Olympics Columnist Cathy Harasta

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Those expecting the Chellsie Memmel-Nastia Liukin Show at the Xcel Energy Center on Thursday got considerably more on an evening that boded well for the future of U.S. women's gymnastics.

Just 0.001 points separated Memmel and Liukin in the world all-around standings last year. By the end of the senior women's opening round of the Visa USA Championships on Thursday, Natasha Kelley, from Katy, Texas, had wedged her way between Liukin, of Parker, and Memmel, of West Allis, Wis.

Liukin, the reigning world champion on the uneven bars and the balance beam, led the Visa Championships at the halfway point with 62.6 points. She had the session's highest scores, a 16.4 on the uneven bars and a 16.3 on the balance beam. Thursday's scores will be added to those from Saturday night.

Kelley, the 2005 junior national champion, scored 61.5 in her Visa Championships senior debut. Her emergence bolsters an already strong U.S. women's team for the October world championships and, eventually, the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Memmel, the world all-around champion whose training was limited because of a shoulder injury, and Jana Bieger tied for third with 61.050 points.

Liukin's bar routine elevated her from fourth place entering the final rotation to first.

"That's all right," said Valeri Liukin, who coaches his daughter at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano. "It was the first time for her to do this bar routine with adjustments."

The scoring panel added three-tenths of a point to Liukin's floor exercise score after Valeri Liukin called a miscalculation to the panel's attention. That adjustment meant that Liukin and Memmel were tied with 31.3 points after two rotations. Liukin was in fourth place after she scored 14.9 on the vault in the third rotation.

"I can always upgrade my vault, which I'm really striving for," she said.

Memmel said she was happy with her results.

"This is just to see where I am with my training," she said. "I know that in vault and the bars I have to add a few things."

The athletes are adapting their routines to the new scoring system's greater emphasis on difficulty. Adding more tumbling passes to floor exercise routines produces mistakes such as stepping out of bounds.

"The skills and the passes are getting close to the boys," said Valeri Liukin, referring to male gymnasts' powerful floor routines.

He said that Kelley will help the U.S. team's development.

"We need that," he said. "I'm really, really glad to see it."

Kelley said that she aims for consistency.

"There's always improvements I can make," she said. "My goal is to go out and hit four for four one day and then come back and hit four for four the next day."

The gymnasts will test themselves again Saturday. Liukin, seeking her second consecutive senior national title, said she plans no big changes for the final.

"I'll just stay with it," she said.

E-mail charasta@dallasnews.com