USA Gymnastics isn’t expected to announce its women’s team for the World Championships until Sept. 15, but every nation had to submit preliminary “nominative lists” to the International Gymnastics Federation.
The lists give a glimpse into what the World Championships field could look like in Antwerp, Belgium, from Sept. 30-Oct. 6. Of course, changes can still be made.
Here are the full men’s list and the full women’s list.
Women’s notes
The storyline heading into the U.S. women’s selection camp later this month is who the fourth member of the World Championships team will be. Simone Biles, Kyla Ross and McKayla Maroney are considered locks to be on the team. All three were on the nominative lists. The fourth could be Brenna Dowell, who was third in the all-around at August’s National Championships behind Biles and Ross. Dowell is on the nominative list, but she could very well just be a placeholder.
The U.S. listed Biles and Ross for the all-around, Maroney for vault and floor exercise and Dowell for uneven bars and balance beam. U.S. national team coordinator Martha Karolyi has said Maroney still has a chance to compete in the all-around despite not doing all four events at nationals.
There is no team event at this year’s World Championships. Therefore, the individual all-around is the biggest single event. If you remember the 2012 Olympics, this was a U.S.-Russia affair.
The Russians listed for the all-around 2012 Olympic all-around bronze medalist Aliya Mustafina and Tatiana Nabieva, who was seventh in the all-around at 2010 worlds but was not selected for the 2012 Olympic team. Mustafina won the all-around at the 2013 European Championships and World University Games.
Olympic all-around silver medalist Viktoria Komova is also listed for Russia, but only on balance beam. She has reportedly dealt with health issues recently, putting her status for Antwerp in doubt.
Also on the list, from Uzbekistan, is Oksana Chusovitina. Chusovitina, 38, won two gold medals at the 1991 World Championships competing for the Soviet Union. She’s an 11-time world medalist (nine on vault) and a six-time Olympian with the Unified Team, Uzbekistan and Germany.
Men’s notes
The U.S. men’s team on the nominative list is the same as was announced shortly after worlds, following Olympic all-around bronze medalist Danell Leyva‘s withdrawal.
U.S. all-around champion Sam Mikulak is the only American man entered in the all-around on the nominative list, but, again, this can change. The others on the list are Olympians John Orozco (pommel horse, parallel bars, high bar) and Jake Dalton (floor exercise, vault, parallel bars, high bar) and past worlds team members Alex Naddour (pommel horse, still rings), Brandon Wynn (rings) and Steven Legendre (floor exercise, vault).
The all-around favorite will be the man who has won the last three world titles — Japan’s Olympic champion Kohei Uchimura. Uchimura is entered in all six events on the nominative list. He’s the only man to win three world all-around titles. Russian woman Svetlana Khorkina is the only other gymnast to win three world all-around titles, but hers were not consecutive.
