2015 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships: For Russia, Something Is Golden In The State Of Denmark

Russia and China split the first four titles as finals began at the 2015 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships in Odense (DEN) Friday evening, watched by the Crown Prince of Denmark himself.

Trampoline

The big surprise: Russian men upset China

Odense must be a lucky city for Russians: The country had not won a World team title in Men’s Trampoline since 2001, the last time the World Championships were held here. By a hair — or more precisely, 0.04 — the Russian team (Sergei Azarian, Andrey Yudin, Dmitrii Ushakov et Mikhail Melnik) managed what had seemed unthinkable the day before: depriving the formidable Chinese team (2012 Olympic champion Dong Dong, 2014 World champion Tu Xiao and redoubtable competitors Gao Lei and Xiao Jinyu) of gold. Slightly less bouncy than he had been in qualification Thursday, Gao Lei lost precious thousands of a point in Time of Flight as he anchored the team, turning to silver what was expected to be gold.
Even more so than the Russians, first place appeared to be in Japan’s grasp for a moment, but a fall by veteran anchor Yasuhiro Ueyama ended their dream of winning. Belarus, with young star Uladzislau Hancharou, veteran Mikalai Kazak, Aleh Rabtsau and Artisom Zu — leapt to the occasion in taking bronze.
The Russian upset came a few hours after Azarian and Melnik combined to give the top performance in Men’s Synchro Trampoline qualifications, passing reigning World champions Tu and Dong, who were less than perfect in their exercises.

Chinese women on high again

By the time Liu Lingling stepped up to anchor China in the Women’s Team Trampoline final, all she had to do was complete her routine to assure her country the gold. No problem: as He Wenna and Li Dan had before her, reigning World champion Liu performed flawlessly, bringing gold back to China four years after its previous victory in the team event.
Not everyone was so fortunate. Canada was knocked out of contention after a botched routine from three-time Olympic medallist Karen Cockburn, who appeared in pain as she walked away from the Trampoline. Pamela Clark followed suit with a fall shortly after to cut 2013 World champion Britain’s title defense short.
Belarus (Maryia Lon, Palina Badyhina, Hanna Harchonak and Tatisana Piatrenia), third two years ago in Sofia, happily moved up a spot in the rankings, while Russia (Nadezhda Glebova, Victoria Voronina, Anna Kornetskaya and Yana Pavlova) claimed their first World medal in women’s team competition since 2009.

A royal visit from the Crown Prince of Denmark

In the city of fairy tale author Hans Christian Anderson, it was indeed a prince charming who awarded the first gold medal. The Chinese women, who won the World title in Women’s Tumbling, had the royal pleasure of receiving their medals from Prince Frederik of Denmark, who attended the competition Friday evening. “This is an important event for our country, as well as for the city of Odense, which is the reason I came for the final,” said the Danish prince, who has been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2009. For Prince Frederik, Gymnastics is close to performance art: “These are athletes, but also artists,” he observed.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark delivers the gold medal to the Chinese Women’s tumbling team

Women’s Tumbling: Three in a row for the Chinese

With the hardest tumbling pass being competed in Women’s tumbling today, two-time individual World champion Jia Fangfang banked China’s third consecutive World team title in Tumbling. Jia, Yang Yujie, Cai Qizi and Chen Lingxi finished half a point above the British (Lucie Colebeck, Rachel Davies, Ashleigh Long et Yasmin Taite), which recorded their best result since winning the World title in 2003. Russia, led by ageless two-time World champion Anna Korobeinikova (with Anastasiia Isupova, Natalia Parakhina, Viktoriia Danilenko) took bronze.

Men’s Double Mini-trampoline: Russia, who else?

After placing four men — Aleksandr Odinstov, Mikhail Zalomin, Alexander Zebrov et Andrei Gladenkov – among the top seven in the individual Double Mini qualification, Russia’s title in Men’s Double Mini was more of a confirmation than a matter of suspense. That didn’t make the final jump of two-time World champion Zalomin, which gave Russia a golden margin of 8.4 points, any less spectacular: With a brilliant stuck landing to a combination with a seemingly infinite number of twists, the grand master of Double Mini sealed the deal for his team.
The United States (Austin White, Austin Nacey, Alex Renkert and Garret Waterstradt) and Canada (Kyle Carragher, Denis Vachon, Jon Schwaiger and Douglas Armstrong), bolstered by excellent final passes from White and Schwaiger, respectively, tied for silver.

All about Tumbling, Double Mini-trampoline and Synchronised Trampoline Gymnastics

For gymnasts specialising in Synchronised Trampoline, Double-mini Trampoline or Tumbling, this week’s Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships in Odense (DEN) is about more than medals. In addition to World titles, qualification places for The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw (POL), the “Olympics for non-Olympic disciplines,” are up in the air.

Synchronised Trampoline
Synchronised Trampoline is double the fun — and double the risk — of its Olympic cousin Individual Trampoline. In Synchro, two gymnasts perform the same series of 10 elements while trying to remain mirror images of each other.
What makes the difference: When one gymnast falls out of sync with the other, regaining the rhythm is extremely difficult. “You have to feel each other,” says former World Synchro champion Dmitri Poliaroush, a member of the FIG Trampoline Technical Committee. “And that means knowing the other person’s weaknesses as well as strengths, and being able to modify yourself to stay at the same pace.

Who to watch: China’s Trampoline dynasty extends into the realm of Synchro. Many of the country’s best individual Trampolinists, including reigning Olympic champion Dong Dong and reigning World champion Tu Xiao, team up to form some of the world’s best Synchro pairs. While Dong and Tu have won three of the past four Synchro world titles and are favored to win another in Odense, in Women’s Synchro there will be at least one new World champion, as 2014 World gold medallists Liu Lingling and Li Meng are not jumping together this year.

Double-mini Trampoline

Double-mini gymnasts have to master two elements: A mount of where the gymnast approaches the Double-mini Trampoline at a run and then performs an acrobatic element, usually one or more flips, often with twists. Without stopping their momentum, the gymnast uses the Trampoline to rebound and perform a dismount — another flipping and twisting sequence — onto a landing mat. Gymnasts who don’t land inside the red square in the center of the landing mat lose between 0.3-0.5 points.

What makes the difference: The top gymnasts will perform triple or even quadruple somersaults as part of their mount or dismount, says Horst Kunze, President of the FIG Trampoline Technical Committee. Remaining centered and sticking the dismount are also paramount in Double-mini.

Who to watch: No one has been able to touch Russia’s Mikhail Zalomin at the World Championships for the past two years, mainly due to his capacity for twisting like a top and landing like a dart. In the women’s competition, the United States boasts the past two World champions in Erin Jauch (2014) and Kristle Lowell (2013).

All about Tumbling, Double Mini-trampoline and Synchronised Trampoline Gymnastics

Tumbling
Fast-paced and dynamic, Tumbling offers some of Trampoline Gymnastics’ most suspenseful moments. Gymnasts streak down the Tumbling floor, flying through single and double salto elements before their launching into their dismount, usually a grand finale of flips and twists. Tumblers perform two runs, one based on flipping elements, the other emphasizing twisting.
What makes the difference: This discipline, which was part of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1932, offers a breathtaking spectacle that resounds in the area like the discharge of a machine gun. Tumbling is all about building momentum leading to the dismount, the hardest and most valuable element in a routine. “If you get a bit complacent, the minor errors can creep in and that’s what can lead to a stopped run,” says Kristof Willerton, the 2013 World Men’s Tumbling champion. The best in the world will perform elements with both flips and twists at the beginning, middle and especially at the end of their routines. The triple-twisting double layout and full-twisting triple somersault dismounts are among the hardest tumbling elements performed today.

Who to watch: Two-time Men’s World Tumbling champion Yang Song (CHN) is expected to fight for a third title against an international coterie of challengers, including Willerton, Dzmitry Darashuk (BLR), Tagir Murtazaev (RUS) and local favorite Anders Wesch (DEN). After an uncharacteristic mistake kept her off the podium at the 2014 Worlds, Chinese superstar Jia Fangfang will be out to prove herself again on the world stage. Same goes for Anna Korobeinikova (RUS), who dominated World competition from 2005 to 2010 and is making a comeback after becoming a mom.

Olympic Berths Up For Grabs As 2015 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships open Thursday in Denmark

The 2015 World Trampoline Gymnastics Championships begin Thursday in Odense (DEN), promising a high-flying spectacle where berths for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw (POL) will be up for grabs.
A record 344 athletes representing 40 nations from Argentina to Venezuela have registered to compete for the 14 World titles to be awarded in Individual and Synchronised Trampoline, Tumbling and Double-mini.

2015 TRAMPOLINE GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ODENSE.

With 205 gymnasts (123 men and 82 women) scheduled to compete in the Individual competition, participation in Trampoline Gymnastics has reached new heights with the Odense Worlds, signalling a burgeoning interest in the discipline, which has been part of the Olympic programme since 2000.

Best-on-the-planet bragging rights are only part of the story in Odense, hometown of the famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. For the top gymnasts, Sunday’s final will mark the beginning of their own Olympic fairy tale. The top eight gymnasts in Men’s and Women’s Individual Trampoline competition will earn their countries a spot in the 16-gymnast field at next summer’s Rio Games. Thirteen other men and women will advance to Olympic Test Event to be held April 20, the second and final opportunity for gymnasts to qualify for the Games.

Three Olympic champions — Dong Dong (CHN, 2012), He Wenna (CHN, 2008) and Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN, 2012) — will contend for the Individual titles in Odense. They will be joined in the podium race by reigning World champions Tu Xiao (CHN) and Liu Lingling (CHN) and former Olympic medallists Jason Burnett (CAN), Dmitry Ushakov (RUS), Karen Cockburn (CAN) and Ekaterina Khilko (UZB).

The competition is no less important for gymnasts in the non-Olympic disciplines of Synchronised Trampoline, Tumbling and Double-mini. For them, the Odense Worlds are the only opportunity to qualify for The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw (POL), the quadrennial Olympic-style competition for non-Olympic disciplines.

In Synchronised Trampoline, Tumbling and Double-mini, the top eight countries from the qualification round will advance to The World Games. The last two places will be attributed by the FIG Executive and Trampoline Technical Committee, taking into account host country and continental representation requirements.

For the past 15 years, Odense has hosted several big Trampoline events, including the 2001 World Championships. “Odense is a sports city that obviously likes to bounce!” declared Slava Corn, Vice President of the FIG. “When we came here 14 years ago, Trampoline had just made its Olympic debut in Sydney 2000. These Championships in 2015 are the biggest yet and the first major stop on the road to the Rio Olympic Games.”

“This is the fifth time in a generation that Trampoline athletes have come to compete in Odense,” said Flemming Knudsen, President of the Danish Gymnastics Federation. “Hosting events like the 2001 Worlds and FIG Trampoline World Cups have allowed us to develop the sport in our country while displaying Danish gymnastics on an international level.”

“Hosting the largest World Championships in the history of the discipline is a great honor for us, since we constantly work to attract great international sports events that give us a chance to tell the story about our transformation into a vibrant and modern city,” added Anker Boye, Mayor of Odense.

Competition in Odense begins Thursday with the beginning of the qualification rounds. The first finals will be held Friday evening in the presence of Prince Frederik of Denmark, who is scheduled to present the gold medals.

2015 TRAMPOLINE GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ODENSE

With less than nine months before the Rio Olympic Games begin, the world’s top Trampolinists will make a big leap toward making their Olympic dreams come true at the Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships Thursday through Sunday in Odense, Denmark.

The 31st edition of the World Trampoline Championships, the competition is also the first qualification for next summer’s Olympics. Half of the 16 men’s and women’s berths for Rio will be earned in Odense, while others will advance to the Olympic Test Event April 20 in Rio for a second shot at Olympic qualification.

In addition to Trampoline, which has figured in the Olympic programme since 2000, World titles in Synchronised Trampoline, Double-mini Trampoline and Tumbling are also up for grabs in Odense. For these three disciplines too there is something extra to be earned in Denmark: Qualification places for The World Games 2017 in Wroclaw (POL), the “Olympics for non-Olympic disciplines,” are also up in the air.

Return of the Olympic champions
Three Olympic champions continue to bounce among the top contenders. China’s Dong Dong, a three-time World champion (2009, 2010 and 2013), was also Olympic champion in 2012, four years after having taken bronze in 2008. His compatriot He Wenna, the 2011 World champion, won Olympic gold in 2008 and bronze in 2012. The reigning Olympic champion, Canada’s Rosannagh MacLennan, was also crowned World champion in 2013.

Canada has another star in 2003 World champion Karen Cockburn, who has not won an individual World title since but owns three Olympic medals (bronze in 2000, silvers in 2004 and 2008). Ekaterina Khilko (UZB), the bronze medallist from the 2008 Games, and Jason Burnett and Dmitry Ushakov (RUS), silver medallists in 2008 and 2012, respectively, also know what it’s like to stand on the Olympic podium.

The big leap toward the Olympic Games is happening this week in Odense

China, an enduring dynasty
No team in Odense is as supercharged as China, which boasts five gymnasts who have won World titles in Individual Trampoline and two who have won Olympic gold as well. In the Men’s competition, 2012 Olympic champion Dong Dong and reigning World champion Tu Xiao will try to hold off the charge of younger teammates Gao Lei and Xiao Jinyu for the coveted two gymnasts per country spots in the medal round. Making the final would signal that they are still the best China has to offer in Men’s Trampoline, but Gao has proven especially dangerous the past two seasons, having beaten both his rivals several times already in World Cup competition.

All four of the Chinese women in Odense have the potential to win the World title — indeed, Li Dan (2010), 2008 Olympic champion He Wenna (2011) and Liu Lingling (2014) already have. Zhong Xingping, meanwhile, was World runner up in 2013.

The age-proof veterans
Age is just a number for top contenders Nikolai Kazak, 38, Karen Cockburn, 35, Ekaterina Khilko, 33 and Tatsiana Piatrenia, 34. Still at the top of their abilities, each of these 30-somethings could play spoiler to the favorites. Canada’s Cockburn, the most decorated Olympic Trampoline gymnast in history, is aiming to qualify for what would be her fifth Olympic Games in Rio, as is Uzbekistan’s Khilko, the Olympic bronze medallist from 2008. Belarus’s Piatrenia won a World title in Synchro Trampoline in 2003 and proved she’s still relevant by winning the Loulé World Cup, the finale of the 2015 FIG World Cup series, last month in Portugal. With Synchro partner Uladzislau Hancharou, Kazak won World silver in 2014, 20 years after making his World Championship debut for Belarus.