The finals of
the fourth World Cup of the 2009 World Cup Series were held
today at the MOSIR sports hall in Zielona Gora, Poland.
This Zielona Gora World Cup was the fourth World Cup of the
2009 World Cup Series. The three previous stages of the
2009 World Cup Series took place in Loule, Portugal, last
September, Sofia, Bulgaria, in April, and Ostend, Belgium, last
week-end. The fifth and final World Cup of the 2009 World
Cup Series will take place in Salzgitter, Germany, next
week-end.
The 2009 World
Cup Series are decided based on the four best results of each
gymnast.
This Zielona
Gora World Cup, which had a very large turnout with 169 entries
from 25 countries, was held in connection with the Winobranie
International Tournament. Winobranie is a Wine festival
held in Zielona Gora since the mid-19th century. During
the wine festival, many cultural and sports event, such as this
trampoline World Cup, are organized in the Western Poland
town.
The women's
individual trampoline competition saw 2004 Olympic bronze
medalist Huang Shanshan (CHN) win the fifth
World Cup of her career with 39.60 pts. She was joined at
the awards ceremony by Zhong Xingping (CHN -
38.90 pts) and Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN -
38.80 pts).
In the men's
individual trampoline competition, Olympic Champion Lu
Chunlong (CHN) won the sixth World Cup of his career
with 42.40 pts. Tu Xiao (CHN) and
Masaki Ito (JPN) claimed the silver
and bronze medals. Lu Chunlong beat the
world record of the highest score over three
routines.
The women's
synchronized trampoline competition saw Yulia
Domchevska-Elena Movchan (UKR) lock the final victory
in the 2009 World Cup Series with one World Cup left. In
Zielona Gora, Domchevska-Movchan (45.90 pts)
barely edged Galina Goncharenko-Anna
Ivanova (RUS - 2nd with 45.60 pts) and
Ekaterina Khilko-Anna Savkina (UZB - 45.10
pts).
Masaki
Ito-Shunsuke Nagasaki (JPN) were the gold medalists in
the men's synchronized trampoline competition, ahead
of Peter Jensen-Daniel Praest (DEN) and
Blake Gaudry-Ben Wilden (AUS).
In the women's
tumbling competition, Elena Chabanenko (UKR)
prevailed over Anastasia Isupova (RUS) and
Elena Krasnorutskaya (RUS). In the
men's, Evgeni Zinukov (RUS) won the first
World Cup of his career by edging Kalon
Ludvigson (USA) and Viktor Kiforenko
(UKR).
MEN'S INDIVIDUAL
TRAMPOLINE
Olympic Champion
Lu Chunlong (CHN - pictured right), who was
competing second to last in the men's individual trampoline
final of this Zielona Gora World Cup, claimed the sixth World
Cup gold medal of his career at just 20. His previous
gold medals were earned at the 2007 St Petersburg and Zielona
Gora World Cups, and the 2008 Osaka, Arosa, and Albacete
World Cups. In Zielona Gora this year, Lu
Chunlong (CHN) made the difference over his rivals
thanks to sterling execution. Lu
Chunlong performed his routine with outstanding
amplitude, superb body positions, and very limited
traveling. Overall,
Lu Chunlong scored 42.40 pts thanks
to a 16.60 pt tariff. With his score of 42.40 pts,
Lu, who had scored 73.40 pts in
the preliminaries, set a new world record for the highest
score over three routines. This new world
record is 115.80 pts. The previous record was held
by 2000 Olympic Champion and 5-time World Champion
Alexander Moskalenko (RUS), who scored 114.80
pts at the 2001 World Championships in Odense, Denmark.
Two months before the World Championships to be held in St
Petersburg, Russia, Lu showed that he will be
the man to beat in Russia.
Tu Xiao (CHN -
pictured left), who was the leader after the preliminaries and
was thus competing last in the final, took the silver medal
with 41.90 pts. It was the first career World Cup
medal for Tu Xiao, who qualified for the final
after edging his teammates Olympic Champion Lu
Chunlong, Olympic medalist and World Cup Final winner
Dong Dong, and World Champion Ye
Shuai. In many of the previous World Cups,
Tu Xiao would have qualified for the final and
battle for the medals but for the fact that two of his
teammates would rank better and take the two spots allowed per
country in the final. In Poland, Tu
tried to win the gold medal by performing a routine with
the highest tariff. His 17.40 pt degree of difficulty was
0.80 pts higher than his rivals' tariffs. Tu
Xiao performed a routine with good elevation and nice
execution. Unfortunately, he lost precious tenths, and
ultimately the gold medal, due to some
traveling.
The bronze medal of this
Zielona Gora World Cup went to Masaki Ito
(JPN - pictured right), who is now the new leader of the 2009
World Cup Series Rankings. Ito had taken
the gold medal in Sofia and the silver medal in Loule. In
Zielona Gora, Ito performed a routine with
sterling execution, with sharp body positions, near-perfection
technique, and lack of traveling. Overall,
Ito scored 41.70 pts, but was edged by
his Chinese rivals due to a relative lack of difficulty (16.20
pt tariff for Ito). This Zielona Gora
World Cup bronze medal was the sixth of
Ito's career. 2004 Olympic Champion
Yuri Nikitin (UKR) had a strong performance in
the final, but had to settle for the 4th place.
Nikitin, who was looking for his tenth
World Cup victory, scored 41.20 pts. His traditional
16.60 pt routine was performed with nice elevation and neat
execution, but a couple of traveling outside the rectangle in
the middle of the trampoline bed cost him precious
tenths.
Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN), who was a
medalist at the last two World Championships and won the 2006
World Cup Final, came in 5th place thanks to a very strong
routine that scored 40.80 pts (16.20 pt tariff).
Ueyama's routine relied on his sharp
technique and clean execution.
Ueyama was followed by Flavio
Cannone (ITA), who executed a solid
routine. Cannone scored 40.60 pts (16.00
pt tariff) and took the 6th place, ahead of Martin
Gromowski (GER - 7th with 40.20 pts).
Gromowski's routine was of high quality,
but encountered a little traveling. One week after
taking the 5th place in Ostend, Steven
Gluckstein (USA) had another strong showing.
However, he had to settle for the 8th place with 39.80 pts due
to a few travels outside the rectangle in a final where nobody
crashed and everybody brought their A game.
Bartlomiej Hes (POL), who was competing in the
final thanks to a wild card, took the 9th place with 35.10
pts.
After this
Zielona Gora World Cup, only Masaki Ito (120
pts), Yuri Nikitin (105 pts), and
Jason Burnett (CAN - 103 pts) can
mathematically contend to win the 2009 World Cup Series this
upcoming week in Salzgitter.
WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL
TRAMPOLINE
The women's individual
trampoline final of this Zielona Gora World Cup saw
Huang Shanshan (CHN) won the fifth World Cup
gold medal of her career, following wins at the 2006 Savognin
and Salzgitter World Cups, the 2008 Arosa World Cup, and the
2008 Togliatti World Cup Final. In Zielona Gora,
Huang Shanshan stepped up her game to top her
teammate Zhong Xingping (CHN - pictured left),
who had dominated the preliminaries in Poland, and edged
Huang to win the Chinese National Championship
Competition earlier this summer. Huang
Shanshan, who won the bronze medal at the 2004
Olympics and the silver medal at the 2007 World Championships,
delivered an impressive routine in Zielona Gora.
Competing second to last, she started her routine very high and
managed to maintain good elevation throughout the
routine. Overall, she scored 39.60 pts thanks to solid
difficulty (14.30 pt tariff) and brilliant execution.
Zhong Xingping won the third World Cup medal
of her career, and the first since her gold medal at the
2007 Kunshan World Cup, as she claimed the silver medal in
Zielona Gora. Zhong's routine started
with high difficulty (14.40 pt tariff overall), and was
performed with neat execution. Unfortunately, a
couple of traveling outside the rectangle in the middle of the
bed cost her precious tenths. Nevertheless, it was a very
good showing for Zhong Xingping.
2007 World bronze
medalist Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN - pictured
right) had a very good performance in the final as she claimed
the bronze medal with 38.80 pts, just 0.10 pts off
Zhong. The Pan American Champion relied
on higher difficulty (14.80 pt tariff) than her rivals.
Her quality routine displayed nice execution.
Luba Golovina (GEO), who is the 2006 European
Youth Champion, delivered a new strong performance as she
secured the 4th place of the final, scoring 37.90 pts.
Golovina relied on beautiful body positions,
but her degree of difficulty, albeit high (13.90 pts), proved
too low this time in comparison to the three medalists.
Tatiana Petrenia (BLR), who had taken the
bronze medals of the first two World Cups of this cycle,
had to settle for the 5th place this time. She performed
her 14.40 pt tariff, and scored 37.70 pts thanks to a good
routine. She barely edged Olympic bronze
medalist Ekaterina Khilko (UZB - 6th with
37.60 pts), who performed her traditional 14.60 pt
tariff. Haruka Hirota (JPN - 7th with
36.70 pts) had a good showing, receiving high execution marks
from some of the judges. However, her relative lack of
difficulty (12.10 pt tariff) was hard to overcome in a final of
this level. The last place of the final was taken by
Yulia Domchevska (UKR - 35.40 pts), who
struggled mildly with some traveling.
After this
World Cup, the race for the final victory in the 2009 World Cup
Series is still wide open as seven gymnasts are
mathematically still in contention: Elena
Movchan (UKR - 103 pts), MacLennan
(100 pts), Petrenia (83 pts),
Katherine Driscoll (GBR - 76
pts), Khilko (70 pts),
Domchevska (66 pts), and Claudia
Prat (ESP - 64 pts).
MEN'S SYNCHRONIZED
TRAMPOLINE
World Games Champions
Masaki Ito-Shunsuke Nagasaki (pictured left)
(JPN) competed a routine very close to perfection, as well as
close to the world record, to clinch a second gold medal in the
World Cup Series. Ito-Nagasaki's
performance gave the impression of a trampoline routine being
reflected on a mirror. Their synchronization was
outstanding while they maintained very high execution and
performed solid difficulty (15.40 pt tariff).
Overall, the Japanese pair scored 51.60
pts. Peter Jensen-Daniel Praest
(DEN), a pair recently formed, took a very good silver medal
thanks to a very strong routine with excellent
synchronization. They scored 50.20 pts, a score that
often means securing a gold medal. The bronze medal went
to another pair that delivered an impressive performance,
namely Blake Gaudry-Ben Wilden (AUS).
The Australians' synchronization was amazing as well, but a
relative lack of difficulty made a difference. They
nonetheless scored 50.00 pts.
The whole
final was of a very high level actually. Ostend World Cup
winner Steven Gluckstein-Logan Dooley (USA)
had to settle for the 4th place despite scoring 49.80 pts
(15.60 pt tariff). They lost a few precious
tenths with a slight lack of synchronization here and
there. European Champions Nikolai
Kazak-Viacheslav Model (BLR) came only in 5th
place despite scoring 49.70 pts. They were followed by
Jason Burnett-Charles Thibault (CAN - 6th with
49.00 pts) and Dario Aloi-Flavio Cannone (ITA
- 7th with 48.80 pts). Wild cards Walter
Pinto-Lukasz Jaworski (POL - 46.90 pts) came in
8th, ahead of Nicolas Schori-Fabian
Wyler (SUI - 45.30 pts).
In
the World Cup Series Rankings,
Ito-Nagasaki have now a very substantial lead.
WOMEN'S SYNCHRONIZED
TRAMPOLINE
Yulia
Domchevska-Elena Movchan (pictured right) (UKR)
were the first ones to lock the final victory in the 2009 World
Cup Series by winning the gold medal in Zielona Gora.
With this new gold medal that followed a gold medal in Ostend
and silver medals in Loule and Sofia, the World Games Champions
and European Champions have 180 pts in the World Cup Series
Rankings, leading their rivals by 94 pts, with just one World
Cup left. They can mathematically no longer be caught up
by their rivals. In Zielona Gora, the final was not a
walk in the park for the experienced Ukrainian pair as they won
by only 0.30 pts. Domchevska-Movchan won
with a score of 45.90 pts, in large part thanks to superior
execution. It was their fifth career World Cup gold
medal.
Galina
Goncharenko-Anna Ivanova (RUS) took the silver medal
with 45.60 pts thanks to nice synchronization.
Ekaterina Khilko-Anna Savkina (UZB) won a new
World Cup bronze medal, their fifth, scoring 45.10 pts thanks
to superior difficulty (13.10 pt tariff). They were
followed by Mina Terada-Natsumi Yamashita
(JPN), Ekaterina Mironova-Tatiana Petrenia
(BLR), who suffered from an unusual significant lack of
synchronization, and Rosannagh MacLennan-Kailey
McLeod (CAN). Alaina Williams-Nani
Vercruyssen (USA) and Kirsten Boersma-Carmen
Verstraten (NED) were unfortunately unable to complete
their routines, and to settle for the last two places of the
final.
MEN'S TUMBLING
The men's
tumbling final proved suspenseful with a dual between 2006
European Youth Champion Evgeni Zinukov (RUS),
who was competing last in the final after taking the lead in
the preliminaries, and Pan American Champion and world
record holder Kalon Ludvigson (USA), who was
competing second to last. Ludvigson took
a slight lead after the first pass where he scored 37.80 pts
(11.20 pt tariff), 0.20 pts better
than Zinukov's 37.60 pts (10.60 pt
tariff). In the second pass,
Ludvigson opted for a tariff lower than
usual (9.60 pts), which yielded 36.10 pts and a total
score of 73.90 pts. Zinukov stepped up
to the plate and delivered a strong pass with good
execution, pace, and higher difficulty (11.00 pt tariff).
Zinukov's second pass earned 37.60 pts,
and allowed Zinukov to win his first
career World Cup with 75.20 pts.
Ludvigson had to settle for the fifth World
Cup silver medal of his career, still looking for his first
win.
World Games
bronze medalist Viktor Kiforenko (UKR) won the
Ukraine's first ever World Cup medal in men's
tumbling thanks to a performance made of two strong passes
(36.10 pts and 36.80 pts with a 10.00 pt tariff).
Overall, Kiforenko scored 72.90 pts.
Alex Seifert (CAN) delivered another solid
performance, one week after winning the bronze medal in
Ostend. Seifert claimed the 4th place in
Poland with 70.60 pts. Local hope
Sebastian Sondel (POL) had to settle for
the 5th place with 67.00 pts after a sub-par second pass.
Artem Pisarev (UKR) followed in 6th place with
65.50 pts after struggling in his first pass.
Pisarev delivered a quality second pass though
(35.50 pts). Jacek Czerniak (POL) and
Chris Melemenis (CAN) took the last two places
of the final.
After this
Polish stage, only four tumblers can contend for the 2009 World
Cup Series victory: Andrei Krylov (RUS - 120
pts), Zinukov (105 pts),
Kiforenko (93 pts but already with four
results), and Ludvigson (80 pts).
WOMEN'S TUMBLING
The women's tumbling
final saw 3-time World Champion Elena
Chabanenko (UKR - pictured left) win her first World
Cup in four years. Her last win dated back to the June
2005 Levallois World Cup. This Zielona Gora World Cup
gold medal was Chabanenko's fourth career
World Cup gold medal. In the final, she made the
difference with her first pass (33.70 pts with a 7.40 pt
tariff), before sealing the deal with a solid second
pass. Overall, she scored 66.40 pts. 2007
World bronze medalist Anastasia Isupova
(RUS) claimed the silver medal with 65.80 pts.
Isupova delivered also a strong first pass
(33.20 pts) and a solid second pass. It was her
fourth career World Cup medal. 2006 European Youth
Champion Elena Krasnorutskaya (RUS) captured
the first World Cup medal of her career with 65.40 pts thanks
to two consistent passes.
World Games
medalist Emily Smith (CAN), who had the lead
after the preliminaries, had to settle for the 4th place with
65.20 pts, just 0.20 pts off Krasnorutskaya,
who was trailing Smith by 0.10 pts after the
first pass. Karen Wilson (RSA) had a new
convincing performance, claiming the 5th place with 64.60 pts,
edging Ashley Speed (CAN - 6th with 64.10
pts). Jessica Courreges-Clerq (FRA) and
Justine Lescalmel (FRA) took the last two
places of the final.
After this
Zielona Gora World Cup, only two tumblers are still in
contention for the final victory in the 2009 World Cup Series:
Elena Chabanenko (160 pts) and Anna
Korobeynikova (RUS - 150 pts). However,
Chabanenko has already four results, so that
her maximum score will be at best 180 pts, whereas
Korobeynikova can still hope to score 200 pts.
You will
find the detailed results attached below.
AcrobaticSports.com would like to thank Stephan
Duchesne (CAN), FIG Trampoline Technical Committee
member, John Beeton (GBR), former FIG
Trampoline Technical Committee member, and Ulf
Andersson (SWE) of the FIG Sports Event Department,
for their much appreciated help in obtaining the
results promptly after the end of
the event.
Note that
the world records are now unofficial as the FIG decided to stop
tracking the official list of world records, effective in
2008.
Link to the
official website with official results and
pictures
Top
