I came across some videos of Paul Ruggeri at this weekend’s Toyota Cup, where he won an impressive two bronze medals (floor and high bar) and placed 5th on parallel bars.  He has had an incredible year, performing extremely consistently at numerous international events and serving U.S. team alternate at the world championships.  Let’s take a look:

Paul Ruggeri Floor 2010 Toyota Cup

Holy cow…in case you lost count, that was SEVEN tumbling passes!  Very interesting that he starts with a laid out Thomas down the side…not sure why exactly.  He also has one of the stranger hurdles I’ve seen in quite a while, but it sure seems to work for him.  He really does do a laid out double Arabian…it’s not cheated as some gymnasts have attempted to do in the past.  He placed third here with a 15.175, behind Uchimura and Daniel Purvis.

Paul Ruggeri High Bar 2010 Toyota Cup

Love his style here…reminds me a lot of Chris Brooks because of some very similar combinations and releases.  He scored a world class 15.75 here and placed third behind Zhang Chenglong (15.975) and Uchimura (15.875).  Note that Ruggeri is scoring just 0.2 behind the world champion on this event.

Paul Ruggeri P-Bars 2010 Toyota Cup

Pretty impressive to place fifth on an event that’s not even his strength…14.75 for this routine.  Overall a hugely successful international event for Ruggeri and a perfect way to end his 2010 season.  He has been rising very quickly in the past year and has shown no signs of folding under pressure.  With Paul Hamm back in the mix next year and world team spots down to five, things will get tougher and tougher for guys like Paul Ruggeri.  But if he continues to show this type of international potential, this might not be the last we see of him.