MyKayla Skinner : Making The Worlds Team

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With the 2016 Olympics less than one year away, gymnasts are feeling the pressure. There are many steps on the road to Rio and for most U.S. elites, the next step is the 2015 P&G Championships. MyKayla Skinner has her eyes on the Olympics but is taking it one step at a time.

Skinner competed at the Secret U.S. Classic last month where she placed seventh all-around with a 55.5. Many gymnasts use the Classic as a warm-up for Championships and while Skinner had a couple mistakes, it was still a solid showing. What makes Skinner’s performance even more impressive is that she suffered a minor injury and for weeks didn’t even plan to compete all-around.

A couple of months before Classics, she was doing a release move on bars when she missed the bar and landed on her stomach. This landing position is normal and she had done it many times before, but this time she had her foot sideways and ended up tearing a ligament in her ankle. The injury set her back and she was unable to fully train even a week out of Classics.

“I wasn’t really going to do all-around but I had started to train routines and then we were like- let’s just try a routine and see how it goes.” Skinner said. 

She ended up competing every event at Classics but was certainly not at 100%, her coach Lisa Spini noted. One area Skinner was pleased with was bars, her typically weakest event.

“I’ve been working a lot on bars especially since my ankle [was injured] so I was really happy with how it went,” Skinner said. “I have definitely improved a lot on my form. I’ve been working a lot on the execution and hopefully I can add in a new dismount I’ve been working on that so it’s pretty exciting.” 

The new dismount she is hoping to debut is a double twisting double tuck. Besides her bar dismount, Skinner has another upgrade she is hoping to pull out for Championships: her Amanar vault, a Yurchenko with a 2.5 twist. 

“[The Amanar] is one of the hardest things I’ve been working on and it’s still hard to get back all the way. It used to come so easy,” Skinner said. 

She’s also looking to improve her floor routine after taking a fall on her final pass at Classics, noting that she hadn’t had enough time to build up much endurance. “I’m excited to show off my new floor routine and I want it to look better than it did at Classics.”

Skinner debuted new music and choreography at Classics that was very purposefully picked out for 2015- “We picked kind of a Scottish/Scotland theme,” Skinner said.

The 2015 World Championships will be held in Glasgow, Scotland and Skinner is hoping to compete and medal with this routine there in just a few months.

“[The routine] fits me better - it’s more happy, clappy, and bouncy,” Skinner said of the new routine choreographed by Dominic Zito. 

Zito also contributed a final idea to put the finishing touch on Skinner’s routine for P&G Championships.

“I have a green leo. It’s a shamrock green and it’s supposed to fit my floor routine so I will wear that the second day,” Skinner said. “It was Dominic’s idea.”

While Karolyi has said that she is looking for the gymnasts to be at 80% for Championships, the competition still holds tremendous weight as it is the national championships and final meet before the Worlds Selection Camp. Skinner sees this meet as an opportunity to prove she is one of the top gymnasts to Karolyi and the rest of the selection committee.

“Martha wants me to go out there and look strong because she is definitely counting on me for the team. I just have to go out there and hit everything.”

Skinner was on the 2014 World Championship team that won gold but this year there is even more competition this time around. There is tremendous talent and depth on Team USA with both returning Olympians as well as new seniors who are all working hard to vie for those few spots on the World and Olympic teams.

“It’s crazy. Me and my dad talk about it all the time. Especially this coming year, the Olympic year, it’s better than it’s ever been. There are so many girls. It obviously helps all of us to push harder and become better and it makes us want to work really hard. It definitely makes me want to work harder. We’re going to have a great team, I’m really excited.”