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Post by Admin on Mar 7, 2017 21:46:17 GMT
The AT&T American Cup is part of the International Gymnastics Federation World Cup series and is the most prestigious event on American soil this year. The competition was the first of many international events leading up to the World Championships and eventually the 2020 Olympic Games.  Moldauer started the meet posting a huge 14.566 that might have been his best routine of the day. That mark was nearly seven tenths better than second place and was the only score of 14.000 or better on the event. That space between Moldauer and the field proved to be important as his margin narrowed down the stretch. With the floor title wrapped up, Moldauer rolled his momentum, and an all-around lead and never looked back. “It’s very shocking but I’m very honored.” Moldauer said about becoming American Cup Champion. Moldauer also stated his love and admiration on competing against his college partner and friend Akash Modi.  “We set that aside. Akash is a great guy. We had a lot of fun, we roomed together and we trained together, we cracked jokes together. It was nice rotating with him throughout the meet. We made each other relax when we got nervous, so it was great.” |
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Post by Admin on Mar 8, 2017 21:12:12 GMT
 Ragan Smith had a good seat for one of the most dominant Olympic gymnastics performances of all time last summer when the U.S. team led by Simone Biles overwhelmed the field on its way to the team gold medal. Smith served as an alternate for the group that became known as "Final Five." The experience left the 16-year-old from Lewisville, Texas, intent on keeping the momentum going in 2017. She's off to a good start. Smith recovered from an uncharacteristic miscue on balance beam to post the top score on floor exercise and win the American Cup on Saturday. She posted an all-around total of 56.099, nearly two points clear of Asuka Teramoto of Japan, in the first major international meet for the Americans since the Summer Games.  "I think it's a huge step for me just to compete at the first meet of 2017 after the Olympics," Smith said.  |
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Post by Admin on Mar 10, 2017 20:59:29 GMT
Ragan Smith - Podium Training Interview - 2017 AT&T American Cup In one of the first major “elite” gymnastics meets after the Rio Olympics—the American Cup—American gymnast Ragan Smith, who was an alternate in Rio, established herself as one of the top gymnasts in the world. Smith won the American Cup all-around with a dominating 56.099. Second-place Asuka Teramoto of Japan finished with a 54.231, while Melanie De Jesus dos Santos of France finished third with a 53.889.  “I thought I did a great job just keeping myself together,” Smith told Excelle Sports following Saturday’s meet. “This is a good meet to start off with especially since the Olympics so I’m really grateful I got this experience. But meets help me get my confidence up until the end of the season so this is one that will help me.” The meet started off flawlessly for Smith, as she scored a 14.433 on vault and 14.4 on uneven bars with a clean Jaeger and stalder Tkatchev. However, on beam—usually her signature routine—she stumbled and fell off and got a score of 13.266 on the event. However, Smith rebounded with a strong performance on floor to score a 14.000. “Even though I had a mistake on beam, I just brushed it off and showed myself what I can do do on floor,” Smith said. “I just made a little error, things happen, I’m not always perfect, obviously. But besides that, I thought I did a good job.” |
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