Jesolo Review - USA

I have been waiting for more videos to appear before I posted my thoughts on the results.

USA
Seniors
Mackenzie Caquatto: I have to say I have never been a fan of hers, I find her gymnastics boring and I don't think she has the personality or performance skills to be a top elite gymnast. Her floor was a disaster (11.650) with two falls and two OB, I read somewhere that she had an ankle injury and there certainly seemed something wrong which makes me ask why did they put her on floor? Why not save her ankle? Her beam was better (14.300) but nothing special, the only event I like her on is bars (14.350). To be honest I hope she goes to college and finishes with elite after this season, I can't see her making the Worlds team and I much prefer her sister and others.

Alexandra Raisman: She is another one who lacks personality and performance skills, but I really want to like her as her talent and skills are amazing. I was never Alicia Sacramone's biggest fan but what I did like was her personality and it needs to rub off on Raisman somehow! She performed a really good yurchenko double twist(15.150) and I want to see her with an amanar. Bars was better than I thought, she has more potential here than Alicia did and she stuck her double front dismount (13.700). Beam was good, some of the leaps were suspect but her acro skills were fine, just a hop on the dismount (14.250).
Floor (14.550):

Amanda Jetter: Excellent stuck yurchenko 1 1/2 (14.400), nice high releases (piked&straddled jaegers) and transitions on bars just a few late pirouettes (13.550), nice double front dismount. On floor she had a nice variety of tumbles (double arabian, back 2 1/2+front layout 1/1, back 1 1/2+front layout 1 1/2, dbl tuck bk), most with good landings (13.800). Although I'm not a fan of her music I like that she puts effort into the performance I just think she needs to mature a bit she still seems like a junior to me.

Kytra Hunter: Love her power and energy but hate her dance and choreography! Her floor dance is not what an elite should have and its a good job she can tumble (14.200). Her yurchenko double was a bit untidy in the air and had a big step on landing (15.00! possibly a little overscored).

Cassie Whitcomb: I really like her elegant style, her floor music is the same as Steliana Nistor's in 2008 but it is completely different in style. I enjoyed her whole performance, and although she may be weak on Vault and Beam I wouldn't mind seeing her on a World team even just for 2 pieces. She only scored 13.650 but I hope she can upgrade by the summer, Bars was better with 14.200 (no video).

Morgan Smith: She needs to work on her leaps and feet but I like her and she has some big skills. Her beam was solid (14.150) and I can see her being a good contributor to the team if she keeps being consistent. Her floor was also solid with nice high tumbles but she seems to have gone to the same choreographer as Kytra, surely someone can do better than this:

Juniors
Kyla Ross: She looks like she has grown a lot and I think it has given a much more elegant look. As everyone has already said she was well beaten by Grishina especially on bars but people should remember that this is early in the season for Kyla whereas Grishina is being peaked for Euros in a couple of weeks. She still has a couple of years before she is Senior so there's time for bars improvements. She had some different combinations in her beam routine including free walkover+flick+layout step out, tuck back+sheep jump. Unfortunately she fell on her side somi but really tried to stay on(13.450)! Regardless of the result at Jesolo I think she will be a real asset to Team USA as a senior if she can stay healthy as she has proven she can perform under pressure and I much prefer her to many of this years seniors.
Floor (14.250):

Sabrina Vega: I love her personality and gymnastics, she didnt have the best meet especially on beam (13.550, 7.550 E score) and floor she landed her 2nd pass out of bounds which cost her .5 as well as loss of difficulty, but the rest of the routine was nicely performed (13.300).