The preliminaries of the third World Cup of the 2010 World Cup Series took place today at the Orbita Hall in Wroclaw, Poland.

The finalists in women's individual trampoline will be Andrea Lenders (NED), Tatiana Petrenia (BLR), Anna Savkina (UZB), Anna Dogonadze (GER), Natalia Kolesnikova (RUS), Carina Baumgaertner (GER), Agnieszka Stanek (POL), and Anna Ivanova (RUS).

In the men's individual trampoline competition, the finalists will be Takashi Sakamoto (JPN), Dimitri Ushakov (RUS), Sebastien Martiny (FRA), Viacheslav Model (BLR), local hope Lukasz Tomaszewski (POL), Kyrylo Sonn (GER), and Peter Jensen (DEN).

The Orbita Hall of Wroclaw is a superb venue, very modern with four giant screens showing the live scores of these trampoline preliminaries.  It will also be the stage of the 2010 World Championships in acrobatic gymnastics in just two weeks.  The next European Championships in trampoline, tumbling, and double mini-trampoline will also be held in Wroclaw, on April 10-16, 2012.  The organization of this 2010 Wroclaw World Cup has been top notch so far.   

This Wroclaw World Cup follows the 2010 World Cups held in Ghent, Belgium, on April 9-10, and Davos, Switzerland, on June 11-12.  The four other World Cups of the 2010 World Cup Series will take place in Albacete, Spain, on September 3-4, Astrakhan, Russia, on September 17-18, Loule, Portugal, on September 24-25, and Salzgitter, Germany, on October 8-9.

Following the preliminaries held today where the top 8 trampolinists qualified for the finals, the finals of this Wroclaw World Cup will be held tomorrow, starting at 1 pm, local time.

WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL TRAMPOLINE PRELIMINARIES

Andrea Lenders (NED - pictured on the right) took the lead in the women's individual trampoline preliminaries thanks to the best first routine (29.80 pts) and the best optional (36.60 pts with a 13.80 pt tariff) of these preliminaries.  Lenders, who placed 4th at the 2005 World Championships, performed a second routine with good height, solid execution, and moderate traveling.  Overall, she scored 66.40 pts.  Lenders was closely followed by 2006-2008 European bronze medalist Tatiana Petrenia (BLR), who scored 66.20 pts, 0.20 pts off Lenders.  Petrenia had a strong first routine (29.80 pts).  In the second routine, Petrenia chose to compete a degree of difficulty lower than usual (13.40 pts).  Her strategy paid off as she earned 36.40 pts.

Anna Savkina (UZB), who has become a regular in the finals of major international competitions, claimed the 3rd place of these preliminaries to qualify for the final.  Savkina scored 65.90 pts thanks to a solid optional (36.30 pts) with the second best degree of difficulty of these preliminaries (14.00 pts), albeit lower than usual.  2004 Olympic Champion and 2001 World Champion Anna Dogonadze (GER), who won the silver medal at the 2010 European Championships, also qualified for the final in Wroclaw by taking the 4th place of these preliminaries.  Dogonadze earned 65.60 pts thanks to a strong first routine and a solid optional (36.20 pts with a 13.50 pt tariff).  Natalia Kolesnikova (RUS) closely followed in 5th place with 65.40 pts, qualifying for a new World Cup final.  Kolesnikova qualified thanks to an impressive optional mixing difficulty (14.10 pt tariff) and good execution, for a total of 36.90 pts.

Carina Baumgaertner (GER) qualified for the first World Cup final of her career by taking the 6th place of these preliminaries with 64.00 pts, barely edging 2007 Zielona Gora World Cup bronze medalist Agnieszka Stanek (POL - 7th with 64.00 pts) under the tie-breaking rules.  2005 World Age Group Competition winner (17-18 age group) Anna Ivanova (RUS - 8th 62.70 pts) captured the last qualifying spot for the final.  She will also compete in her first career World Cup final.

Lara Hueninghake (GER) closely followed in 9th place with 62.30 pts, but missed the final.  She finished ahead of Joelle Vallez (FRA - 10th with 61.80 pts) and Sarah Eckes (GER - 11th with 60.20 pts).  All the other trampolinists in these women's individual preliminaries failed to complete one of the routine, including European bronze medalist Galina Goncharenko (RUS), who had to settle for the 12th place despite performing the best first routine of the preliminaries (29.80 pts).  Anastasia Velichko (RUS) struggled in both routines and finished 13th with 35.10 pts.  She was followed by Olympic medalist Ekaterina Khilko (UZB), who also tied for the best first routine (29.80 pts).  In her second routine, Khilko crashed on her second skill following a half out triffis pike.  She partially landed on the pads, and apparently injured her ankle.  She finished in 14th place, right ahead of Laura Gallagher (GBR), who also crashed after the first skill of her second routine.  Ekaterina Mironova (BLR) took the 16th and last place of these preliminaries after crashing out on the first skill of her optional.

MEN'S INDIVIDUAL TRAMPOLINE PRELIMINARIES

The absence of some of Japan's national team top performers such as Masaki Ito, Yasuhiro Ueyama, Tetsuya Sotomura, Shunsuke Nagasaki, or Manabu Yamaguchi, did not prevent Japan from shining in the men's individual trampoline preliminaries of this Wroclaw World Cup as Takashi Sakamoto (JPN) claimed the top spot of these preliminaries.  Sakamoto first tied for for the best first routine of the preliminaries (30.70 pts).  Then, as a specialist of high difficulty routines, Sakamoto did not disappoint by competing a well-mastered routine with the highest degree of difficulty (16.60 pts).  Sakamoto performed with routine with solid height, neat execution, and moderate traveling, earning 41.10 pts.  Overall, he qualified for the final in 1st place with 71.80 pts.  The three youngsters who accompanied Sakamoto in Wroclaw, namely Kazuma Takahashi (JPN), Katsufumi Tasaki (JPN), and Ryota Shimada (JPN) showed a lot of promises, especially in the first routine where Takahashi tied for the best score.  Unfortunately, their lack of experience showed in the second routine as they all failed to complete their routines, finishing respectively 21st, 24th, and 25th. 

Dimitri Ushakov (RUS), who won the Wroclaw World Cup's 2008 edition, put his best effort to defend his title.  The 2008 European bronze medalist took the 2nd place of these preliminaries with 71.20 pts thanks to a brilliant optional that earned 40.90 pts (16.00 pt tariff).  Ushakov relied on great height and sterling body positions, earning the highest execution marks of the preliminaries' second routines.  2008 Wroclaw World Cup bronze medalist Sebastien Martiny (FRA) and European bronze medalist Viacheslav Model (BLR) followed in 3rd and 4th places, tied with 70.10 pts.  Martiny had a slightly better second routine than Model (39.90 pts with a 15.80 pt tariff to 39.70 pts with a 16.20 pt tariff), and was accordingly ranked ahead of Model under the tie-breaking rules.

Nikolai Kazak (BLR), the former World Games Champion and 3-time World medalist, also qualified to the final by betting on a lower degree of difficulty than usual.  Kazak took the 5th place of these preliminaries with 68.90 pts.  Lukasz Tomaszewski (POL) performed very well in front the home crowd as he qualified for what we believe is his first career World Cup final.  Tomaszewski scored 68.70 pts thanks to a strong first routine and a solid optional (38.40 pts with a 15.80 pt tariff).  His teammates Bartlomiej Hes (POL) and Tomasz Adamczyk (POL) also did very well, placing respectively 9th and 10th of these preliminaries, both with 68.20 pts.  Both had strong optionals (39.10 pts and 38.70 pts), but had first routines slightly less brilliant than the first routines of some of their rivals.  Unfortunately, they both missed the qualification for the final as only the top 8 trampolinists from the preliminaries would qualify.

The last two spots qualifying for the final were taken by Kyrylo Sonn (GER - 7th with with 68.60 pts) and Peter Jensen (DEN - 8th with 68.40 pts).  Kyrylo Sonn, a promising youngster originally from the Ukraine whose family migrated to Germany ten years ago, and who obtained a German passport three years ago, qualified in Wroclaw for the first World Cup final of his young career.  In these Wroclaw World Cup preliminaries, Sonn impressed with a well-mastered optional that yielded 38.90 pts (15.80 pts) thanks to solid execution.  2002 Edmonton World Cup winner Peter Jensen was far from qualifying for his first career World Cup.  The experienced Jensen opted for a strategy that most trampolinists shone from in today's preliminaries: betting on superior difficulty.  Jensen competed a 16.60 pt tariff, and earned 38.60 pts for his optional, capturing the last qualifying spot for the final.

Christopher Schuepferling (GER) had a memorable performance while taking the 11th place with 68.10 pts.  Schuepferling kicked off his first routine with a full front half triffis tuck, and began his second routine with four triffises (16.30 pt tariff) that yielded 38.90 pts.  Schuepferling's forms in the air were unfortunately not as perfect as hoped, costing some precious tenths here and there, and ultimately a spot in the final.  The promising Daniel Praest (DEN) closely followed in 12th place with 68.00 pts thanks to a strong first routine.  Unfortunately some traveling in his second routine (16.00 pt tariff) proved costly.  Orlando Gotschin (NED - 13th with 67.50 pts) had a solid showing despite a degree of difficulty noticeably lower than most of his rivals.

European Champion Gregoire Pennes (FRA), who seemed tired in Wroclaw, was one of the disappointing showings in these preliminaries.  Pennes had a neat first routine (30.40 pts), followed by decent optional (16.40 pt tariff) that would have qualified him for the final.  Unfortunately, Pennes' last vertical jump landed on the mat, which cost him the spot in the final.  Pennes finished in 14th place with 66.40 pts.  Yasen Ivanov (BUL - 15th with 64.80 pts) and Fernando Gotschin (NED - 16th with 63.10 pts) completed the top 16, and thus scored some World Cup Series points.  They were followed by Aleksandar Petkov (BUL), Romain Legros (FRA), who failed to complete his first routine, Dimitar Iliev (BUL), and 2-time African Champion Ali Djaber Brahimi (ALG). 

Some of the disappointements from the preliminaries involve quite a few high profile trampolinists, including all the Russians but for Ushakov, namedly Dimitri Fedorovsky (RUS -22nd), Sergei Chumak (RUS - 28th), who has been a regular in World Cup finals, and the brightest rising star out of Europe, Mikhail Melnik (RUS - 30th).  All failed to complete their optionals.  World Championship finalist James Higgins (GBR - 26th), Evgeni Zhukovsky (BLR - 27th), and Dennis Luxon-Pitkamin (GER - 31st) suffered similar fates.

SYNCHRONIZED TRAMPOLINE PRELIMINARIES

No preliminaries were held in the women's synchronized competition as only five pairs entered the event. 

In the men's, Ryota Shimada-Katsufumi Tasaki (JPN) easily took the lead with 86.70 pts thanks to solid execution and high difficulty (15.40 pt tariff).  European medalists Nikolai Kazak-Viacheslav Model (BLR) followed in 2nd place with 85.10 pts, betting on top notch synchronization and significantly reduced difficulty.  World silver medalists Gregoire Pennes-Sebastien Martiny (FRA) used the same strategy to qualify for the final in 3rd place with 84.10 pts.  They were followed by follow finalists Tomasz Adamczyk-Lukasz Tomaszewski (POL - 4th with 83.80 pts).  Dimitri Fedorovsky-Mikhail Melnik (RUS - 5th with 83.40 pts thanks to the highest degree of difficulty of these preliminaries - 15.70 pts), Peter Jensen-Daniel Praest (DEN - 6th with 82.70 pts), who also competed a very reduced degree of difficulty, Yasen Ivanov-Plamen Suhov (BUL - 7th with 80.00 pts), who also competed a reduced degree of difficult, and Fernando Gotschin-Orlando Gotschin (NED - 8th with 78.00 pts with a 15.40 pt tariff) also qualified for the final.  Dimitar Iliev-Aleksandar Petkov (BUL), Takashi Sakamoto-Kazuma Takahashi (JPN), Sergei Chumak-Dimitri Ushakov (RUS), and Christopher Schuepferling-Kyrylo Sonn (GER) followed and failed the qualify for the final.  The last three pairs failed to complete their optionals.               

AcrobaticSports.com is covering the event with a two-person crew featuring Damien Dorna and Michel Bontemps.

More to come, including videos.  

Link to the official website

AcrobaticSports.com would like to thank Konrad Bojakowski and the whole Wroclaw Cup team for their assistance and support.