The finals of the Krasnodar World Cup took place today at the Olympus arena in Krasnodar, Russia.

World Champion Irina Karavaeva (RUS) won her 21st World Cup gold medal in individual.  No other woman has won more than six.  Karavaeva, who had qualified for the final in first place, delivered a very nice routine with significant height.  The 2000 Olympic Champion and 4-time World Champion performed her traditional 14.70 pt routine with two triffises and a miller lay at the end. Her difficulty (performed with good execution) is what proved to be the difference at the end of the day as she scored 39.40 pts, winning with 0.90 pts over the silver medalist, who had a difficulty 0.90 pts lower than Karavaeva.  This success follows other gold medals for Karavaeva this year at the Ghent World Cup last week and at the Pacific Alliance Championship earlier in April.  This is the 4th consecutive World Cup gold medal for Karavaeva.  She holds the record with 6 consecutive wins between 2000 and 2002.  With this new victory, the 3-time European Champion emerges as the early favorite for the European Championships to be held in a couple of weeks in Metz, France. 

Former World Champion Karen Cockburn (CAN - pictured on the right) took the silver medal with 38.50 pts (13.80 pt routine).  Cockburn started her routine with a half out triffis pike.  Her routine seemed to be possibly the best she performed this year.  The routine allowed her to move up two spots in the final.  Cockburn, a two-time Olympic medalist, mentioned that she improved on last week's performance in Ghent where she took the bronze medal.  She mentioned that Karavaeva has a bit of an edge right now on the rest of the leading girls but that she wants to keep closing the gap with Karavaeva.  The bronze medal was snapped by Elena Movchan (UKR), who had not stepped on a World Cup podium in individual since the World Cup in Sofia in May 2005.  The 2003 World silver medalist won the bronze medal with 38.20 pts, just 0.30 pts short of Cockburn, thanks to a nice mix of execution and difficulty.  The battle for the medals was hard fought as Olympic bronze medalist Huang Shanshan (CHN) obtained the same score as Movchan's (38.20 pts).  Huang, who had qualified to the final in 2nd place, missed the bronze medal only due to a higher degree of difficulty (14.00 pts). 

2-time Olympian Ekaterina Khilko (UZB) finished 5th with 36.70 pts (13.10 pt tariff).  Wang Wenjuan (CHN) bet on the execution rather than the difficulty (12.40 pts), but her execution marks had a significant spread between the lowest and the highest.  Wang finished 6th with 36.10 pts.  World silver medalist Natalia Chernova (RUS) and Yulia Domchevska (UKR), who finished 4th at the Ghent World Cup, could not complete their routines in the final. 

Karavaeva completed her triumph at home by winning the gold medal in the synchro competition, paired with her Krasnodar teammate Natalia Chernova (RUS).  They obtained 48.40 pts with a 13.00 pt tariff.  Karen Cockburn and Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN) took the silver medal with 47.50 pts (13.10 pt tariff).  These two pairs are respectively World Champions and World silver medalists.  Yulia Domchevska and multiple synchro World Champion Elena Movchan (UKR) took the bronze medal of a competition that had only 6 entries.

In the men's trampoline event, Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN - pictured on the left) won the gold medal one week after also winning it at the Ghent World Cup.  It was Ueyama's third World Cup gold medal after the ones in Sofia in 2005 and Ghent in 2006.  Ueyama won with the exact same score as last week (40.80 pts), performing his traditional 15.50 pt tariff.  He maintained great execution and good height throughout the routine.  His loud breathing was similar to Emmanuel Durand's.  Chinese Que Zhicheng obtained the best individual result by a male Chinese trampolinist ever by winning the silver medal.  Before this silver medal, Liu Qipeng (Sofia in 2005), Que himself (Ostend in 2005) and Lu Chunlong (Ghent in 2006) were the only medals gained by the Chinese at a World Cup event.  All three were bronze medals.  Que performed his classic 16.70 pt routine and obtained 40.70 pts, just 0.10 pts shy of Ueyama. 

Que's (pictured on the right) 16.70 pt routine was as follows:
Half out triffis pike 12 001 <
Half in half out triffis pike 12 101 <
Half out triffis tuck 12 001 o
Half in half out triffis tuck 12 101 o
Full in half out lay 8 21 /
Full in full out lay 8 22 /
Rudy out pike 8 03 <
Half in rudy out pike 8 13 <
Full in rudy out lay 8 23 /
Miller lay 8 33 /

Canadian Jason Burnett (pictured on the left) won the bronze medal, few weeks after his bronze medal at the Pacific Alliance Championship behind World Champion Alexander Rusakov (RUS) and World silver medalist Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN).  This medal was Burnett's first medal at a World Cup.  It was also the first medal won by a Canadian male trampolinist at a World Cup competition since Michel Greene's bronze medal at the Antibes World Cup in December 1998.  Burnett, really stepped up to the plate to win this medal.  He significantly increased the degree of difficulty of his routine up to 16.80 pts, just 0.20 pts shy of the World Record, and delivered a well mastered routine that obtained solid execution marks.  His total score for the routine was 40.50 pts.  The beginning of his routine was splendid.  He lost a little height on his 6th move after a backward traveling, but finished with class with a miller plus lay. 

Burnett's 16.80 pt routine went as follows:
Half out triffis pike 12 001 <
One and half in half out pike 8 31<
Full in rudy out lay 8 23 /
Half in rudy out pike 8 13 <
Randy out pike 8 05 <
Full in full out lay 8 22 /
Rudy out pike 8 03 <
Miller lay 8 33 /
Full in half out lay 8 21 /
Double full in double full out (a.k.a. miller plus) lay 8 44 /

Burnett's 16.80 pt routine was remarkable for several reasons.  The first one is that it featured only one triffis while being only 0.20 pts shy of Igor Gelimbatovsky's World Record, which featured five triffises.  In comparison, Que's 16.70 pt routine featured 4 triffises.  Another pleasure for trampoline technicians is the miller plus lay performed at the end of the routine, and it was executed with a pretty good form.  Finally, another extraordinary technical performance is the second move of the routine, which is a rarely seen one and half in half out pike, done in the form half in + Full in half pike.  This is an amazing display of Burnett's blazing twisting speed and technical masterfulness, especially considering that a half in rudy out pike is performed as the 4th move. 

Masaki Ito (JPN) took the 4th place with 39.30 pts.  It was a great performance for the young Ito, who is usually not a starter on the Japanese team.  As usual, Ito bet on the execution rather than the difficulty (15.10 pts) and obtained a solid 39.30 pts.  Chris Estrada (USA) continued his string of good performances by taking the 5th place of the final, scoring 37.70 pts (15.70 pts).  Former World Champion German Khnychev (RUS), who had qualified for the final in 3rd place after establishing a new World Record of the highest scoring first routine, could not perform as well as hoped in front of his home crowd.  He finished 6th without successfully completing his routine.  2001 World silver medalist Alexander Chernonos (UKR) competed in his first final of a World Cup since coming back from a 1-year break.  Unfortunately, his final was not as successful as desired.  Liu Qipeng (CHN) also could not master his routine in the final. 

In the men's synchronized event, Ito won the gold medal paired with 2004 World Cup Final synchro winner  Takayuki Kawanishi (JPN - pictured on the left).  They won with a solid routine that scored 48.40 pts, thanks to the best synchro mark of the final (9.20 pts).  Ben Wilden and Scott Brown (AUS) took the silver medal with 47.30 pts, edging German Khnychev and Alexander Leven (RUS), who had obtained the same 47.30 pt score, due to the lower degree of difficulty.  Brown and Wilden had qualified for the final in 1st place.   

Thanks to Nikolai Makarov, President of the Russian Federation and Vice President of the FIG Trampoline TC, for sending us the full results.  Thanks to Stephan Duchesne, Trampoline T&T High Performance Director at GymCan, for giving us the heads up on the videos and sending us the partial results.  Thanks to trampoline great Emmanuel Durand for the rectification.

Link to the videos of the finals (from Dominic Lacasse's website; jumping in the following order: Jason Burnett (CAN), Que Zhicheng (CHN), Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN), Karen Cockburn (CAN), Irina Karavaeva (RUS))