This years’ City of Jesolo Trophy competition may prove to be one of the most exciting in this annual meet’s history. The presence of two time World Champion Simone Biles, Olympic and World Champion Kyla Ross, and the returning 2012 Olympic Champions Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman brings quite the impressive roster to this meet.

Gymnastike is on the scene, and providing as many routines as possible from the training sessions in Jesolo, which you can access with a Gymnastike Gold subscription. These videos provide the first look to the question that is on everyone’s mind.

How will Raisman and Douglas look? Is their comeback for real? Can they compete at their former level? And the answer is a RESOUNDING yes. They look like world caliber gymnasts early in their season. They showed solid beam and bars routines, solid double twisting yurchenko on vault, and dance throughs on floor with improved artistry. There is no more room to doubt that their comeback is for real. Here are the details on their training session.

Gabby Douglas

Douglas did a double twisting yurchenko in both days of training. It is solid and powerful, but has some form issues in the air, a bit pikey coming down and some landing deductions. That being said, it is a solid vault.

On bars, there were a few issues in each routine shown, but overall it is a great bar routine. Not quite as much high flying action as in 2012, but great releases and combinations. The routine: Piked stalder full (struggled at the top on day 2 of training but hit it nicely day 1)+ piked Tkatchev + Pak (struggled with the connection on day 1 but had a great day 2), piked stalder + piked stalder half+ Endo half + Chow, dismounted with a double layout.

On beam, Douglas looked steady and confident. She hit her skills well and traveled through the routine at a nice pace. Her leaps and jumps all hit full splits and showed her former agility. The routine: Stoop mount, front pike, back handspring stepout + layout stepout, standing full, switch ring leap, front tuck, full turn, switch split + switch split half, front aerial + sissone  + split jump, back handspring stepout + back handspring back tuck (timer dismount).

Douglas brings a brand new floor presence, showing definite improvement in artistry and musicality. She did a two pass routine showing off her new routine with a Memmel turn, double arabian (added a stag jump in tumbling training), switch ring leap + split leap 3/2, a double L turn (a bit rough the first day, beautiful the second) and a Ferrari. She ended with a double back.

Aly Raisman

Raisman also did a double twisting yurchenko in both days of training. She had a little bit of leg form the first day which looked better the second day. But she had a lot of power, solid landings and overall looks great on vault.

Raisman has said that she still feels the sting of not getting an all-around medal at the Olympics. In this comeback she is definitely making a bid to be an all-around contender and is working hard on improving her bars. She had some form breaks and missed a cast handstand, but she seems to have a little better form here- feet together, toes pointed more, greater extension in her swing. The routine: Mount, Maloney + straddle Tkatchev, hop blind + straddle Jaeger, stalder, overshoot to handstand, toe full, Ray, toe 1/2, tuck double front dismount.

On beam, Raisman brought her steady, methodical routine that makes her so dependable on this apparatus. Everything was solid and powerful. She had a few small form issues, but looked clean and controlled. She also brought in a lot of new connections! The routine: Leap mount, pike front + wolf, backhandspring + layout to two feet (feet slightly apart in air) + split jump, switch leap 1/1, aerial, switch leap + switch half (really missed 180 on this) + back tuck, front tuck + sissone, 1/1L turn +1/1 turn, roundoff double back (timer dismount).

Dancing with the Stars taught Raisman more grace and it shows in her new floor routine. A great mix of graceful arm waving and her Jewish folk music along with her always powerful tumbling. The routine: 3/2 twist through to double arabian (added a front tuck in tumbling), switch full + split jump (missed hitting her splits in both jumps), double layout!, switch ring leap + split leap 3/2, full turn.

Overall, the two look just as they should at this point in the year. Some clean up work to be done, some more skills to be added, but confident, fit and ready to compete.