Smooth Skills…Natsumi Sasada

We all saw this young Japanese star compete a layout full mount on beam (named after American Kelly Garrison), and in fact did so quite easily.  Well at a competition last month in Japan, Sasada turned it into a really cool and stunning combination:

Natsumi Sasada Beam 2010 All Japan

Incredible!  It’s hard to even appreciate how difficult that is because of how easy she makes it look, but no one as ever done anything like that before.  Similar the layout to immediate back handspring swing down that many of the Chinese girls do, but this is a whole new level entirely.  Here’s a look at a floor routine Sasada competed at the NHK Cup in Japan just a couple of weeks ago:

Natsumi Sasada Floor 2010 NHK Cup

Nailed double-double…wow!  She makes that look really easy too…in fact I wasn’t sure she was going to go for it when I saw her run.  She has amazing control over all her landings, and everything is very clean.  I would expect a little more difficulty in the other passes is coming.  This routine scored in the low-14 range, which is very strong for floor.

Natsumi finished 5th all-around in this two-day competition, with scores of 56.15 and 54.65.  Kokp Tsurumi won with a 58.125 and 57.65.

And just to show you how consistent that double-double is…back to the All Japan competition:

Natsumi Sasada Floor 2010 All Japan:

If you’re looking forward to seeing Natsumi Sasada at worlds this year, don’t hold your breath.  I believe she is still 14 years old…can anyone confirm this?