After a exciting day 1 of EF in Guadalajara Mexico let's look at what tomorrow may bring:
The beam brought many surprises in the qualifying round, it claimed many great gymnasts, Peng-Peng Lee, Shawn Johnson and Elsa Garcia for example, as well as made some teams really have to work for it, like the US that had to overcome their struggles on beam to get the gold. This led to no US woman qualifying for event finals on beam, something I have not seen in quite a long time. Many believed this would have been Johnson's event here at Pan Ams, yet it was not to be, the Olympic champion fell twice and although she was gracious about it--as she always is--anyone could see she was visibly disappointed.
Here is her routine:
The first fall was understandable, I mean, the standing full is a huge skill and it is a new addition to Johnson's program. The second however was a mental bobble, she just took her eye of the ball, she was probably thinking about the dismount. It was really a shame.
I really like Elsa Garcia, she is clean and super elegant, however she does not have a grasp on this BHS LO at all, she missed it twice here in Guadalajara and it is just unfortunate.
Clearly no point in crying over the spilled milk. So this is the ladies with a chance at the beam title.
Ana Sofia Gomez Porras: after an outstanding competition in prelims and AA where she took silver, Gomez Porras goes onto this EF qualified first.
Gomez Porras does the same acrobatic series as Amelia Racea performed at Worlds. In the AA (video above) she had some wobbles and lost connections which made her score drop from the qualification, however she shows she is tough because even with some struggles she keeps at it and stays on. It would be great for her to collect another medal at this final, and hopefully the gold.
Kristina Vaculik: for the Guatemalan to take the gold she will have to outdo the Canadian Vaculik that has had a pretty consistent competition taking the bronze in the AA.
Vaculik also had some mistakes in her AA performance missing her connection from the aerial to the BHS LOSO and some other wobbles, however this BB routine has a lot of potential and Vaculik has delivered under pressure at these Games, time for her to do it again and take her third medal of the competition.
Karla Salazar of Mexico (14.075), Talia Chiarelli of Canada (13.675), and Jessica Gil of Colombia (13.6) qualified behind Vaculik in the 3rd, 4th and 5th positions. It is unfortunate that we have so little video footage of some of the competitors at these Pan Ams as some are up and coming, but I guess that makes tomorrow all the more exciting.
Yessenia Estrada of Mexico (13.6 also) qualified 6th followed by Fanny Briceno of Venezuela (13.525) and Priscila Cobello of Brazil (13.5). Both Estrada and Cobello came through for their teams after people struggled before them. Estrada starts right off the top with a double turn on wolf position a la Lauren Mitchell, it is really different. She has a nice flow overall, but had some big mistakes in TQ nearly falling off the beam twice, and landing her dismount with her head on her knees, that I am sure she will be looking to correct. She is 1.0 away from first place, but I am sure these mistakes cost her way more than that so she can fight for a medal. Cobello also had some problems, I am sure she was not awarded the full difficulty for that spin with leg at horizontal, but she does not have so much difficulty so she will need people in front of her to falter in order to get on the podium. Nevertheless a great opportunity for her to be in this final.
After the problems we have seen in this apparatus here in Guadalajara, I would say this final is pretty open, and whomever can come in and outdo themselves will take it.
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