The 46th Nissen Cup was 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.  It 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.

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

The main event from this Davos World Cup was the performance by Olympic silver medalist Jason Burnett (CAN), who set a new World Record of the highest difficulty in the men's individual trampoline final.  His new astonishing World Record is at 18.80 pts of difficulty.  He held the previous World Record with 18.00 pts, set in April at the Pacific Rim Championships.

With this performance, Burnett took the silver medal in Davos with 41.80 pts, just 0.10 pts off gold medalist Dong Dong (CHN - 41.90 pts).  In a final of a very high level, Tu Xiao (CHN) claimed the bronze medal with 41.60 pts.

In the women's individual trampoline event, He Wenna (CHN) prevailed with 39.30 pts.  The silver medal went to Huang Shanshan (CHN - 38.90 pts), and the bronze medal to Anna Dogonadze (GER - 38.20 pts).

In men's synchronized trampoline, Logan Dooley-Steven Gluckstein (USA - 49.80 pts) left Switzerland with the gold medal around their neck.  Jason Burnett-Charles Thibault (CAN) took the silver medal with 49.10 pts, barely edging Peter Jensen-Daniel Praest (DEN - 49.00 pts). 

The women's synchronized trampoline competition saw the victory of Li Dan-Zhong Xingping (CHN - 47.60 pts).  Anna Dogonadze-Jessica Simon (GER - 45.80 pts) were the silver medalists, followed by Ekaterina Khilko-Anna Savkina (UZB - 45.10 pts).

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL TRAMPOLINE FINAL

Once again, Olympic silver medalist Jason Burnett (CAN) pushed the limits of human perfomance on a trampoline to unbelievable new heights.  Competing third to last in the final of this Davos World Cup, Jason Burnett decided to set a new World Record of the highest difficulty to an incredible 18.80 pt of degree of difficulty.  Burnett had previously set the world record in 2007 at the World Cup in Lake Placid, United States, where he performed a routine then worth 17.50 pts under the then-applicable code of points.  Under the new code of points, Burnett's Lake Placid routine is worth 17.90 pts.  At the Pacific Rim Championships held in Melbourne, Australia, at the end of April, Burnett set a new World Record in Melbourne with an 18.00 pt degree of difficulty.  He originally intended to compete his 18.80 pt tariff in Melbourne.  However, after encountering some struggle, he decided to modify his routine down to an 18.00 pt tariff to set a new World Record.  

In Davos, Burnett started high with a rudy out triffis pike, followed by a big traveling on a half in half out triffis pike.  Despite landing near the mat, Burnett recovered nicely to deliver a great routine with good height and nice execution, swinging one amazing skill after the other on the powerful brand new Premium 4x4 Eurotramp bed.  At the end of the routine, the whole arena erupted in cheers for the historic performance that took place in front of their eyes.

The routine performed by Jason Burnett in Davos was as follows (name of the skill followed by its numerical transcript and then its value in difficulty):

- Rudy out triffis pike (12 003< 2.2)
- Half in half out triffis pike (12 101< 2.1)
- Half out triffis pike (12 001< 2.0)
- Double full in double full out straight (8 44/ 2.0)
- Randy out pike (8 05< 1.7)
- Miller straight (8 33/ 1.8)
- Full in randy out straight (8 25/ 1.9)
- Half in rudy out pike (8 13< 1.6)
- Full in rudy out straight (8 23/ 1.7)
- Half in randy out pike (8 15< 1.8)
Total: 18.80 pts.

With this new unbelievable performance, which followed previous jaw dropping performances in competition and training (including a routine with 10 triples), Jason Burnett has definitely secured his spot by Igor Gelimbatovsky (USSR) in the history of the difficulty trail blazers of this sport.  Following a series of world records, Gelimbatovsky set a 14.10 pt World Record (at the time - worth 17.00 pts at the time it was beaten) at the 1986 World Championships that lasted until Burnett beat it 20 years later in Lake Placid.  Note that world records are unfortunately not officially kept by the FIG any longer.

Relying on nice execution and brilliant forms that allowed him to be Olympic silver medalist (although most experts thought he had deserved the Olympic gold) and two Pan American Champion titles, Burnett scored 41.80 pts for his record routine Davos.  The significant traveling on the second skill, and some more longitudinal traveling (skills 6 and 10) and lateral traveling (here and there) cost Burnett some precious tenths, and ultimately the gold medal.  Burnett, who finished in 2nd place at the 2009 World Cup Series in part thanks to his gold medal at the 2008 Loule World Cup, finished with the silver medal in Davos.  It was the sixth World Cup medal of his individual trampoline career.

Competing right in the final in Davos right after Burnett was Tu Xiao (CHN - pictured right), who won the Chinese National Trampoline Championship held last month in Wenzhou, China.  Tu Xiao managed to master the pressure.  Although he is himself an expert in competing high difficulty routines with degrees of difficulty in excess of 17.00 pts, Tu Xiao opted to compete a lower difficulty routine (16.60 pts) which allowed him to win the gold medal in Wenzhou last month.  Tu Xiao delivered a high quality routine with neat execution, height, and superb twisting technique.  Tu Xiao scored 41.60 pts, good for a bronze medal.  It was the third World Cup medal of Tu Xiao's career, all won in the last three World Cups in which he competed.

Competing last in the final after dominating the preliminaries was reigning World Champion and Olympic bronze medalist Dong Dong (CHN - pictured left).  Benefiting from the experience of having competed last in many major international events' finals, Dong Dong seemed almost unfazed by the pressure and competed a top notch routine with great height, sterling execution, and very limited traveling.  With his traditional 16.60 pt tariff kicking off with three triffises, Dong Dong scored 41.90 pts, edging Burnett by 0.10 pts.  It was the sixth World Cup individual gold medal in Dong Dong's career, and the seventh World Cup medal in the career of the 2008 World Cup Final Champion.

Coming back from retirement, 2003 World Champion and 2004 Olympic medalist Henrik Stehlik (GER) continued on his streak of good performances that included a silver medal at the Ghent World Cup two months ago.  Competing first in the final after taking the 9th place of the preliminaries but benefiting from the rule that prevented Ye Shuai (CHN) from competing in the final as two other Chinese qualified at higher placed, Stehlik delivered a really neat routine featuring nice execution and moderate traveling.  Stehlik obtained a score of 40.80 pts (16.20 pt tariff), and placed 4th in Davos.  2009 World Cup Series winner Masaki Ito (JPN), who competed just before Burnett, finished this Nissen Cup in 5th place with 40.70 pts, just 0.10 pts off Stehlik.  Ito performed a great routine with a little more difficulty (16.60 pt tariff) than his traditional routine.  Unfortunately, some traveling cost precious tenths to Ito.  In addition, Ito seemed to have seriously injured his back on the final vertical jump, which caused him severe pain. 

Peter Jensen (DEN) struggled a little in this final, and had to settle for the 6th place with 37.30 pts (15.60 pt tariff).  Jensen barely edged 2009 Ostend World Cup winner Logan Dooley (USA), who placed 7th with 37.20 pts.  Dooley competed a routine with high difficulty (16.90 pt tariff), but struggled with forms and traveling.  Sergei Chumak (RUS) struggled with pressure and crashed early in his routine (8.50 pts).  The 2-time Russian Champion had to settle for the 8th place.  Aliaksei Kouhar (SUI - also known as Alexei Kovgar), the Swiss wild card in the final originally from Belarus, unfortunately crashed after his first skill.  He placed 9th with 4.40 pts.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL TRAMPOLINE FINAL

The women's individual trampoline final saw the victory of Olympic Champion He Wenna (CHN - pictured on the right) who prevailed over World Champion and 2-time Nissen Cup defending champion Huang Shanshan (CHN).  Competing last in the final after edging Huang in the preliminaries, He Wenna stayed focused and delivered a top notch routine.  Her routine was performed with impressive height, brilliant body position, and solid difficulty (14.20 pts).  Overall, He Wenna scored 39.30 pts, good for the gold medal.  Overall, it was the third World Cup gold medal in He Wenna's career, and the first in two years as her last win dated back to June 2008 in Albacete, Spain.  

Huang Shanshan (pictured on the left), who became the first Chinese to win a World Cup when she claimed the gold medal at the Nissen World Cup held in Savognin four years ago, came to Davos with the intent of successfully defending the title she had retained at the 2008 Nissen World Cup held in Arosa.  Competing second to last in the final after finishing the preliminaries 0.10 pts off He Wenna, Huang Shanshan delivered a splendid routine with great execution and high difficulty (14.30 pts).  Unfortunately, a couple of traveling here and there cost her some precious tenths, and ultimately the gold medal.  Overall, the Asian Games Champion scored 38.90 pts and secured the silver medal.

Coming back from retirement, former Olympic Champion and World Champion Anna Dogonadze (GER - pictured right) won her first World Cup medal in individual trampoline in almost four years, the last one dating back to the 2006 World Cup Final in Birmingham, United Kingdom.  Confirming that she came back to the top level, Dogonadze claimed a new major international medal, one month after capturing the silver medal at the European Championships.  In Davos, Dogonadze competed a very strong routine with very nice execution and good difficulty (14.10 pt tariff).  Dogonadze kept the traveling under control, and earned a score of 38.20 pts.  She took the bronze medal, almost 18 years after winning her first World Cup gold medal, in Switzerland at the St Moritz World Cup held in parallel to the Nissen Cup.  This Davos World Cup bronze medal is Dogonadze's 16th career World Cup medal. 

Dogonadze was closely followed by the promising Anna Savkina (UZB), who came in 4th place with 37.90 pts.  Savkina relied on neat body positions in the air and solid difficulty (14.40 pt tariff) to place 4th.  2007 World medalist Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN) took the 5th place with 36.90 pts.  Competing just before Huang and He, MacLennan relied on very high difficulty (15.00 pt tariff) to try to put pressure on the Chinese trampolinists.  Unfortunately, MacLennan's routine traveled, and her forms were not as perfect as hoped.  Zita Frydrychova (CZE), who won the bronze medal at the Ghent World Cup two months ago, had another solid World Cup performance as she placed 6th with 35.70 pts.  Her relative lack of difficulty (13.30 pt tariff) made it complicated to join the battle for the medals.  Olympic bronze medalist Ekaterina Khilko (UZB), who won the World Cup in Ghent two months ago, could not repeat her performance from Belgium.  Khilko competed her traditional routine featuring high difficulty (14.60 pt tariff).  Unfortunately, she struggled and had to settle for the 7th place with 35.50 pts.  2009 Ostend World Cup winner Katherine Driscoll (GBR) finished in 8th place with 0.00 pts after her first skill (half out triffis pike) landed partially on the pads.

MEN'S SYNCHRONIZED TRAMPOLINE FINAL

Logan Dooley-Steven Gluckstein (USA - pictured left) won the second synchronized trampoline World Cup gold medal of their career with a brilliant performance in the final in Davos.  The U.S. pair who won the 2009 Ostend World Cup, delivered a routine with nice synchronization (9.00 pts), clean execution, and superior difficulty (15.60 pt tariff).  Overall, they scored 49.80 pts.  The silver medal went to Jason Burnett-Charles Thibault (CAN), who had already won the silver medal at the 2010 Ghent World Cup a couple of months ago.  Competing second to last in the final, the Canadian pair lacked a little synchronization compared to their fellow medalists, but made up with brilliant execution and solid difficulty (15.00 pt tariff).  Overall, Burnett-Thibault scored 49.10 pts.  The bronze medal went to Peter Jensen-Daniel Praest (DEN), who had won two silver medals in the 2009 World Cup Series.  The Danish pair's performance featured outstanding synchronization (9.50 pts) and strong difficulty (15.40 pts).  However, they lost some precious tenths in execution in part due to traveling.  Overall, they scored 49.00 pts, just 0.10 pts off the Canadian pair.  

Jensen-Praest were followed by Tomasz Adamczyk-Lukasz Tomaszewski (POL - 4th with 41.40 pts) who struggled significantly with lack of synchronization and sub-par execution.  However, in a final where many pairs failed to complete their routines, it meant that they would place 4th.  After dominating the preliminaries with an amazing performance, Dong Dong-Tu Xiao (CHN) were the favorites heading to the final.  Competing last in the final after Burnett-Thibault, the Chinese pair delivered a performance that seemed almost flawless at first, and would have most likely yielded the gold medal.  Unfortunately, it seemed that they did perform a different skill one from the other in the middle of the routine.  It meant that their routine would be regarded as interrupted by the judges.  As a result, they placed 5th with 36.40 pts.  They were followed by Plamen Suhov-Yasen Ivanov (BUL - 6th with 32.10 pts), and local hopes Nicolas Schori-Fabian Wyler (SUI - 7th with 27.80 pts), who both also failed to complete their routines.  The last place of the final was taken by Tetsuya Sotomura-Masaki Ito (JPN), who had placed 2nd in the preliminaries, but scored 0.00 pts in the final as Ito withdrew due to the back injury he sustained in the individual final.  Surprisingly, Sotomura was not paired with Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) in synchronized trampoline even though they are the 2-time reigning World Champions.  Ueyama was instead paired with Manabu Yamaguchi (JPN). 

WOMEN'S SYNCHRONIZED TRAMPOLINE FINAL

The women's synchronized trampoline final of this Davos World Cup saw reigning World Champions Li Dan-Zhong Xingping (CHN - pictured right) win the first World Cup gold medal of their synchronized trampoline career.  Competing last after dominating the preliminaries, the pair from Guangdong cruised to victory in the final.  They relied on superior synchronization (9.10 pts) and top notch execution to capture the gold medal with 47.60 pts (12.60 pt tariff).  The silver medal went to 2005 World Games gold medalists Anna Dogonadze-Jessica Simon (GER), who earned 45.80 pts for a routine that featured high difficulty (13.10 pt tariff).  World bronze medalists and 2009 Salzgitter World Cup winners Anna Savkina-Ekaterina Khilko (UZB) won a new World Cup medal with a solid performance featuring high difficulty (13.10 pt tariff) and solid execution.  Competing just before Li-Zhong, Khilko-Savkina earned 45.10 pts.

Paired for this specific occasion in the absence of Karen Cockburn (CAN), Rosannagh MacLennan-Samantha Smith (CAN) did not manage to hold on to the 3rd place they took in the preliminaries.  In the final, they scored 44.70 pts, edged by rivals with superior difficulty.  Competing first in the final after struggling the preliminaries, Claudia Prat-Cristina Sainz (ESP) placed 5th with 43.70 pts.  Mika Futagi-Haruna Yamashita (JPN - 6th with 33.10 pts), Samira Zehtabchi-Melanie Peterhans (SUI - 7th with 18.50 pts), and Galina Goncharenko-Anna Ivanova (RUS - 8th with 15.10 pts) all struggled in the final.           

Videos from Michel Bontemps to come.  Reports and pictures from the preliminaries to come.  Many pictures added.

Link to Youtube video of the 18.80 pt world record by Jason Burnett (CAN)

Link to the FIG report