The last World Cup of the 2005-2006 World Cup series came to an end today in Salzgitter, Germany.  The athletes competed in the individual trampoline preliminaries in the morning of September 2nd.  The synchronized trampoline, tumbling, and individual trampoline finals were scheduled for the afternoon. 

As the Salzgitter World Cup is a category B World Cup, the eight finalists respectively earned 30, 20, 15, 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 points that will be added to their total used to establish the FIG rankings, based on which the list of the athletes qualified for the Birmingham World Cup Final will be determined.  The Birmingham World Cup Final will be held in November.

The overall level of the Salzgitter World Cup proved to be higher than at last week's World Cup in Savognin, Switzerland, as there were many less crashes in the preliminaries. 

In a men's trampoline individual final of a very high level where nobody crashed, Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) prevailed once again.  With this Salzgitter World Cup gold medal, Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) became the first male trampolinist ever to win 4 World Cups in a row.  Previously, four men had won 3 in a row: Emmanuel Durand (FRA), Dimitri Poliarush (BLR), German Khnychev (RUS), and Yuri Nikitin (UKR), but all failed in their bids to win 4 in a row.  Ueyama had previously won the Ghent, Krasnodar, and Savognin World Cups, all in 2006.  He had won another World Cup earlier in his career, in 2005 in Levallois.  Like in Savognin last week, Yasuhiro Ueyama, who is the 2005 World silver medalist, stepped up his difficulty for this occasion (16.20 pt).  He maintained a clean execution and obtained a score of 40.50 pts. 

Olympic Champion Yuri Nikitin (UKR - pictured on the left) signed his return from injury with a good silver medal thanks to his 16.20 pt routine that started with three triffises.  Nikitin, who is still not at his top physically and does not jump quite as high as he used to, performed a clean routine where the first five skills stayed in the center but where he had some traveling towards the end.  He obtained a score of 39.90 pts. It was Nikitin's first medal in the 2005-2006 World Cup series.  Nikitin had won 6 of the 8 World Cups of the 2003-2004 World Cup series, including the 2004 World Cup Final.  2003 World Champion Henrik Stehlik (GER - pictured on the right) pleased his home crowd by winning the bronze medal in Salzgitter.  The local champion performed a clean routine that obtained 39.60 pts (with a 15.60 pt tariff).  Stehlik's routine lost a little height towards the end, but he stayed within the rectangle in the center of the bed.  Pan American Champion Jason Burnett (CAN) took the 4th place despite obtaining the same score as Stehlik (39.60 pts).  The tie-breaking rules caused Stehlik to win the bronze medal as his execution marks in the final were higher than Burnett's.  In 2003, Stehlik was crowned World Champion in Hannover thanks to the same rule as he had obtained the same score as 5-time World Champion Alexander Moskalenko but with better execution marks.  Burnett's 16.20 pt routine was clean and had only one traveling outside the central rectangle, but it did not prove to be sufficient to top Stehlik in Salzgitter.   

Liu Qipeng (CHN) also stepped up his difficulty to his traditional 16.50 pt routine with four triffises.  His execution was solid, albeit not perfect.  Liu finished 5th with 39.40 pts.  Peter Jensen (DEN) was 6th with 39.10 pts (15.60 pt tariff), tied with Ye Shuai (CHN - 7th with 39.10 pts and a 16.10 pt tariff), who had qualified to the final in 2nd place.  Ye experienced some travelings after starting his routine with his traditional rudy out triffis pike.  Masaki Hitomi (JPN) took the last place of the final like last week in Savognin, even though he completed a solid routine this time (38.90 pts with a 15.50 pt tariff).

In the women's trampoline final, Huang Shanshan (CHN - pictured on the left) won her second World Cup in a row.  Huang won a very disputed final.  She won with 39.20 pts, just 0.10 pts better than Karen Cockburn (CAN - pictured on the right), who had qualified for the final in 1st place.  Huang bet on a slightly higher difficulty (14.50 pt tariff) to win the second World Cup of her career, just one week after becoming in Savognin the first Chinese trampolinist to ever win a World Cup.  Huang maintained good height and was successful in limiting her travelings. 

2003 World Champion Karen Cockburn won her 4th World Cup medal in a row.  More specifically, it was also the third silver medal in a row.  Cockburn performed a very nice routine despite her knee injury that forced her to sit out one month this summer.  The Pan American Champion stepped up her difficulty in the final to a 14.20 pt tariff.  She finished with 39.10 pts.  In a phone interview with AcrobaticSports.com, Karen Cockburn mentioned that she was very pleased with scoring over 39 pts, which she had not done in a little while.  She was even more pleased to have delivered such a routine in this amazing final where all the finalists performed their top routines.  Cockburn was very happy about her overall performance, especially since her knee has not recovered 100% yet.  She plans on competing a harder routine (possibly 14.60 pt tariff) at the World Cup Final in November in Birmingham where she expects that her knee would have fully recovered, and thus allow her to jump a little higher. 

2003 European bronze medalist Tatiana Petrenia (BLR - pictured on the left) won the bronze medal with 38.80 pts thanks to her well seasoned 14.20 pt routine.  This World Cup medal was the first for Petrenia since her silver medal at the Upplands Vaesby World Cup in April 2004.  Petrenia was followed in Salzgitter by 2004 European bronze medalist Claire Wright (GBR - 4th with 38.20 pts and a 14.40 pt tariff).  Wright's routine was solid but had few travelings outside the rectangle in the center of the bed.  Zhong Xingping (CHN) took the 5th place with 37.40 pts (14.10 pt tariff), followed by Olympic Champion Anna Dogonadze (GER), who competed a routine that had less difficulty than her rivals (13.40 pts).  However, some travelings forced her to settle for this 6th place with 37.00 pts, tied with Ekaterina Khilko (UZB - 7th due to lower execution marks than Dogonadze).  Yulia Domchevska (UKR) performed a full in full out tuck twice and finished last in the final as the difficulty of the second full in full out tuck was not taken into account.   

In the women's synchro trampoline final, 2005 World synchro silver medalists Rosannagh MacLennan-Karen Cockburn (CAN - pictured on the right) won their second World Cup gold medal in a row after winning last week's Savognin World Cup.  It was the 3rd World Cup win of the Canadian pair as they also won the 2005 Levallois World Cup.  The pair coached by Dave Ross won the Salzgitter World Cup with a score of 47.60 pts thanks to a high difficulty (13.10 pt tariff).  They had the lead after the preliminaries and were able to resist to the pressure of competing last in the final.  Cockburn was also excited by this new great synchro performance with MacLennan as they started jumping together only last year.  Cockburn mentioned that they jump very well together as she has known MacLennan since her synchro partner was 9, and thus knows well how she jumps.  They were followed by the Ukrainian pair Marina Kyiko-Yulia Domchevska.  Even though Domchevska is usually paired with 3-time synchro World Champion Elena Movchan, who is not present in Salzgitter, the newly formed Ukrainian pair showed chemistry.  They obtained a score of 47.10 pts, just 0.50 pts off the Canadians.

Galina Goncharenko-Alina Khametzanova (RUS), who were competing for Russia in the absence of World Champions Irina Karavaeva-Natalia Chernova (RUS), took a good bronze medal with 46.00 pts.  Goncharenko and Khametzanova learned they had to compete in the final when the finalists had already started warming up as they were not aware the marks of a Japanese pair in the preliminaries were modified by the superior jury after the synchro machine failed to properly work.  Due to the modification of the mark, they were declared finalists, unbeknownst to them.  As it would have taken too long to go back to the hotel to get their leotards before the beginning of the final, Goncharenko and Khametzanova had to buy some leotards in emergency in the arena.  They were penalized by 0.10 pts for not wearing the official Russian Federation logo on their leotards.  Despite this obstacle, they managed to win an unexpected bronze medal.  

With the support of the crowd, Catherine Auerbach and Sarah Syed (GER) performed a well synchronized routine that obtained 45.60 pts.  Even though they missed the medal by few tenths, it remains a very good performance for the German pair.  They were followed by Mirjam Steinebach-Andrea Lenders (NED - 5th with 45.00 pts), Tatiana Petrenia-Ekaterina Mironova (BLR - 6th with 43.80 pts), who were not as in synchronization as at last week's Savognin World Cup, Amanda Bailey-Erin Blanchard (USA - 7th with 41.40 pts), and Nicole Pacheco-Ana Rente (POR - 8th).

In the men's synchro trampoline final, the pair that had the lead after the preliminary round also confirmed in the final.  2005 World bronze medalists Yasuhiro Ueyama-Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN - pictured on the left) convincingly won their first World Cup gold medal in 2006.  They obtained 48.90 pts thanks to a good synchronization and solid execution.  It was the third World Cup win for this Japanese pair too as they had won the 2005 Sofia and Ostend World Cups.  Ueyama and Sotomura were joined on the podium by 2005 World silver medalists Michel Boillet-Ludovic Martin (SUI - 2nd with 47.90 pts) and 2005 World Champions Nikolai Kazak-Vladimir Kakorko (BLR - 3rd with 47.40 pts) for a reunion of the medalists of last year's World Championships.  The Swiss pair relied on solid synchronization whereas the Belarus pair had a slightly higher difficulty (15.20 pts). 

Simon Milnes-Mark Alexander (GBR) took the 4th place with 46.70 pts, followed by Jeroen Kaslander-Milco Riepma (NED - 5th with 46.20 pts) and 2004 European Champions Alexander Chernonos-Yuri Nikitin (UKR - 6th with 46.20 pts).  2006 European bronze medalists Henrik Stehlik-Dennis Luxon (GER), who are both from Salzgitter, did not succeed in obtaining the medal that the crowd hoped as they took the 7th spot of a very disputed final with 46.00 pts.  Ryan Weston-Chris Estrada (USA) took the 8th place of the final with 45.00 pts.

The women's tumbling final saw a new dominating performance from 2006 European Champion Samantha Palmer (GBR - pictured on the left).  Palmer won her second World Cup gold medal this year with a more than 2.50 pt margin over 2005 World Champion Anna Korobeynikova (RUS).  Palmer had already beaten Korobeynikova at the Krasnodar World Cup and at the European Championships earlier this year.  Palmer performed two very solid routines with nice execution and sharp landings (69.20 pts).  Palmer did not have to perform her most difficult passes as Korobeynikova struggled in her first pass.  Korobeynikova tried to make up for it in her second pass with a tariff of 9.50 pt with a full in full out lay at the end of the pass, but it did not prove to be sufficient.  Korobeynikova had to settle for the silver medal with 66.60 pts.

Alina Yarullova (RUS), 17, joined Palmer and Korobeynikova on the podium for a repeat of the European Championships award ceremony.  Yarullova finished with 65.60 pts.  Anna Terenia (BLR) finished 4th with 64.70 pts, followed by Yuliya Hall (USA - 5th with 63.70 pts).  Olga Murtazina (KAZ - 6th), An de Win (BEL - 7th) and Ashley Speed (CAN - 8th) followed. 

In the absence of World Champion Wang Jiexu (CHN), the men's tumbling final of the Salzgitter World Cup offered a hard fought competition between the top 3 European tumblers of the moment.  In the end, 2005 World Games gold medalist Jozef Wadecki (POL - pictured on the right) prevailed despite having struggled in the preliminaries.  Wadecki, who missed the European Champion title this year due to a poor landing of his final pass, did not repeat his mistake in Salzgitter.  Wadecki delivered two very powerful passes, scoring 76.10 pts in total.  2004 World Cup Final winner Andrei Kabishev (BLR) took the silver medal with 75.30 pts thanks to the most difficult pass of the competition (12.40 pt tariff for his first pass).  A slighly less clean execution made him settle for the silver medal.  2006 European Champion Tagir Murtazaev (RUS), who, at 20, is the oldest of these three tumblers, took the bronze medal with 74.70 pts despite performing the best pass of the competition (38.20 pts in his second pass).  However, Murtazaev's first pass was not as good.

Mickael Gosset (FRA) surprised many in his first World Cup competition as he took a very good 4th place with 67.60 pts.  Alexei Batienko (RUS), Sergei Berestovsky (KAZ), and Damien Walters (GBR) followed after struggling in at least one of their passes in the final.  Charlie Burrows (GBR) apparently had to withdraw.    

The results of today's events are posted at the bottom of this article.

AcrobaticSports.com would like to thank Stephan Duchesne, Trampoline & Tumbling High Performance Director at the Canadian Gymnastics Federation, Karen Cockburn, and coach Alain Duchesne for their detailed comments on the competition.  We would also like to thank Robert Ducroux, head of the judges and coaches courses at the French Gymnastics Federation for the additional information he sent.       

Due to financial reasons, AcrobaticSports.com was unfortunately unable to cover the event on-site.