Winter Cup Difficulty Score Analysis

The first major competition of the 2026 elite gymnastics season, Winter Cup, has concluded. Fifteen senior elite gymnasts competed at this event for a chance to represent USA at the American Cup, Jesolo, and to secure a spot on the National Team along with world medalists from last season.

Hezly Rivera placed 1st All-Around with a 56.75 (Figure 1 below), Charleigh Bullock placed 2nd All-Around with a 55.20, and Claire Pease placed 3rd All-Around with a 54.65. These were the three athletes that were selected for the American Cup competition. Pease took the vault title as she was only 1 of 2 that competed two different vaults to be eligible for a vault medal. Bullock went home with the bars gold. Rivera was first place on beam and floor.

Figure 1: Winter Cup All-Around Scores

For Jesolo Bullock, Reese Esponda, Caroline Moreau, Simone Rose, and Greta Krob were selected, which were the next four all-around scores after the three American Cup selected athletes. With Bullock being selected for both American Cup and Jesolo.

Since this competition is early in the season and many athletes are attempting to settle into their routines, I thought it would be interesting to look into the difficulty scores compared to last season. This analysis examines the difficulty score (D-score) of each athlete and compares it to their D-score from last season at US Championships using the highest D-score the athlete received between the two days of competition.

Vault

For Vault the D-score breakdown is in Figure 2 below. Four gymnasts competed a Yurchenko double full for a 5.0 D-score. The only gymnast who improved her D-score, upgrading her vault from last season, was Ally Damelio, upgrading from a Yurchenko full to a full and a half. She struggled a bit on the newer vault almost sitting it down, but fought for the landing standing it up so this put her in last for vault scores at this competition (Figure 3), but good job to Damelio for accomplishing an upgraded vault to her feet. It can only improve from there.

Figure 2: Winter Cup Vault Difficulty Scores

Figure 3: Winter Cup Vault Scores

Esponda had the highest vault score at this competition which can be useful for team events, but Esponda did not compete a second vault for individual vault medal purposes. Pease and Stassi were the only ones to compete two vaults at this competition. Pease took 1st with her second vault having a 4.8 D-score and 13.85 combined D- and E-score which is higher than most athletes individual vault scores and difficulty scores. Pease's first vault only scored 0.05 less than Esponda's showing Pease is a strong selection for future team events as well. Stassi received 2nd place on vault with her second vault a 4.0 in D-score receiving a 12.70 in D- and E-score combined.

Uneven Bars

Figure 4: Winter Cup Uneven Bars Difficulty Score Difference from 2025 US Championships

Five gymnasts improved their difficulty scores (Figure 4 above) compared to their highest difficulty score between the two 2025 US Championship competition days. Lila Richardson and Esponda improved their difficulty scores the most by 0.3 now with a 5.0 and a 5.2 respectively (Figure 5 below). They are still on the lower side of difficulty scores compared to most gymnasts, but exciting for them to add additional upgrades. The notable upgrade for Esponda is an in between bars gienger after her Maloney. Richardson added a Maloney into a swing full pirouette and removed her Ray.

Bullock increased her difficulty score by 0.2 adding a front stalder instead of a back stalder and rearranging her connections securing her spot at the top of this competition as the most difficult routine which helped secure that uneven bars first place spot with a 14.4 (Figure 6 below). Bullock competes with several inbars in her routine, one into a blind change, one into a full, and a Komava II release to high bar which gymnastics fans do not see often and contributes to Bullock's difficulty score.

Rivera came in 2nd place on bars with the second highest D-score of a 6.1 and a score of 14.3 with no difference between Rivera's D-score last year and this year. Pease has the 3rd highest D-score with a 5.9 but had a fall on her routine. Despite this Pease still placed 4th with a 13.15. Despite Greta Krobb slightly lower difficulty scores of 5.6 putting her in fifth based on D-score ranking, Krobb placed 3rd on uneven bars with her clean execution compared to those with higher D-scores.

Figure 5: Winter Cup Uneven Bars Difficulty Scores

Figure 6: Winter Cup Uneven Bars Results

Balance Beam

Figure 7: Winter Cup Balance Beam Difficulty Score Difference from 2025 US Championships

Beam had the most improvements and the highest increases on D-score compared to 2025 Championships with seven gymnasts having upgraded routines (Figure 7 above). This is likely due to connections on beam being a little more subjective. Beam is the most likely event to have a break in connections gymnasts intend on doing as it relies on complete precision with no adjustments between skills to receive the connection bonus. Abby Fulcher and Kaylee Sath had the biggest improvements in D-score gaining 0.5 from last season, with a 5.4 and 5.2 respectively (Figure 8 below). Both of these gymnasts are first year seniors this season which shows great growth from their junior to senior seasons. Fulcher added a connection to a split jump and straddle jump out of her front aerial, and a switch half which looks like she intends to connect it to the switch leap at some point vs a sissone last season.

Pease had the highest difficulty score for beam with a 0.1 improvement from last season with a 5.9 placing 2nd on beam with a 13.85 (Figure 9 below). Rivera was first place on beam with a 14.2 with the 2nd highest D-score of 5.8 with a 0.6 decrease in D-score from the end of last season so there is room for improvement for Rivera. The top five D-scores on beam ended up being the top five athletes on beam with Rivera and Bullock moving up in the rankings compared to the D-score rankings with their cleaner routines resulting in higher execution scores.

Figure 8: Winter Cup Balance Beam Difficulty Scores

Figure 9: Winter Cup Balance Beam Results

Floor Exercise

Figure 10: Winter Cup Floor Exercise Difficulty Score Difference from 2025 US Championships

Five gymnasts upgraded on floor this season. Bullock upgraded by 0.4 for a D-score of 5.3 which is still in the middle of the pack of senior gymnasts who competed at Winter Cup, but she outcompetes a few of the gymnasts ahead of her in D-score getting 4th place with a 13.4. This upgrade is from a unique pass of a back full to back handsprings leading into a back layout with 2.5 twists and a front layout double full compare to a whip 1/2 into front layout 1.5 and back layout 2.5 last season in her tumbling and a switch 1/1 leap added this season compared to a switch 1/2. Isabella Anzola also increased her D-score by 0.4 for a 5.3 D-score.

The highest D-score at Winter Cup is Esponda with a 5.9 who placed 2nd with a 13.85. Rivera had the second highest D-score of a 5.8 placing 1st with a 14.1. Neither Rivera or Esponda upgraded their D-scores since last season giving a bit more time to clean up their routines. Simone Rose increased her D-score by 0.2 to have the third highest D-score along with Pease at 5.5. This put Rose at 3rd place with a 13.45. Sath and Richardson increased their D-scores by 0.2 and 0.1 respectively but are still near the bottom of those gymnasts who competed D-score wise at 5.1 and 5.0 so there is still room for improvements there as they go throughout their senior tenure.

Figure 11: Winter Cup Floor Exercise Difficulty Scores

Figure 12: Winter Cup Floor Exercise Scores

Closing Remarks

D-score is a strong indicator in the top scoring gymnasts. The top five D-scores are typically the top 5 gymnasts on that event with maybe one gymnast breaking into the top 5 and pushing one of those top 5 D-score gymnasts out due to incredible execution. At this point in the olympic cycle it is important to the gymnasts to start trying upgrades especially since it is the start of this year's competitive season.

Who are you most impressed with in their improvements in difficulty since last season?