Sooo…

Jonathan Horton will be one of the gymnasts to watch in Dallas.

Who’s going to win the U.S. men’s Championship? Discuss!

By the way, Matthew Rusk, the 16-year-old blogger responsible for the Polished Gymnastics 101 blog that commented on the U.S. men’s and women’s preparation pre-Beijing, has posted a fantastic analysis on the men to watch going into this meet.

It seems likely that the U.S. men will have to continue without the experienced Hamm twins, just as they did in Beijing. While the U.S. team did just fine without the Hamms last August, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing since then. At the 2009 American Cup, nicknamed the “Scam Cup” for its notoriously pro-American scores, German star Fabien Hambuchen beat out both current U.S. Champion David Sender and Olympian Joseph Hagerty.

However, what was a far more significant wake up call was the U.S. team finishing 6th out of six teams at the Japan Cup earlier this month. Jonathan Horton competed there, doing every event besides pommel horse and scoring well on vault and high bar, but performing poorly on floor and parallel bars. He aims to be in peak form for the U.S. Nationals, and while he has unquestionably been the top American at the last World Championships and at the 2008 Olympics, he has still not won a U.S. all-around title. Horton at his peak is the United States’ best bet for an all-around medal at this year’s World Gymnastics Championships in London, but we will see how quickly Horton can return to his Beijing form and whether he will keep the confidence that he demonstrated at the Olympics.

Read the rest of it here at Stick It Media.