The field was monster strong, including defending champ Simone Biles, who was just coming off of the buzz of winning titles in the team, all-around, and beam competitions. Simone could call herself champion in three areas, could she defend her title on floor? With the depth of the field, it seemed like it would be harder than the year before.
First up was Great Britain's new threat, Claudia Fragapane, she was going for a really hard pass, a full twisting double layout: Now as we know, difficult passes pay off if they go well, if you land the skill, but if you don't, its not worth it because it'll deduct you a point from your score, and unfortunately, the full twisting double layout did not pay off for Claudia, for the floor was just a little too springy, and she ended up on her stomach, but Claudia got up and delivered her routine like a true champ. She did her backspin and everything (Which looks monster cool). Besides the fall, Claudia had a routine that could contend for a spot on the podium, but a fall is a fall, and did its damage: Claudia ended up recieving a score of 13.100. Unfortunately, this meant finishing in 8th place. But I fully expect Claudia to do better next year
Next was Larisa Iordache, any gymnastics fan knows this girl. Unfortunately, Larisa fell in the beam finals, and ended up in 8th, and even though she didn't need to prove that she is truly great to us, and that beam finals was a fluke, she felt as if she needed to. And let me just say, she did. She captivated me with her amazing routine filled with amazing tumbling and beautiful dance. Larisa's great floor proved to everyone, especially me, that beam finals wasn't the norm. I had to rewind the floor routine because I wanted to watch it again and again. Larisa scored a score of 14.800. This would secure Larisa a silver medal on this event.
After I watched Larisa's floor over and over again, I moved onto Simone Biles. I knew when she saluted and hit her opening pose, that this was going to be a great routine. And I was right. Simone was clean on all her passes, landing with the chest upright, something most of the field struggled to do. Her move, the Biles, which is a double layout with a half twist, was executed perfectly, as usual, and the rest of her routine packed with hard tumbling and dance tailored especially for her, was astonishing. It was a great routine, and she would take the lead after that, with a score of 15.333. Simone was able to defend her gold medal in both the all-around, and the floor final.
Next was Vanessa Ferrari, the definition of the word veteran. Vanessa Ferrari had a really mature floor routine, which was perfect for her because Vanessa has so much experience. In addition to having such mature choreography, we saw that Vanessa had great tumbling including a double twisting double back, executed nicely as always. And even though her chest was down on some of the landings, it was a great routine, worthy of a score of 14.666, and a 5th place spot.
After Vanessa, MyKayla Skinner was next. She delivered a routine packed full of tumbling, including a double twisting double layout, and a double twisting double tuck. Those are two insanely hard moves to put together in one routine. After she had saluted, she ran down the stairs to hug her coach, and then Simone Biles screamed and gave her one of her renowned monster bear hugs. Even though MyKayla had easy turns, it was great tumbling that made up for it. In my opinion, MyKayla really cleaned up her form since last year. For the time, MyKayla had a bronze medal, with a score of 14.700, but another gymnast would come and take it.
Then it was Larrissa Miller of Australia. Larrissa has a very clean routine, but not a difficult one. Her turns and leaps were very nice, but she along with her coaches knew because of the low difficulty it could not contend for a spot on the podium, Larrissa ended up finishing in sixth place with a score of 14.233.
Next was Italy's Erika Fasana, who had a solid routine, but not as great as her teammate's or any other of the top three girls, Erika had good tumbling as well as dance, a good routine fitted for her, but not to contend for the medal podium, but I could tell that Erika was satisfied by the fact that she got a chance to compete in the floor exercise finals.
And last up was Aliya Mustafina. Aliya delivered an amazing routine with great tumbling and dance, not to mention the turns. This was a great routine for Aliya, and what was even greater was the expression on her face when she won the bronze medal: It was like no other. She was so excited because she had had a rough championships so far. And even though MyKayla was devastated because she lost out on the 3rd place spot by just 3/10 of a point, it was amazing to see the olook on Mustafina's face knowing that she didn't miss an element like she did in the beam finals. I was proud of Musty, and was glad she could get this opportunity to stand on the podium
The Floor Finals were exciting in 2014, and I am looking forward to seeing 2015's.
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