Johnson leads senior women’s all-around at the 2007 Visa Championships

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 16, 2007— 2007 Pan American Games all-around champion Shawn Johnson of West Des Moines, Iowa, leads the senior women’s all-around competition going into the final round of the 2007 Visa Championships on Saturday, Aug. 18, at 6 p.m. PT at the HP Pavilion at San Jose (Calif.). The U.S. women’s champion will be crowned on Saturday based on the total two-day score.

 

Johnson, the 2006 U.S. junior all-around champion, moved into first place after the second rotation and never relinquished it on the way to a total score of 61.700. She started the competition with a 15.250 on uneven bars.  Her routine included a double-twisting, double-back dismount. Johnson’s 15.750 and 15.500 were the highest on balance beam and floor exercise, respectively. On beam her routine featured a full-twisting double-back dismount. On floor, Johnson started her routine with a double-twisting double-back tumbling pass.  She finished the day on vault with a double-twisting Yurchenko that earned a 15.200.

 

"I‘m actually very nervous in competition,” Johnson said. “I felt very shaky up on beam today. I still have another whole day to give it all that I have. Tonight’s competition only accounted for 50 percent, and that really isn‘t a whole lot."

 

2007 Pan American Games team gold-medalist Ivana Hong of Blue Springs, Mo., is second in the all-around with a score of 60.150, followed by 2007 U.S. Classic all-around champion Bridget Sloan of Pittsboro, Ind., at 59.450.

 

"The crowd here was so supportive,” Hong said. “It felt good trying my new vault and floor skills with such a great crowd. I expected to be right where I am in the rankings. I love to grab people‘s attention, and that‘s what I did tonight."

 

2005 floor exercise world gold-medalist Alicia Sacramone of Winchester, Mass., had the top score on vault with a 15.450, while 2005 world uneven bars champion Nastia Liukin of Parker, Texas, earned the highest uneven bars score of the night with a 15.350.

 

The senior women’s all-around and individual event champions (except vault) will be determined by totaling each gymnast’s scores from both sessions. Only athletes who perform two vaults on both days of competition are eligible for a vault award. The vault score used to determine medals is the average of the two vaults. 

 

In the junior division, 2007 Pan American Games all-around silver-medalist Rebecca Bross of Plano, Texas, leads the all-around with a score of 58.95 after the first day of competition.

 

Despite a fall on bars, Bross held her lead with scores of 14.75 on vault, 13.85 on bars, 15.05 on beam and 15.30 on floor. She also posted the highest scores of the division on both vault (Yurchenko double full) and floor.<