HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – The 2023 Core Hydration Classic begins Friday, August 4, at NOW Arena. Ahead of competition, the Gymnastics Now team is on-site for podium training and will share notes and quotes here.
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Highlights from junior women’s podium training
Hezly Rivera enters 2023 Core Hydration Classic with boosted confidence
2023 Winter Cup junior women’s champion Hezly Rivera has had an exciting six months since her win, representing the U.S. at junior worlds in the spring. There, she won silver on floor and with the team. Now, she’s back stateside with a little more perspective, even if she’s not 100% at the moment.
“Recently, I’ve just had back soreness,” Rivera said. “It’s not an injury or anything, not nothing serious. I just slowed down my training, and I’m starting to get back into it now. I’m not fully 100%, but I think training the past few weeks has been pretty good. It’s been decent. I think I’m ready to compete, and I feel pretty confident.”
Junior worlds was only Rivera’s second international assignment, but it came at a pivotal time: she’ll be a senior next year, which means contending for the Olympic team. Experience competing in high pressure situations is crucial to handling the competition with the highest pressure of them all. Add in being a first-year senior, and all of it can be daunting.
“I think [that experience] calmed my nerves down a little bit,” Rivera explained.
The plan is to do all-around on Friday, but she’ll be taking it event-by-event and assessing as she goes since “championships is the big deal.” She wants to be 100% for that, so if it’s not happening at Classic, “that’s okay.”
Rivera gets the chance to train alongside 2012 Olympic all-around champion Gabby Douglas at WOGA, and it adds to her desire to reach the sport’s biggest stage.
“Looking at her, knowing that she went to the Olympics twice, that’s amazing, because I’m always looking at her,” Rivera said of her teammate. “Everything she does I’m looking at to see if maybe I could do it, maybe I can be as aggressive as her.”
Douglas is 12 years older than Rivera (and most of her teammates), but it doesn’t seem to make a difference in their day-to-day training.
“It doesn’t feel like she’s older,” Rivera said. “It feels like she’s like 17… It’s really easy to talk to her, and she’s always there as a friend, too.”
Highlights from men’s podium training
Junior women take floor for podium training
Follow along on our Instagram for highlights from podium training.
Latest field changes
Reigning junior women’s champion Jayla Hang withdrew from the competition Wednesday, sharing on Instagram, “I have decided to skip U.S. Classics this year. The decision was not made lightly. I’m working hard to get my mind, body, and skills right everyday. I’ve decided to focus to be ready for U.S. Championships. I can’t wait to be ready for that!”
2018 world team member Colin Van Wicklen shared on Instagram that he tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning. While he has not announced his formal withdrawal from the Classic, he was not at podium training on Thursday afternoon.
Donnell Whittenburg focused on building endurance after bout of twisties and whiplash
Donnell Whittenburg dealt with a bout of the twisties and whiplash a few weeks ago, making for a less-than-ideal setback, but he’s since recovered and is focused on building endurance ahead of championships.
“This whole competition for me is just getting back, getting my endurance,” Whittenburg said.
Brody Malone eyeing Winter Cup for return
Reigning world high bar champion Brody Malone is ahead of his initial recovery schedule after telling Gymnastics Now that he would most likely return from his leg injury in late spring of 2024. He’s now eyeing Winter Cup at the end of February, which makes for a much lower pressure meet to mount your comeback, even if it’s during an Olympic year.
“The plan is to maybe start running in December,” Malone said. “We might be able to push that up to November-ish. But right around then is when I’ll be able to have no restrictions, except on floor and vault. I’ll just be able to train releases and stuff on high bar. Should give me time to get ready for Winter Cup.”
Malone is here this week, attending national team camp and supporting his club and national teammates. Although he’s not competing, he’s been in the gym every day rehabbing and has remained an influential presence for the U.S. men’s program, making for what should be a seamless transition back to the mat, in that regard, next year.
Shane Wiskus about “95%” after minor setback over the summer
Tokyo Olympian Shane Wiskus said he’s feeling a lot better ahead of the Classic versus a month ago, when he was struggling with some facet joint irritation in his low back.
“A month ago, I was hardly doing anything, and now I’m doing about 95%. I’m literally doing everything except for one skill on high bar.”
Wiskus is only competing parallel bars, high bar, and pommel horse, but he’s “trying something new” on each event. He’s hoping the strategy sets him up well for championships in two weeks.
On parallel bars, that something new will be a Makuts, which Wiskus says he does a “strange way.”
“I relearned the arm I do the first half of the skill with because my other arm has a tear in the labrum… I guess you could say it’s like relearning how to twist, so I’m doing it on my opposite arm. But I think it makes the skill easier because you can do the second half of the skill on your more dominant arm.”
Yul Moldauer’s plans for competition
Tokyo Olympian Yul Moldauer will focus on four events this weekend, opting not to compete floor or vault and focus instead on upgrades and getting reps on the other events.
“I’ve been working really hard on my high bar… Pommel horse is always fun to go up and do, and [parallel] bars I’ve kind of reconstructed my routine so it flows better. And then rings I’m doing [an] upgraded dismount.”
With less than a year to go until Paris, Moldauer reflected on his feelings ahead of the Olympic year:
“This is it. We’re here again. This is what we train for. We’re lucky that we only had to train for three years, not four, so it’s actually in our favor.”
Men’s athletes pre-qualified to U.S. Championships
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Latest start lists for all sessions
Here are the latest start lists for the Classic. They’re subject to change and likely will as we get closer to the start of each session.
- Hopes Championships
- Junior Women
- Senior Women (Session 1)
- Senior Women (Session 2)
- Junior/Senior Men (Session 1)
- Senior Men (Session 2)
Some key takeaways:
- In the first senior women’s session, France’s Melanie de Jesus dos Santos is competing in the all-around. She is competing as an exhibition athlete, so she will not formally rank in the final standings.
- In the second senior women’s session:
- Simone Biles confirmed as currently doing the all-around.
- Suni Lee slated for beam, vault, and bars right now.
- Jordan Chiles not doing floor or vault.
- Kayla DiCello doing all-around.
- Jade Carey not doing vault or floor.
- Skye Blakely not doing floor.
Key takeaways from availability with High Performance Director Brett McClure
We had some time to talk with U.S. men’s program High Performance Director Brett McClure on Thursday afternoon. Here are some of the key notes and quotes from that talk:
- Paris is always a good idea: McClure echoed his national team athletes who have had great things to say about their national team camp in France in June. There was an emphasis on team building activities there, whereas previously camps have been heavy on training. The experience seems to have created a stronger bond between the short list of Olympic contenders with a year to go until the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. This week is another opportunity to build on that camaraderie, as it is also a national team camp. The field of competitors, whether on national team or not, will get the opportunity to be together on Friday ahead of Sunday’s competition.
- “I anticipate quite a few mistakes, but that’s okay, because you got to start somewhere,” McClure said.
- One year can make all the difference: This is only the second year that men have competed at the Classic, but the one-year change is massive: last year there were barely enough athletes to fill one session. Now, they had to expand to two sessions, each with eight rotations and byes.
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Optimizing opportunities: The men’s program added this event to its docket as a chance for the guys to get competition experience on podium before championships. It serves as a qualifier for approximately 12 athletes, but for those who are already qualified, it’s a chance to hone in on upgrades and polish routines. This year, the Classic and championships are more important than ever because there is no world team selection camp; the team will be named following the conclusion of that meet at the end of August since the world championships are in September.
- “Approximately 12 Senior qualification spots to the U.S. Championships remain via ranking from U.S. Classic 10-point Program results (with pre-qualified athletes removed from rankings) and petitions,” per the qualification procedures.
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A race to the podium: While the Core Hydration Classic happens stateside, a men’s delegation is competing at the World University Games, where the team finished fourth behind China, Japan, and South Korea. It’s yet another reminder of uphill battle the U.S. men face against the powerhouses of the sport: China, Japan, and Russia (although the latter is banned from international competition at the moment).
- “I’d say we’re about 75% of where we want to be… We know that we still have work to do… That’s why they’re pushing it day in and day out. And then there is going to be a little bit of that consistency. I mean, Great Britain is our direct competitor – there’s no denying that. Maybe China and Japan, they’re going to do what they do, but we’ve got Great Britain on our sites, because they’re pretty much the same difficulty, same execution. It just depends on how you do that day.”
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Mindset shift: The biggest challenge keeping the U.S. men off the podium is the difficulty differential between them and the powerhouses. It’s why the D-score bonus was instituted this quad, and the Classic is another piece of the puzzle locking into place. But the puzzle isn’t complete yet.
- “This is a piece of the puzzle that I hope kind of helps them catapult into the next level – having the opportunity to try stuff without repercussion. Now, to go even deeper they need to decide with their coaches and their programs at home that it’s a priority on a day-to-day basis like it is for China and Japan and Russia and Great Britain. They are committed, no matter how long it takes, to a number… That’s the last piece of the puzzle. Once everyone is bought in to this is the standard we have to achieve and we have to commit to it every single day – don’t play it safe – then I think we will get there.”