Gymnastics: U.S. Winter Cup in Louisville, preview and stars to watch

The 2023 U.S. gymnastics elite season begins in earnest this week, as many of the nation’s best gymnasts are set to compete at the Winter Cup Challenge in Louisville, Kentucky. Competition begins Friday (24 February) and runs through Sunday.

With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games just over a year away, the competition will be one of the first opportunities to see the stars that could capture gold, silver and bronze in the French capital next summer.

Here’s everything you need to know about the event.

• Gymnastics: U.S. Winter Cup in Louisville, preview and stars to watch

Stars to watch – 2022 Winter Cup, Louisville, Kentucky: Women’s gymnastics

The women’s competition will feature two of the six women who helped Team USA to a historic sixth-straight world team gold medal last fall in Liverpool, England: Skye Blakely and alternate Lexi Zeiss.

Unsurprisingly, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, and Leanne Wong, who are all currently participating in their sophomore seasons in NCAA competition, will not attend. 2022 World all-around silver medallist Shilese Jones is also not in the field.

2022 U.S. champion Konnor McClain, who claimed the Winter Cup title a year ago, is also not on the event roster, having missed the World Championships with a back injury.

Despite the notable absences, the event will provide a showcase for Blakley, Zeiss and others including 2021 Olympic trials qualifiers Addison Fatta, Amari Drayton and Zoe Miller. Miller is returning to competition after an injury hampered her in 2022.

Several women will be making their senior debut including World Champion Centre’s Dulcy Caylor, fourth all-around as a junior at the 2022 U.S. championships; and Tiana Sumanasekera, ninth all-around as a junior.

Other women to keep an eye on include Nola Matthews, who was fourth on bars at the U.S. championships last season, Ashlee Sullivan, who finished fourth at the Winter Cup in 2022, and Joscelyn Roberson, the 2022 U.S. vault silver medallist.

The event serves as part of the selection criteria for the DTB Cup and Jesolo Trophy events scheduled for March. The top two juniors (provided they are either 14 or 15 years old) in the all-around at the Winter Cup qualify directly to the U.S. squad for the Junior World Championships.

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Stars to watch – 2022 Winter Cup, Louisville, Kentucky: Men’s gymnastics

As in the women’s field, the men’s field also has some notable absences including 2022 world high bar champion Brody Malone and world team members Colt Walker and Donnell Whittenburg.

2022 U.S. World team members Asher Hong, Stephen Nedoroscik, the 2021 world pommel horse champion, and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Yul Moldauer, who was the U.S. alternate in 2022, highlight the field. Moldauer’s Tokyo teammate Shane Wiskus is also expected in Louisville.

Others to watch including 2022 newcomer Fred Richard, who while age eligible for the Worlds last season could not compete in them because he had started the season competing as a junior, and Alex Diab, a 2021 world team member, as well as NCAA standouts Riley Loos, Curran Phillips, Vitaliy Guimaraes and Ian Gunther.

2018 world team member Colin Van Wicklen is also in the field.

The Winter Cup determines the U.S. men’s national team with Malone, as the only 2022 world medallist, guaranteed a spot. The top five in the all-around after the first day of competition also are automatically named to the squad.

Schedule – 2022 Winter Cup, Louisville, Kentucky

Below is the full schedule of competition, which also includes developmental athletes participating in the Nastia Liukin Cup and Elite Team Cup.

All times are local (EST).

• Friday, 24 February

  • 1:30pm – Winter Cup: Senior Men’s Competition Day 1 – All-around
  • 7:00pm – Nastia Liukin Cup

• Saturday, 25 February

  • 1:00pm – Winter Cup: Senior Women’s Competition – All-around & events
  • 5:30pm – Elite Team Cup Team Competition; Junior Men Competition Day 1 – All-around

• Sunday, 26 February

  • 12:00pm – Winter Cup: Junior Women’s Competition – All-around & events
  • 5:30pm – Winter Cup: Junior & Senior Men’s Competition Day 2 – Event finals

How to watch – 2022 Winter Cup, Louisville, Kentucky

Fans in the U.S. can watch the women’s competition from the Winter Cup live on NBC from 1-3pm ET on Saturday, 25 February.

The remaining sessions, as well as podium training sessions, will be streamed on the USA Gymnastics YouTube channel.