One of the highlights of Night 1 at US Nationals 2021 was Sunisa Lee's world-class bar routine! She connected huge elements together with fantastic execution, notably completing a Nabieva + Bhardwaj + Maloney + Geinger combination to start off her performance. Suni has dealt with so much this year, and it was amazing to see her hit this routine and earn such a large score: 15.300. Watching her family support her from the stands was very wholesome :)
Bars judging is not my strength, and I am very open to feedback! It's difficult both to judge and to represent on video, hence the freeze frame part at the end to better understand and view the elements and deductions. I know I missed a deduction on her Bhardwaj for angle; I forgot to include it in the video. The judges didn't seem to be too strict at this competition, and I felt this was a very fair score for Suni's bars. If she can repeat this at the Tokyo 2020/Tokyo 2021 Olympics, I'd say she has a very good shot at winning the gold medal and becoming Olympic champion!
Judging on a video is always different than judging in real time, and this camera angle wasn't great for seeing any angle deductions on handstands. There will always be differences between scores and deductions when one looks from a different perspective. Additionally, remember that the point of this video is not to malign Suni, but rather to highlight her accomplishments and explain how gymnastics is scored.
Notes:
- I think it is arguable that the leg separation deduction on her Maloney (D) could've been a 0.3 deduction; I only took off 0.1.
- I couldn’t tell if the angle on her giant circle 1/1 (C) was a 0.1 deduction or a 0.3 deduction, so I took 0.1 (benefit of doubt goes to the athlete!). It’s always tough judging bars with video when they don’t give you the side angle.
- I was surprised by her grip adjustments, but they clearly helped her hit all the elements! Definitely worth it.
This was a domestic score, so one can imagine it being a bit lower internationally at a World Championships or an Olympics, but it's still cool to compare it to other scores:
- Sunisa Lee/Suni Lee, 15.300, 2021 US Nationals Night 1
- Nina Derwael (Belgium), 15.233, 2019 World Championships (gold!)
- Fan Yilin (China), 15.166, 2017 World Championships (gold!)
- Becky Downie (United Kingdom), 15.000, 2019 World Championships (silver)
- Sunisa Lee, 14.800, 2019 World Championships (bronze)
It'll also be cool to see if Suni considers adding an eponymous skill to her routine. This current composition seems to be working well, and it earns her a lot of points, but I know there have been people training skills like a Nabieva 1/2? I think it'd be awesome to see her get a named skill on bars.
I’m not an expert judge, and if you have an alternate perspective or a question, I would encourage you strongly to let me know in the comments! Judging is always subjective; judging in real time differs from judging on video. The purpose of this video is not to malign the gymnasts, but rather to highlight their accomplishments and explain why they earned the score that they did.
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Timestamps
0:00 Routine with real-time scoring
0:47 Routine with slowed scoring
1:32 Score calculation
Footage does not belong to me. Video belongs to USA Gymnastics from 2021 American Artistic Gymnastics National Championships, Night 1, in Fort Worth, Texas. This video qualifies as fair use (educational, informative, transformative use).
1 окт 2024
