The potential is there and if she can convert on vault and floor at the Russian Cup she is sure to make the Russian national team for Worlds. Do you guys agree with my opinion? Let me know and if you disagree tell me why.

-Via Alyssia Spaan on YouTube.