MyKayla Skinner weighed in on the latest NCAA gymnastics debate — 2 or 3 tumbling passes on floor?
It started out as little more than a musing on social media by MyKayla Skinner Harmer.
A week before Christmas, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist and former University of Utah star gymnast posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, regarding perhaps the biggest offseason debate surrounding NCAA women’s gymnastics right now.
No, not which team will win the 2024 national title — two-time defending champion Oklahoma is the clear favorite — but rather the composition of floor routines.
Floor exercise has consistently been a fan favorite event, for Red Rocks’ supporters especially, but more and more gymnasts across the NCAA have started to change the composition of their routines.
Specifically they’ve moved away from the traditional three tumbling passes in a routine to only two (two tumbling passes in a floor routine is allowed under NCAA rules).
For Skinner, famous for her dynamic and difficult tumbling passes as a Red Rock and NCAA All-American, the move to only two tumbling passes is something of an unwelcome one.
“Not really sure how I’m feeling about the two pass floor routine everyone is doing,” she wrote. “Like is it really that hard to do one more pass?! I get being clean, but it’s just not fun to watch! What do you guys think?”
The post quickly garnered many responses, from fans and gymnasts alike, which prompted Skinner to also take her query to Instagram.
Most respondents ended up agreeing with Skinner, expressing a desire for more three-pass floor routines, including Auburn senior Sophia Groth.
Groth wrote, “Me fighting for my life on my 3 pass routine. I’m the only one on my team holding onto my (three_ pass routine and it also has an E (level skill).”
Some, such as Sydney Soloski, Skinner’s former teammate at Utah, argued that two-pass floor routines shouldn’t have a start value of 10.0, but rather 9.95.
“(Two) pass routines should have to have an E pass, imo,” Soloski wrote, before adding, “Hot take, but maybe a 9.95 (start value)??”
For others, though, two-pass floor routines were essential to prolonging their collegiate careers.
Wrote former Michigan All-American Natalie Wojcik: “After many years of competing all around and a (three) pass routine with (two) E passes, changing over to a (two) pass routine during my fifth year allowed me to compete floor while managing pain and injuries from 20 years in the sport. Doing (two) passes gave me one final year doing what I love.”
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Kaylie Meyers, who competed at Eastern Michigan, had a similar experience, noting, “I did (two) passes in college because my body couldn’t handle much more. ... If the passes meet requirements and the routine is still entertaining, then cool.”
Recent NCAA rule changes have removed the requirement that one of a gymnast’s tumbling passes — whether in a two or three-pass routine — must include three acro flight elements, but a rule change to bring more difficulty on floor, i.e. requiring three tumbling passes, won’t exist this season.
And with college gymnastics’ emphasis on clean and well-executed routines as opposed to rewarding difficulty above all else, it is understandable that many gymnasts and teams are adjusting their routines and favoring the less taxing two tumbling passes as opposed to three.
For fans and gymnasts such as Skinner who have a preference for tumbling and big skills, though, that strategic adjustment is a disappointment.
“For me it kind of gets a little boring watching a ton of dance and not really seeing a lot of gymnastics,” Skinner said in an Instagram video.
“For me being a gymnast personally, I love watching the tricks and the flips. I don’t want to just watch somebody dancing on the floor for a minute and a half. I want to see some gymnastics. That is kind of where I stand on it.”
