Ueyama and Cockburn win the 2006 World Cup Final,Trampoline, Tumbling, Acrobatic Gymnastic & Acrobaty

Great new win for 2005 World silver medalist Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN), who has now won a new record 5 World Cups in a row. 2005 World Champion Alexander Rusakov (RUS) came close, but ended up with the silver medal this time. It was a third World Cup Final silver medal for Rusakov. As recently announced on AcrobaticSports.com, 2005 World bronze medalist Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN) was definitely back to his top level, shrugging off his issues with lost skills. In Birmingham, he took the bronze medal, edging 2004 Olympic Champion Yuri Nikitin.

UPDATE 15:

We just posted the official results of the women's trampoline competition as an attached document at the bottom of this article.

Under the tie-breaking rules, Claire Wright (GBR) is ranked 3rd despite obtaining the same score as silver medalist Anna Dogonadze (GER) since her execution marks were lower than Dogonadze's.

UDPATE 14:

Women's trampoline competition:

1. Karen Cockburn (CAN) 37.40
2. Anna Dogonadze (GER) 37.00
3. Claire Wright (GBR) 37.00
4. Natalia Chernova (RUS) 36.70
5. Andrea Lenders (NED) 33.00
6. Irina Karavaeva (RUS) 22.60
7. Elena Movchan (UKR) 22.00
8. Huang Shanshan (CHN) 10.80

Surprise crash by 5-time World Cup Final winner Irina Karavaeva (RUS). 2003 World Champion Karen Cockburn (CAN) wins a second gold medal today by performing a very nice routine that obtained 37.40 pts. Olympic Champion Anna Dogonadze (GER) takes the silver medal whereas Claire Wright (GBR) earns a new medal for Great Britain after Samantha Palmer's gold medal in tumbling.

UPDATE 13:

Nice pictures from yesterday: here

UPDATE 12:

We just posted the official men's tumbling results as an attached document at the bottom of this article.

UPDATE 11:

Men's tumbling competition after two passes:

1. Wang Jiexu (CHN) 77.50
2. Tagir Murtazaev (RUS) 73.60
3. Jozef Wadecki (POL) 70.30
4. Damien Walters (GBR) 69.50
5. Nicolas Fournials (FRA) 67.60
6. Andrei Kabishev (BLR) 64.60
7. Pan Huanian (CHN) 64.20
8. Alexander Skorodumov (RUS) 53.00

As expected, Wang Jiexu (CHN) easily dominated the competition, winning with a margin of almost 4 points over 2006 European Champion Tagir Murtazaev (RUS), and 7 points over 2005 World Games winner Jozef Wadecki (POL). Wang, the 2005 World Champion, remains unbeaten in international competitions. Good performance for Murtazaev, who wins a silve medal at a competition in which he was not supposed to compete originally.

UPDATE 10:

We posted the official women's tumbling results as an attached document below this article.

The women's tumbling competition did not disappoint with a great battle between Samantha Palmer (GBR) and Anna Korobeynikova (RUS). Palmer delivered a new sterling performance to beat the reigning World Champion Korobeynikova for the fourth time this year.

UPDATE 9:

Women's tumbling competition after two passes:

1. Samantha Palmer (GBR) 68.80
2. Anna Korobeynikova (RUS) 66.80
3. Anna Terenia (BLR) 63.80
4. Yuliya Hall (USA) 63.20
5. Emily Smith (CAN) 62.70
6. An De Win (BEL) 58.40
7. Zoe McLean (GBR) 51.10
8. Emeline Millory (FRA) 46.30

UPDATE 8:

Women's tumbling competition after 1 pass:

1. Samantha Palmer (GBR) 34.60
2. Anna Korobeynikova (RUS) 33.90
3. Anna Terenia (BLR) 32.10
4. Yuliya Hall (USA) 31.90
5. Zoe McLean (GBR) 31.60
6. Emily Smith (CAN) 31.20
7. An De Win (BEL) 28.60
8. Emeline Millory (FRA) 21.10

As expected, the competition for the gold medal is a battle between the two favorites: 2006 European Champion Samantha Palmer (GBR) and 2005 World Champion Anna Korobeynikova (RUS). Palmer has the edge after the first pass.

UPDATE 7:

Interesting quotes from the performers after competing: here

Summary of the opening ceremony: here

Quotes from past champions, coaches and officials: here

UPDATE 6:

We posted the official results of the men's synchro competition as an attached document below this article.

UPDATE 5:

Very nice final with no crash. No pair competed a routine with a tariff lower than 14.60 pts. World Champions Nikolai Kazak-Vladimir Kakorko (BLR) were not successful in their bid to top the performance of 2005 World Games winners Henrik Stehlik-Michael Serth (GER). World bronze and silver medalists Yasuhiro Ueyama-Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN) and Michel Boillet-Ludovic Martin (SUI) respectively win the silver and bronze medal of this men's synchro World Cup Final.

UPDATE 4:

1. Henrik Stehlik - Michael Serth (GER) 49.80
2. Yasuhiro Ueyama - Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN) 49.30
3. Michel Boillet - Ludovic Martin (SUI) 49.10
4. Mickael Jala - Sebastien Laifa (FRA) 48.20
5. Nikolai Kazak - Vladimir Kakorko (BLR) 47.80
6. Daisuke Nakata - Takayuki Kawanishi (JPN) 47.10
7. Simon Milnes - Mark Alexander (GBR) 45.30
8. Alan Villafuerte - Sven Mooij (NED) 44.70

UPDATE 3:

We posted the official results of the women's synchro competition as an attached document below this article.

World Champions Irina Karavaeva-Natalia Chernova (RUS) crashed, opening the path for World silver medalist Karen Cockburn-Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN), who edged the World Games winners Anna Dogonadze-Jessica Simon (GER).

UPDATE 2:

The results of the women's synchro competition are as follows:

1. Karen Cockburn - Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN) 47.80
2. Anna Dogonadze - Jessica Simon (GER) 47.30
3. Yulia Domchevska - Elena Movchan (UKR) 45.20
4. Claire Wright - Jaime Moore (GBR) 44.80
5. Yoko Seto - Hiromi Hanmoto (JPN) 44.10
6. Kirsten Boersma - Patricia Meijer (NED) 42.50
7. Irina Karavaeva - Natalia Chernova (RUS) 28.50
8. Tatiana Petrenia - Ekaterina Mironova (BLR) 04.10

UPDATE 1:

The 8th World Cup Final is taking place today at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, Great Britain.

The top 8 in individual trampoline, synchronized trampoline and tumbling face each other in this bi-annual competition concluding the 2005-2006 World Cup series that made stops in Sofia (BUL - June 2005), Levallois (FRA - June 2005), Krasnodar (RUS - July 2005), Ostend (BEL - August 2005), Ghent (BEL - April 2006), Krasnodar again (RUS - May 2006), Savognin (SUI - August 2006), and Salzgitter (GER - September 2006).

A live feed of the competition was announced for 1:25 pm on the British Gymnastics TV web channel (www.bgtv.biz). This initiative was fantastic, allowing anybody to connect to the feed and watch the competition live through their computers. Unfortunately, the feed did not seem to work, showing alternatively an error message (due to congestion of the system) or broadcasts of past artistic gymnastics events. It was a little frustrating for trampoline fans, who had high expectations from this promising initiative.