This 46th Nissen Cup is the stage of the second World Cup of the 2010 World Cup Series, a little more than two months after the first 2010 World Cup held in Ghent, Belgium. 

The Nissen Cup is the longest running international competition in trampoline.  The Nissen Cup was first held in 1958 as a way to promote trampoline in Europe under the direction of Kurt Baechler.  The competition is named after George Nissen, the inventor of trampoline who recently passed away at the age of 96.  Nissen regularly attended the event.  Now a bi-annual event, the Nissen Cup was in its 46th edition this year.  It is traditionally held in Switzerland, either in August or June.  

This year's edition was held in the famous town of Davos, Graubuenden canton, in the Swiss Alps, in the Eastern part of Switzerland.  This year's Nissen Cup and World Cup was held at the Indoor Sport Davos arena.

The next World Cup of the 2010 World Cup Series will be held in three weeks in Wroclaw, Poland.  It will be followed by stops in Albacate, Spain, Astrakhan, Russia, Loule, Portugal, all in September, and Salzgitter, Germany, in October.

77 gymnasts from 16 countries competed in Davos in individual trampoline and synchronized trampoline.  No tumbling event was held.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL TRAMPOLINE PRELIMINARIES

The women's individual trampoline preliminaries of this Davos World Cup were easily dominated by the Chinese team, who took the top 4 places.  Olympic Champion He Wenna (CHN) took the lead with 70.30 pts thanks to a sterling first routine (30.80 pts), and the best optional of these preliminaries (39.50 pts with a 14.20 pt tariff).  Her optional was performed with great height, very little traveling, and brilliant body positions in the air.  He Wenna was closely followed by World Champion Huang Shanshan (CHN), who scored 70.20 pts in these preliminaries, good for 2nd place.  Huang Shanshan also had a brilliant first routine (30.70 pts), followed by an outstanding optional (39.50 pts with a 14.30 pt tariff).  Huang Shanshan's routine was performed with nice height maintained throughout, clean execution, while staying within the rectangle in the middle of the trampoline bed.

The 3rd place of these preliminaries was taken by Zhong Xingping (CHN) with 69.80 pts.  The winner of the 2007 Kunshan World Cup will miss the final as only two trampolinists per nation can qualify for the final.  Zhong Xingping lost a few precious tenths, and ultimately a spot in the final, in her first routine, even though her performance was top notch (30.40 pts).  Her optional was of amazing quality too (39.40 pts with a 14.60 pt tariff).  Li Dan (CHN) took the 4th place of the preliminaries with 69.60 pts, 1.30 pts clear of the next trampolinist.  As with Zhong Xingping, Li Dan will miss the final as two other Chinese trampolinists fared better in these preliminaries.  Li Dan performed the best first routine of the competition (30.90 pts), but lost a few tenths in her optional due to traveling (38.70 pts with a 14.60 pt tariff), which ultimately cost her a spot in the final. 

2007 World bronze medalist Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN) had a good showing as she placed 5th with 68.30 pts in these preliminaries, in large part thanks to a strong optional (38.60 pts with a 14.60 pt tariff).  She will be joined in the final by 2004 Olympic Champion and 2001 World Champion Anna Dogonadze (GER).  The 2010 European silver medalist who recently came back from retirement had a nice performance in Davos.  Her first routine was brilliant (30.40 pts).  She secured her spot in the final with a solid optional (36.90 pts with a 13.90 pt tariff).  Olympic bronze medalist Ekaterina Khilko (UZB), who won the Ghent World Cup two months ago, claimed the 7th place of these preliminaries with 67.00 pts thanks to a neat first routine (30.10 pts) and a quality optional (36.90 pts) that relied on superior difficulty (14.60 pts).

2009 Ostend World Cup winner Katherine Driscoll (GBR) also secured a spot in the final as she placed 8th in these preliminaries with 66.00 pts.  Driscoll had a so-so first routine, but she bounced back with a strong optional (37.70 pts with a 14.40 pt tariff).  The promising Anna Savkina (UZB) also qualified for the final by taking the 9th place of the preliminaries, helping Uzbekistan to a second finalist spot.  Savkina competed a 14.40 pt tariff with quality (36.70 pts).  Overall, she scored 65.60 pts.  Zita Frydrychova (CZE), who won the bronze medal at the Ghent World Cup two months ago, captured the last qualifying spot for the final.  Frydrychova earned 64.50 pts, good for the 10th place of the preliminaries.

The first trampolinist to miss the final was Haruka Hirota (JPN), who placed 11th with 64.00 pts in these preliminaries.  Hirota had a good optional (36.60 pts with a 12.90 pts), but lost some precious tenths in the first routine.  Viktoria Voronina (RUS), who was a finalist at the last World Championships, was not able to repeat her performance from St Petersburg.  The double mini-trampoline World Champion finished these Davos preliminaries in 12th place with 63.80 pts due to too much traveling in both routines (13.90 pt tariff).  She was closely followed by her teammate Natalia Kolesnikova (RUS - 13th with 63.70 pts and a 14.10 pt tariff).

The top 16, which earns points for the World Cup rankings, was rounded up by Haruna Yamashita (JPN - 14th with 62.90 pts), Cristina Sainz (ESP - 15th with 62.60 pts), and Mika Futagi (JPN - 16th with 62.20 pts), who barely edged Samantha Smith (CAN - 17th with 62.10 pts), who struggled in her first routine but bounced back with a quality optional (37.00 pts with a 13.30 pt tariff).  Samira Zehtabchi (SUI), Sarah Eckes (GER), and former World Age Group Competition winner Anna Ivanova (RUS) completed the top 20.  European bronze medalist Galina Goncharenko (RUS) had a great first routine (30.20 pts), but she failed to complete her optional and finished in 22nd place, devancing Agnieszka Stanek (POL), who suffered a similar fate.  Claudia Prat (ESP - 25th), Jessica Simon (GER - 26th), and Katarina Prokesova (SVK - 27th) also failed to complete their optionals.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL TRAMPOLINE PRELIMINARIES

World Champion Dong Dong (CHN) took the lead of the preliminaries of this Davos World Cup with an amazing preliminary score of 74.40 pts.  Dong Dong first beat the world record fo the highest scoring first routine with 32.00 pts thanks to outstanding execution marks including a 9.80 pts and two 9.70 pts.  In the second routine, Dong Dong impressed with another almost flawless performance.  The Olympic bronze medalist scored 42.40 pts (16.60 pt tariff).  Tu Xiao (CHN), who won the Chinese National Championship last month, came in 2nd place in these preliminaries with 74.20 pts, thanks to an amazing first routine (31.60 pts) and the best optional of the preliminaries (42.60 pts with a 16.60 pt tariff).

The 3rd place of these preliminaries was taken by Olympic silver medalist and 2-time Pan American Champion Jason Burnett (CAN).  Burnett had a high quality routine (30.80 pts) followed by a top notch optional (41.90 pts with a 16.90 pt tariff).  Overall, Burnett scored 72.70 pts.  He was followed by 2009 World Cup Series winner Masaki Ito (JPN).  Ito followed a nice first routine (30.50 pts) by with a brilliant optional (42.00 pts with a 16.60 pt tariff) thanks to his amazing body lines in the air.  2007 World Champion Ye Shuai (CHN) claimed the 5th place of these preliminaries with 72.40 pts, just 0.10 pts off Ito.  Ye Shuai performed an optional with great height starting with his traditional rudy out triffis pike (41.90 pts with a 16.70 pt tariff).  Unfortunately, Ye did not qualify for the final as only two trampolinists per nation can qualify. 

2009 Ostend World Cup winner Logan Dooley (USA) qualified for the final by taking the 6th place of these preliminaries with 71.90 pts thanks to two strong routines.  Sergei Chumak (RUS) followed in 7th place with 71.10 pts with a good overall performance and routines with good height.  The last two qualifying spots for the final were taken by Peter Jensen (DEN - 8th with 70.80 pts) and former World Champion Henrik Stehlik (GER - 9th with 70.80 pts).  Both had brilliant first routines and solid optionals that suffered from a little traveling.  As Jensen's optional scored more than Stehlik's, Jensen was ranked 8th under the tie-breaking rules, ahead of Stehlik.

Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) missed the final by only 0.20 pts.  The 3-time World medalist took the 10th place of these preliminaries with 70.60 pts.  He was followed by Michael Devine (USA - 11th with 70.50 pts) and Pan American Champion Steven Gluckstein (USA -12th with 70.20 pts), for an overall very nice performance of the U.S. team.  Manabu Yamaguchi (JPN) claimed the 13th place with 70.20 pts, ahead of Lukasz Tomaszewski (POL - 14th with 68.90 pts), Aliaksei Kouhar (SUI - a.k.a. Alexei Kovgar - 15th with 68.20 pts), and Ghent World Cup bronze medalist Nicolas Schori (SUI - 16th with 68.20 pts), who all scored points in the World Cup rankings.

They were closely followed by World Championship medalist James Higgins (GBR - 17th with 68.10 pts), Jose Manuel Munoz (ESP - 18th with 68.00 pts), Carl Rom-Colthoff (CAN - 19th with 68.00 pts), Bartolmiej Hes (POL - 20th with 67.90 pts), Anton Gonakov (RUS - 21st with 67.50 pts), Alejandro Ruiz (ESP - 22nd with 67.30 pts), and Jonas Nordfors (SWE - 23rd with 67.20 pts). 

Olympic Champion Lu Chunlong (CHN), who was the defending Nissen Cup champion, had an outstanding first routine (31.80 pts).  Unfortunately, he had to interrupt his amazing optional after 8 skills.  He placed 26th with 66.60 pts.  Other notable trampolinists who struggled in these preliminaries include Dennis Luxon (GER - 32nd), European silver medalist Mikhail Melnik (RUS - 33rd), who failed to complete his first routine), Karsten Kuritz (GER - 35th), former World medalist Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN - 39th), and Dimitri Fedorovsky (RUS - 40th).

WOMEN'S SYNCHRONIZED TRAMPOLINE PRELIMINARIES

With 10 pairs entering the event, including 2 Chinese pairs and 2 German pairs, the main point of these preliminaries was to determine the starting order of the final and eliminate one Chinese pair and one German pair.  World Champions Li Dan-Zhong Xingping (CHN) cruised through the preliminaries, taking the lead with 87.50 pts thanks to a great optional (48.40 pts) with splendid synchronization (9.40 pts).  Ekaterina Khilko-Anna Savkina (UZB), who won multiple World Cup medals over the past few years, followed with 84.60 pts, ahead of Rosannagh MacLennan-Samantha Smith (CAN - 3rd with 82.10 pts), who edged 2005 World Games Champions Jessica Simon-Anna Dogonadze (GER - 4th with 81.70 pts).

Li Meng-Wang Yun (CHN) placed 5th with 80.90 pts, but will miss the final as the other Chinese pair fared better.  Mika Futagi-Haruna Yamashita (JPN) qualified for the final after taking the 6th place of the preliminaries with 75.00 pts.  Despite failing to complete at least one of their routines, Samira Zehtabchi-Melanie Peterhans (SUI - 7th), Galina Goncharenko-Anna Ivanova (RUS - 8th), and Claudia Prat-Cristina Sainz (ESP - 10th) qualified for the final.  Alexandra Kohler-Sarah Eckes (GER - 9th) missed the qualification for the final as the other German pair fared better.

MEN'S SYNCHRONIZED TRAMPOLINE PRELIMINARIES

Dong Dong-Tu Xiao (CHN), who placed 4th at the last World Championships, had amazing preliminaries in Davos where they beat the world record of the highest difficulty (16.60 pts) and tied the world record of the highest scoring routine (51.90 pts).  The previous world record dated back to the 2007 Sofia World Cup where it was set by Yasuhiro Ueyama-Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN).  The world record of the highest scoring routine is now co-held with Alexander Moskalenko-German Khnychev (RUS - 2001 World Games) and German Khnychev-Alexander Leven (RUS - 2004 Savognin World Cup).  In Davos, Dong and Tu chose to compete the highest difficulty.  Thanks to superb execution and good synchronization (9.10 pts), they earned the high score of 51.90 pts.  Overall, they qualified for the final in 1st place with a total of 91.10 pts.

Jason Burnett-Charles Thibault (CAN) took the 2nd place of these preliminaries with 89.30 pts thanks to a great optional (50.50 pts) that featured neat synchronization (9.40 pts).  Oddly, 2-time reigning World Champions Tetsuya Sotomura and Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) were not paired together.  Paired with Masaki Ito, Sotomura qualified for the final in 3rd place with 88.30 pts thanks to an optional with high difficulty (16.00 pts).  Paired with Manabu Yamaguchi, Ueyama missed the final as his pair placed 5th with 88.00 pts despite some great synchronization (9.40 pts).  2009 Ostend World Cup winners Logan Dooley-Steven Gluckstein (USA) qualified for the final with a quality performance (88.10 pts with a 15.60 pt tariff).  

They were joined in the final by Peter Jensen-Daniel Praest (DEN - 6th with 87.70 pts), Nicolas Schori-Fabian Wyler (SUI - 7th with 83.80 pts), Plamen Suhov-Yasen Ivanov (BUL - 8th with 80.00 pts), and Tomasz Adamczyk-Lukasz Tomaszewski (POL - 9th with 79.80 pts).  They were followed by Aleksandar Petkov-Dimitar Iliev (BUL - 10th with 76.50 pts), who missed the final.  Henrik Stehlik-Dennis Luxon (GER) unfortunately failed to complete their first routine and missed the final (11th).  Sergei Chumak-Anton Gonakov (RUS - 15th) failed in both routines.