GB Gymnastics

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

Today was the English Artistic Championships - a key designated selection event for the team on the road to Paris.

 

My quick takes:

1.) Joe Fraser is back on form 

2.) Courtney Tulloch's pace on the team is looking increasingly under threat.

3.) Giarnni Regini-Moran's comeback may have gone off the rails slightly - he was on the start list but doesn't seem to have taken part.

4.) Jake Jarman hasn't made the kind of progress that would make him a factor in the all around - but it does look like he has improved on pommel.

5.) With Jessica Gadirova out of action, the women's team is definitely depleted - only 3 scores over 14.000 and all of them coming on the uneven bars.

5.) Ondine Achampong looks in good form but at the moment would be unlikely to make individual apparatus finals but could be top 8 in all-around.

6.) Alice Kinsella has a love-hate relationship with the balance beam and today it was very much hate. 

 

Will go through the results in details over the next few hours (depending on how long Katie Boulter's match in San Diego lasts) 

 

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

Men's Pommel:

1.) Max Whitlock - 15.100

2.) Joe Fraser - 14.700

3.) James Hall - 14.300

3.) Jake Jarman - 14.300

5.) Danny Crouch - 13.850

6.) Patrick Watkinson - 13.650

7.) Luke Whitehouse - 13.100

8.) Winston Powell - 12.450

8.) Henry Brooker - 12.450

10.) Courtney Tulloch - 12.400

 

Great to see Whitlock taking the title and that score would be enough to put him into an Olympic final - in fact it would have been enough to win the World title last year. Would still like to see him consistently hitting 15.300 though if he wants to take the gold medal in Paris.

 

14.700 would likely see Joe Fraser into the individual final. In 2022 World Champs, he scored a 10.466 and a 13.166 in the individual AA. If he can hit 14.xxx consistently on the pommel, that will be huge help to overall team score.

 

14.300 for both Jake Jarman and James Hall is higher than they achieved in the World champs last year so definitely looks like both have made some good progress over the winter.

 

If we can have Whitlock hitting a low-mid 15s backed up by Fraser and Jarman/Hall hitting mid 14s the team could potentially hit 44.000 for the apparatus which would be huge in terms of offsetting our lower scores on the other apparatus.  

 

 

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

Men's Floor:

1.) James Hall - 14.650

2.) Adam Tobin - 14.250

3.) Jake Jarman - 13.900

4.) Henry Brooker - 13.750

5.) Luke Whitehouse - 13.700

6.) Luke Marsh - 13.600

7.) Remell Robinson-Bailey - 13.500

8.) Patrick Watkinson - 13.450

9.) Courtney Tulloch - 13.400

10.) Alexander Yolshin-Cash - 13.350

 

(Joe Fraser - 13.100)

 

James Hall has built a reputation as being Mr Consistent in the GB team and he's proved it again today and he'd be in the ball-park of qualifying for the individual final with that score. 

 

Given his recent success on World Cup circuit, it's disappointing not to see Harry Hepworth compete on the floor. Also have to say that I am disappointed that Jake Jarman is not able to consistently hit a mid 14 score. His tumbling is one of his strengths and yet he doesn't seem to be able to put it together into a stellar routine. 

 

Disappointing score for Fraser - although floor isn't his strongest apparatus, he is capable of pushing much closer to 14. 

 

With Hepworth, Hall and Jarman in the squad, we're possibly hitting 43.000 for the apparatus which is broadly line with China and Japan. 

Edited March 3 by Rafa Maciel

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

Men's Rings:

1.) Harry Hepworth - 14.550

2.) Courtney Tulloch - 14.400

3.) Joe Fraser - 14.200

4.) James Hall - 13.450

5.) Luke Whitehouse - 13.250

6.) James Leaver - 13.150

7.) Remell Robinson Bailey - 13.050

8.) Winston Powell - 12.850

9.) Charlie Harvey Lloyd - 12.850

10.) Finlay Morgan - 12.850

 

(Jake Jarman - 12.800)

 

Hepworth will be happy with that score - it would likely be enough to get him into an apparatus final but it is a fair distance away from threatening a medal. 

 

When you're an apparatus specialist and you're not winning the event domestically, you've got to figure that your place on the squad is under threat and I think that could now be the case for Tulloch. The strongest argument for Tulloch being on the squad has always been the fact that GB have traditionally been relatively weak on rings - but with Hepworth and Fraser, we've now got 2 gymnasts who are capable of hitting mid 14s. Dropping Tulloch would still be a big call though - you're potentially losing a full 1 mark from the apparatus score.

 

Jake Jarman is not a fan of rings and it doesn't look like he fell in love with the apparatus over the winter and he really needs to be hitting mid-high 13s.

 

A squad of Hepworth, Tulloch and Fraser would have picked up 43.150 point for rings - more than we achieved at the Worlds in '22 or '23. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

Men's Parallel Bars:

1.) Joe Fraser - 14.450

2.) Max Whitlock - 14.200

3.) Courtney Tulloch - 14.150

4.) Luke Whitehouse - 13.950

5.) Sam Mostowfi - 13.800

6.) Euan Cox - 13.650

7.) Harry Hepworth - 13.600

8.) Samuel Ghinn - 13.300

9.) Remell Robinson Bailey - 13.250

10.) Luke Marsh - 13.000

 

(Jake Jarman 12.600)

 

I have a huge amount of respect for Max Whitlock - he knew that the strength of the GB team was so great that he was unlikely to get back on the squad as a single apparatus athlete. By adding the P-Bars to Pommel, he is putting a strong case for a ticket to Paris. His score is 0.4 higher than he achieved in Antwerp World Champs last year. 

 

Bit of a shocker from Jarman - we know he is capable of mid 14 so not sure what went wrong today. 

 

As a team probably looking at low 42 score for the apparatus.

 

 

Edited March 3 by Rafa Maciel

[Rafa Maciel 1,594]

Men's Vault:

1.) Jake Jarman - 14.6000 (14.600 & 14.600)

2.) Luke Whitehouse - 14.175 (13.950 & 14.400)

3.) Ryan Owen - 13.800 (14.300 & 13.300)

 

Jarman was the only big name to take 2 vaults

 

In terms of the single vault scores:

1.) Courtney Tulloch - 14.800

2.) Jake Jarman - 14.600

3.) Joe Fraser - 14.000

4=.) James Hall - 13.950

4=.) Luke Whitehouse - 13.950

 

I think Jarman may have been nursing a bruised foot - seem to remember something on Instagram last week about an awkward landing but not sure if it was recent or was issue or a repeat of old video. When it comes to Paris, you've got to figure he'd be hitting 15 points. 

 

A 14.800 from Tulloch is a great score - and more than he achieved at the worlds in '22 and '23. IT's possible that his vault scores could be the driver to his team spot rather than rings. 

 

In an ideal world, we would be targeting 44.500 - 45.000 for the apparatus. To do that we're going to need Jarman in the 15s and 2 others hitting mid-high 14s. 

[RussB 189]

Whitlock is such a professional, it bodes well for Paris with Fraser back to form.

 

Jarman is incredibly talented but beyond the vault, it’s hard to count on consistent scores. Tulloch place being under threat is interesting, I’ve always assumed his rings score was a necessity while the team relied on Hall / Fraser for reliable scores across the other pieces.

 

disappointing news on the women’s side, but I feared this would be the case without the Gadirova twins 

[cainjb94 7]

Becomes even more of a puzzle with Gianni because surely he has to go. Him, Jake and Whitlock all are potential individual medalists. Around them Hepworth, Tulloch, Fraser and Hall potentially battling for two spots 

[mpjmcevoy 362]

12 hours ago, Rafa Maciel said:

Men's Vault:

1.) Jake Jarman - 14.6000 (14.600 & 14.600)

2.) Luke Whitehouse - 14.175 (13.950 & 14.400)

3.) Ryan Owen - 13.800 (14.300 & 13.300)

 

Jarman was the only big name to take 2 vaults

 

In terms of the single vault scores:

1.) Courtney Tulloch - 14.800

2.) Jake Jarman - 14.600

3.) Joe Fraser - 14.000

4=.) James Hall - 13.950

4=.) Luke Whitehouse - 13.950

 

I think Jarman may have been nursing a bruised foot - seem to remember something on Instagram last week about an awkward landing but not sure if it was recent or was issue or a repeat of old video. When it comes to Paris, you've got to figure he'd be hitting 15 points. 

 

A 14.800 from Tulloch is a great score - and more than he achieved at the worlds in '22 and '23. IT's possible that his vault scores could be the driver to his team spot rather than rings. 

 

In an ideal world, we would be targeting 44.500 - 45.000 for the apparatus. To do that we're going to need Jarman in the 15s and 2 others hitting mid-high 14s. 

It strikes me Tullouch's great vaulting and increasingly decent PB Bars, along with still strong Rings gives him a much better chance than Rings alone would suggest - he's not far off a finalist level in vault alone when he puts it together.

 

What the team seems to lack at the moment is a genuine AA threat, but it has a lot of impressive 'bits and pieces', with Hall the guy who is jack of all trades, master of none (in the original complementay sense "...is better by half than a master of one") ties it all toether (see, in earlier era Kristian Thomas)

If anything the problem is too many good bits and pieces, but few obvious specilist medal shots. It feels like a team that will need to be carefully chosen to really push the Team chances, while noting Whitlock remains the safest bet for an individual medal, followed by Jarman and possibly Fraser. Tullough on rings and PB (two shonky apparatus for GB) as well as vault  is a strong argument for him, with Hall as your HB and all around backup on everything. Seems to me Hepworth and , if fit, Regini Moran are the threats to those five, Hepworth to Tulloch, Regini  Moran to Fraser or Jarman.

[mpjmcevoy 362]

11 hours ago, cainjb94 said:

Becomes even more of a puzzle with Gianni because surely he has to go. Him, Jake and Whitlock all are potential individual medalists. Around them Hepworth, Tulloch, Fraser and Hall potentially battling for two spots 

Fraser is former world champ, Tullough a world medalist - on FORM, they're all medal threats. this might be an unusually form dominated choice; there's too many good gymnasts to pick a good 'un whose currently out of form.