missed on a Pak salto and she fell off completely. “I was there, and then my hand slipped and I
wasn’t there,” Bross said later with a laugh.
Hong never went away. She improved her
bars from day one (inside Stalder-full to
Tkatchev, stuck double layout) to take the outright lead, while Sloan threw a toe-on-full to
Tkatchev and toe-on-piked Tkatchev for an
event-winning 14.900 ( 29.350 two-day total).
Hong, however, had taken the all-around lead,
which she increased after winning beam with a
15.200 ( 15.150 in prelims). She threw a front
aerial to flip-flop, layout and switch leap to back
tuck (two common combinations now), as well as
an Onodi to sheep jump. After a side aerial,
switch ring leap and side somi, the 16-year-old
dismounted with two flip-flops to a double pike.
Sloan fixed her beam mistake from prelims but
failed to connect her front to flip-flop, layout for
her second 14.900 of the evening.
Though she didn’t fall off beam, Bross continued her slide from the top in this rotation. She
nailed her standing Arabian, but later got off-center a few times (the worst after her side somi) and
staggered backward to save the landing on her
Arabian double front dismount.
After a critique from coach Valeri Liukin,
Bross, clearly devastated, received some sage
advice from Nastia: “I just told her, ‘You can’t
change anything you already did, so just move
on and focus on floor.’”
International GYMNAST October 2009
After a critique from coach
Valeri Liukin, Bross, clearly
devastated, received some sage
advice from Nastia: “I just told
her, ‘You can’t change anything
you already did, so just move on
and focus on floor.’”
