Visa Championships- Day 1 Reflections

The first day of the 2012 Visa Championships was a success! After this competition, Martha should have a lot to think about. All I can say is, USA...we are deep!

This was only Nastia Liukin's second competition since 2009 and the first time she has competed bars since the 2008 Olympics. Let's just say she did okay. Her bar routine was not what everyone was hoping to see. She had some form breaks, a mishap on her pac salto, and didn't do her planned dismount. However on beam, she did better than she did at classics 2 weeks ago. I wouldn't count Nastia out just yet, but she really needs to step it up and hit on day 2! (Watch Nastia's bars and beam here)

Is it sad that a former national champion and multiple world medalist is no longer in this Olympic picture? 2 years ago, Rebecca was on my Olympic team and would have been competing in the all around. She's just not the same person anymore. Really her only shot at making the team would be on bars, which she did put together a decent routine on day 1. Beam however, she has been struggling with. I'm not going to even bother talking about her patterson dismount. 

Wieber and Douglas lead after day 1. This makes me a little nervous. However both girls did great, Gabby of course was phenomenal on bars, and I feel like Jordyn did the best floor routine we've seen her do yet! The only thing I don't understand is why Tim and Elfi make comments about Gabby being a lock for London and possibly winning this meet, but they don't really do that for Jordyn? She's defiantly not getting the same hype Shawn and Nastia got in 2008.  I'm anxious for day 2 now.  (Watch Jordyn's floor here)

Asac is back and boy is she looking great! She hit 2 powerful vaults (laidout rudi and yurchenko full) and had a great beam set. I was so impressed with her. (Watch Alicia's vault and beam here)

Sarah Finnegan was beautiful as always. Her beam set was near flawless! She is one of my new favorites.

I totally forgot about Sloan and to be honest, I never even considered her a contender. But on day 1 she proved that she IS a contender. This was her first meet doing the all around since the 2009 World Championships where she become world champion. Her bar routine looked great and her floor was pretty decent too. 

Kyla Ross had a great meet! Really her only struggles came on floor during the last rotation where she had the lead! She also decided not to do the amanar, but her double was great. I just feel like her routines aren't hard enough. She truly is an amazing gymnast and she has such nice lines!

Despite the ugly leotard, Mckayla delivered! Her amanar is sky high, I can totally see her doing a triple in the near future. On floor, she looked beautiful . I really liked the 3 1/2 twist that she opened with. Martha was keeping a close eye on her and I think she should be impressed. 

The only place Aly really stood out to me was on floor. That was an awesome routine! As we all know, her bars are really hurting her all around score and her amanar landings have been iffy. (Watch Aly's floor here)

Some extra tidbits: Gabby is a beast. Sabrina Vega looks worn out. Elizabeth Price and Kennedy Baker are really impressing me. Universal Sports talked about Nastia Liukin WAY to much. 

My predictions after day 1:

1. Jordyn Wieber

2. Gabby Douglas

3. Aly Raisman

*All photo's belong to USA Gymnastics