Trampoline and Acrobatic Gymnastics Day 3

CALI – Colombia, FIG Office, July 31, 2013: The Trampoline and Acrobatic Gymnastics event at The World Games 2013 Cali concluded after the third competition day on Wednesday at El Pueblo Coliseum. On the programme were qualifications and finals in Women’s Synchronised Trampoline, Men’s and Women’s Double Mini-Trampoline, as well as Acrobatic Gymnastics Men’s Groups.

The Women’s Synchronised Trampoline event saw Great Britain’s Amanda PARKER and Katherine DRISCOLL tie with China’s ZHONG Xingping and LI Dan for the World Games title, while Bruno MARTINI of Brazil and Svetlana BALANDINA of Russia won the men’s and women’s Double Mini-Trampoline competitions respectively. China prevailed in the Acrobatic Gymnastics Men’s Group category.

Women’s Double Mini-Trampoline

Reigning World Champion Svetlana Balandina of Russia qualified only in sixth rank, boasting the highest execution and the best overall qualifying score for her first pass, but struggling with her second. In the final, the 32-year-old gymnast showed all her experience, leaving her challengers in her wake with two difficult and cleanly executed passes. Top qualifier Corissa Boychuk, a former World Champion, also put in an overall consistent performance matching all but one of Balandina’s final values for execution and difficulty, which won the Canadian the Silver. Clean passes and the performance with the highest difficulty of the day earned Portugal’s Silvia Saiote the Bronze. She narrowly outscored Brazilian Mariana Carvalho de Aquino, who faced problems during the preliminaries, where she ranked last.

South Africa’s Bianca Zoonekynd performed two difficult passes to rank second in qualifying, but she failed to show her best in the final, finishing seventh.

Qualification results

Final results: Men’s Double Mini-Trampoline

Canadians Denis Vachon and Keegan Soehn impressed with excellent performances in the preliminaries, taking first and second place respectively. With the rules allowing only one gymnast per country in the final, however, only Vachon advanced to the latter stages, where he finished a disappointing fifth.

World Champion Bruno Martini was not up to his usual standard in qualification, but he came back strongly in the final to take the World Games title. Both of his final passes were brilliant, marking the competition’s highest difficulty values. Qualified in third place, 20-year-old Mikhail Zalomin of Russia took a deserved Silver with an overall remarkable performance. Finally, André Lico, who hurt himself during his first pass in the preliminaries and consequently abandoned the second, produced the pass with the second highest difficulty value of the competition to win the Bronze.

Qualification results

Final results: Women’s Synchronised Trampoline

The women’s Synchronised Trampoline qualifications were marked by the impressive synchronisation of both the Ukrainian pair of Maryna Kyiko and Nataliia Moskvina (UKR) and Czech Republic’s Zita Frydrychova and Sandra Opalecka. Rosie MacLennan and Samantha Sendel’s (CAN) two routines featured the highest and lowest (0) difficulty values, while Xingping Zhong and Li Dan (CHN) scored high in execution in their first routine, but failed in their second.

The finals started from zero with new chances for all pairs. The World Champions from China then performed up to their marks again and came out on top. However, they were soon joined by Great Britain’s Amanda Parker and Katherine Driscoll, who stunned the crowd with flawless synchronisation and tied in first place for the Gold. Ukraine played safe with less difficulty than the first placed, but their clean routine scored high on synchronisation again to win them the Bronze. Canada had some timing issues and Russia failed to complete their routine.

Qualification results

Final results: Acrobatic Gymnastics Men’s Group

While the Men’s Group qualifications saw a fall from Ukraine and significant deductions for the Balance exercises of Belgium and Belarus, the three groups redeemed themselves with their Dynamic exercise performances. With an impressive artistic value, Belgium climbed from fifth to fourth place to qualify for the final that took place without Belarus. Top qualifiers China and Russia played in a league of their own, boasting massive difficulty and thrilling the audience with their spectacular pyramids and moves.

The final was free of penalties for all groups, but it was again China and Russia that produced the most stunning performances. In the end, a .21 margin was the difference between Gold and Silver, with the Chinese having the advantage. Ukraine outscored Belgium to proudly take the Bronze.