With over 30 competitions packed full of flips, twists, leaps, and stuck landings, it was difficult to pick just one routine from Week 3. So this week, by request, I’m going to break down one on each event.
Vault: Andi Li (Cal)
Yurchenko Full – Start Value – 9.95
- Flexed feet, first phase (-0.100; judges likely did not see from their angle)
- Flexed feet, second phase (-0.100)
- Leg separation, first phase (-0.050; judges likely did not see from their angle)
- Leg separation, second phase (-0.050)
- Small step (-0.050)
- Direction (-0.050)
Obviously, the judges did not take all the deductions that I did, and I also had a different angle than they did. However, other than the leg separation and feet on the flight from the board to the table, the judges should have been able to see all the deductions. Unlike on every other event, flexed feet on vault is a flat one-tenth deduction instead of a half a tenth. Additionally, when we judge vault, we deduct for errors in each of the three phases of the vault: the pre-flight (first flight), support phase (on the table) and post flight (in the air and the landing). So if an athlete has flexed feet throughout the entire vault, she would lose three tenths off her score, as opposed to a half-tenth deduction per element on all other events. I…
