33rd TRAMPOLINE and TUMBLING WORLDS 2018

After Sofia 2017, the 33^rd WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS in TRAMPOLINE& TUMBLING took place from 07 to 10 November 2018 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
World and Olympic champions in history, Irina KARAVAEA (12 times world champion) and Alexander MOSKALENKO (8 times world champion) act as Worlds ambassadors for the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). Most recently, St. Petersburg hosted the 23^rd European Trampoline Championships in 2012 ...
Action continues next week in Saint Petersburg with the 26^th FIG Trampoline Gymnastics World Age Group Competitions, where the top junior athletes from around the world will compete for medals in all the FIG trampoline and tumbling events.

* SATURDAY, Nov 10
♦♦ ... the last F I N A L T A G

♦ MEN's TRAMPOLINE FINAL:  Gao, Dong go 1-2 for China
GAO Lei defended his 2015 and 2017 titles, earning 62.255 to take his third consecutive gold. His airtime of 18.255 was well above any of his competitors as Gao soared over the Saint Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex under the close watch of world championships ambassador Alexander Moskalenko, the last man to win three consecutive world Individual Trampoline titles (1990, 1992, 1994).
Teammate DONG Dong, the three-time Olympic medallist, won silver. Andrey YUDIN (RUS) closed out the competition for the host nation with another bronze. Fourth in Saturday's semi-final, Yudin saved his best performance for the final, where he outscored 2016 Olympic champion Uladzislau Hancharou (BLR) for a place on the podium. "My goal was to get into the final," he explained, "and so I tried to just do a stable routine but made my combinations, so I could get to the final and have a chance at a medal and it worked. Right now I feel good. I am a little disappointed, but I'm glad I made my combination and won a medal."
►► MEN's TRA-FINAL      > Men's TRA-Semifinale

* FIG VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS ...:

* FRIDAY & SATURDAY Nov 09
♦♦  F I N A L  D A Y S :

♦ MEN's SYNCHRO FINAL --: Hancharou, Rabtsau in sync again for gold
The Byelorussian dream pair Vladislav HANCHARU, the 2016 Olympic champion, and Aleh RABTSAU defended their men's Synchro title from 2017. Second in qualification, they scored 52.510 for first place. Allan MARANTE & Sébastien MARTINY (FRA), the bronze medallists in 2015, were delighted to move up to silver in Saint Petersburg.
Ty SWADLING & Dominic CLARKE (AUS) picked up bronze in their first competition as a pair. Third in qualification, the pair managed to repeat their ranking in the final. Top qualifiers Tu Xiao & Dong Dong (CHN) ended up fifth after struggling to stay in sync.
► SYNCHRO, Men;
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♦ WOMEN's SYNCHRO FINAL --: Mori, Uyama clinch historic gold for Japan
Hikaru MORI & Megu UYAMA won the women's Synchro title, the first world Trampoline title for the Japanese women. The pair trained together for just a month after an injury to Mori's usual partner, Yumi Takagi. "We were under so much pressure because we were in first place in qualification, but we came out and showed the best routine we could do," Mori said.
Following bronze in the team competition on Thursday, double Olympic champion Rosie MACLENNAN paired up with Sarah MILETTE to win silver for Canada. "We're quite excited," MacLennan said. "We're really happy with the routine we put out there especially coming back after last night, it was nice to come out there and do another solid routine." Dafne NAVARRO & Melissa FLORES (MEX) won bronze, the first for Mexico in Trampoline.
► SYNCHRO, Women
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♦ WOMEN's Double Minitramp --: Sjöberg strikes gold for Sweden
With the most difficult passes of the women's Double Mini final, Lina Sjöberg made history by becoming the first Swedish gymnast, female or male, to take a world title at the Trampoline world championships. She landed her half out pike - Miller straight in competition for the first time in the final, scoring 72.100 for gold. A former national team member in Artistic Gymnastics, Sjöberg claimed gold after two previous bronze medals. "Finally!" Sjöberg said. "The third time's the charm!" Top qualifier Melania Rodríguez (ESP), 17, was just as happy to win silver, the first medal for a Spanish woman in the event.
Former world champion Kristle Lowell (USA) was ecstatic to win bronze after placing eighth in qualification and said she was delighted to land her passes square in the box. Lowell said she was honoured to share the podium with Sjöberg and Rodríguez, and praised the camaraderie among the international competitors.
►Double Mini Tramp, Women;

♦ MEN's Double Minitramp Final --: Zalomin takes back-to-back Double Mini titles
Mikhail ZALOMIN stuck the landing on both his difficult passes (triffus tucked to half triffus tucked; full-Randy mount to Miller dismount) to successfully defend his Double Mini title, his fourth title since 2013 and the first medal for the Russians in Saint Petersburg. "I came here with the specific goal of getting the gold medal to defend my world title," Zalomin said, "and I achieved my goal."
Teammate Vasilii MAKARSKII lost the silver medal after being penalised for repeating the same pass he had shown in qualification. This bumped Ruben PADILLA (USA) from bronze to silver in his first world championships.  Lucas ADORNO (ARG) won the bronze, his first medal in his sixth world appearance.
► Double Mini Tramp, Men;
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♦ WOMEN's Tumbling Final: - Jia tumbles to 10th world title
China's JIA Fangfang followed up on Thursday's team gold with the women's Tumbling title, her fifth individual world title and 10th world title overall since 2011. Jia scored 71.100 for her two passes, the most difficult of the finalists (full-in double straight to full-full straight; double straight to full-full tuck). Jia, who has recently taken up Artistic Gymnastics in an attempt to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games as a specialist, said she was happy to win the Tumbling title after overcoming a recent injury to her leg caused by practising Floor Exercise. With a score of 71.100, Jia won by nearly 2 points, but praised her competitors.
Shanice DAVIDSON (GBR), competing in her first world championships, won silver.
Viktoriia DANILENKO (RUS) brought bronze for the host nation, her first individual world championships medal after three team medals for Tumbling
► TUMBLING, Women;     

♦ MEN's Tumbling Final: - Afanasev tumbles to the title
Vadim Afanasev tumbles to title Russia's Afanasev was crowned king of men's Tumbling with two incredible passes for 79.200. After a first pass of two double straights to triple pike, he nearly stuck his spectacular full-full straight to a full-in triple pike.
Silver medallist Elliott Browne (GBR) said he was struck by a sudden case of nerves in the morning but gathered himself to compete in the final. He tumbled the same ultra-difficult second pass as Afanasev.  Defending world champion Zhang Kuo (CHN) won bronze.
  ► TUMBLING, Men;
* source: f i g reports
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* Wednesday, Nov 07
♦ QUALIFICATIONS
China, Russia, Belarus dominate as usual the starting fields in the qualifying rounds.
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* PRELIMINARIES, RESULTS:
> MEN's Trampoline;    > WOMEN's Trampoline;
> MEN's-Synchron;     > WOMEN's Synchro
> MEN's DMT             > WOMEN's Doppel-Mi;
> MEN's TUMBLING;   > MEN's TUMBLING,Frauen

* P R E V I E W  - - :
The Saint Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex, which played host to the 2009 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships, will see an exciting showdown with the new combined team final. Making its debut in 2018, the mixed-gendered team final will consist of the four events each for men and women - Individual Trampoline, Synchronised Trampoline, Tumbling and Double Mini-trampoline - with gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to the top three teams.
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* 2016 Olympic champions Uladzislau Hancharou (BLR) and Rosie MacLennan (CAN) and 2017 world champion Gao Lei (CHN) headline the field, which is packed with world and Olympic medallists. MacLennan, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion, is returning to the world championships after missing last year's edition in Sofia (BUL).MacLennan forced to 'start from scratch' after Rio.
Sidelined by a neck injury in 2017, two-time Olympic champion Rosie MacLennan (CAN) is back at the Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships in Saint Petersburg (RUS) : >> ... read more
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* The host Russians will be led in Saint Petersburg by defending Double Mini world champion Mikhail Zalomin (RUS) and his Double Mini world champion teammates Vasilii Makarskii & Aleksandr Odintsov, as well as Dmitrii Ushakov, the 2012 Olympic and 2017 World silver medallist in men's Trampoline, and Yana Pavlova, a 2016 Olympian and the 2017-18 World Cup series champion.
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*The Chinese challenge in Saint Petersburg is led by defending world champions Gao Lei (men's Individual Trampoline); Gao, three-time Olympic medallist Dong Dong, and Tu Xiao (men's Trampoline team); Zhu Xueying (women's Synchro); Zhu Xueying and Liu Lingling (women's Trampoline team); World Tumbling champions Zhang Kuo (men's Tumbling) and Jia Fangfang (women's Tumbling). Gao is aiming to become the first man in 24 years to win three world Trampoline titles in a row, following World Championships Ambassador Alexander Moskalenko, who won in 1990, 1992 and 1994.
Bryony Page (GBR), the 2016 Olympic silver medallist, is back after ankle injuries kept her out of action for two years following the Rio Olympic Games.