32nd World Championships of Trampoline & Tumbling

The 32^nd edition of the 2017 World Trampoline & Tumbling Championships take place at the Arena Armeec in Sofia, Bulgaria, from Nov. 9-12, at the same place like the 29^th Trampoline Worlds in 2013.
This year a total of 290 athletes from 34 countries will participate in the World Championships, which features competition in trampoline, synchronized trampoline, double mini-trampoline and tumbling. The athletes will fight altogether for 14 World Titles
Held following the World Championships, the 25^th World Age Group Competition will showcase the world's best young men and women in those four events in four age groups: 11-12, 13-14, 15-16 and 17-21 years of age.

32^nd WCh 2017 - TRAMPOLINE & TUMBLING  (+ Results, Overview)

* Sunday, Nov 12:
OLYMPIC T R A M P O L I N E, individual
♦♦ MEN's individual
* fig-reports ---: Gao Lei kept the crown ---:  Gao Lei literally flew high above the Arena Armeec field to assert himself again as the leading man in his discipline. The Chinese’s time of flight is usually his strongest asset and once again it helped him make the difference; it also helped that his difficulty score was the highest of the finalists. In the final reckoning a 0.275pt margin separated the reigning world champion from Russia’s Dmitrii Ushakov, the 2015 bronze medallist, who had set benchmarks both in qualification and in the semi-finals.

For the Chinese gymnasts, who also won the team title on Friday, the first challenge had been to outclass their own team-mates to advance to the final because of the two finalists per nation rule. Dong Dong, who had been one of the casualties of this ruling at the last World Championships, managed this time to be the second man alongside Gao Lei. The triple Olympic medallist transformed his opportunity into bronze, the 17^th medal of his collection, in the process depriving  France’s Allan Morante from a medal by a mere 0.015 pt.

After his golden day 24 hours before, Sunday was less glorious for Uladzislau Hancharou. The 2016 Olympic champion aborted his routine after hitting the side of the trampoline bed, meaning that for the first time since his senior debut in 2013, the Belarusian did not stand on the individual podium in a major event.

►  TRA, MEN's FINAL
   ►  Men's TRA-ind.-Semifinal;
     >  TRA, men-qu-
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♦♦ WOMEN's Individial
The 12th medal, but the first gold ---: A long wait ended on Sunday for 36-year-old Belarusian Tatsiana Piatrenia who, after having pocketed 11 world medals, finally struck gold. Following her silver in team Trampoline and bronze in Synchronised Trampoline on the previous two days in Sofia, Piatrenia at last clinched her first World title with her polished routine in the individual competition. The absence of the Olympic medallists had opened the way to the throne to a new champion in the Bulgarian capital. But the surprise of the day was the absence of any Chinese representative on the podium. The most expected contender had been Liu Lingling, but the 2014 world champion missed the cut in the semi-finals. So it was left to Japan’s Ayano Kishi to emerge from the pack to take second and Canadian Sophiane Methot third, with both women winning their first medals.

► TRA, WOMEN's FINAL
   ► Women's TRA-ind, Semifinal
        > TRA, wom-qu;
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* Friday, Nov 10  -  T R A M P O L I N E:  MEN's TEAM FINALS
Chinese men back in the summit --: With their stellar trio of 2012 Olympic champion Dong Dong, Tu Xiao and Gao Lei – World champions respectively in 2013, 2014 and 2015 – the Chinese team (with also Xiao Jinyu) went into the final tagged as the clear favorites. However the way to gold was not so smooth thanks to a tough challenge from their Russian rivals (Dmitrii Ushakov, Sergei Azarian, Andrey Yudin and Mikhail Melnik). As he did in qualification the day before, Ushakov ended up with the best score of the evening, putting huge pressure on Gao Lei who was the last competitor. However, the reigning World champion resisted the challenge and by a final margin of less than 0.3 points, China reclaimed the team world title they had lost to Belarus in 2015. With the bronze medal, Japan (Daiki Kishi, Masaki Ito, Ryosuke Sakai andGinga Munetomo) completed the podium. As for Belarus, a team led by 2016 Olympic champion Uladzislau Hancharou fell out of the running in the race for the podium after an early mistake from Aleh Rabtsau. This latest gold medal was a wonderful consolation for Dong and Tu, who had missed the chance to maintain their winning streak in Synchronised Trampoline after a rare mistake from the three-time Olympic medallist in qualification earlier in the day.
* WOMEN's TEAM FINAL:
... and Chines women still flying ---: Led by the 2014 champion Liu Lingling and Youth Olympic champion Zhu Xueying, China (also Zhong Xingping and Zhu Shouli) produced a real show of class to finish on the first step of the podium. Even more than their male counterparts, the Chinese women have gold as their standard currency: this was a straightforward success for the team as they banked their second title in a row and sixth overall since 2005 and sixth overall since 2005. However, it was Tatsiana Piatrenia who performed the best routine of the day, allowing the Belarusians (also Hanna Harchonak, Maryia Makharynskaya and Anhelina Khatsian) to collect silver as at the last Worlds. Great Britain (Laura Gallagher, Isabelle Songhurst and Katherine Driscoll) took the bronze medal, finding a place back on the podium for the first time since their title at the 2013 World Championships … in Sofia. 

♦ Thursday, Nov 9  - TRAMPOLINE QUALIFICATION
* QUALIFICATIONS - FIG-reports - --:
♦ TRAMPOLINE, Men: Ushakov ranks ahead of a trio of champions!
Athletes from China (5x) and Russia (3x) took the lead at the first qualification day in Sofia. The closest to them were competitors from Belarus, Great Britain and Japan.
It was a difficult beginning for 2016 Olympic champion Uladzislau Hancharou. A year on from his triumph in Rio, the Belarusian lost control and hit the side of the trampoline bed during his first routine. But the two-time World medallist fought his way back with a solid second performance, climbing into fifth place ahead of Saturday's semi-final. Russia's Dmitrii Ushakov, the 2012 Olympic silver medallist, was the surprise name in first place at the end of qualifying, finishing ahead of a trio of World champions in Gao Lei, Dong Dong and Tu Xiao. For the three Chinese, the semi-finals will play out as a mini-national championship within the main competition, since only two gymnasts per country can advance to the final. With three strong contenders, though, the Chinese team have put themselves into pole position for the gold in the team final on Friday. 
► TRA, men-ind;    > TRA, men-teams;

♦ TRAMPOLINE, Women:  LIU Lingling on top as expected: - In the women's competition, Liu Lingling, who won gold in 2014 and silver in 2015, was expected to feature at the top of the rankings and that is where the Chinese landed, finishing just 0.005 pt ahead of her compatriot Zhu Xueying. Belarus's Tatsiana Piatrenia, bronze medallist at the last Worlds, completed the top three in the qualifying ranking. As with the men, the Chinese women are now confirmed as the overwhelming favorites for the team final.
► TRA, wom-ind;   > TRA, wom-teams;

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TRAMPOLINE - SYNCHRO

WOMEN's FINAL: CHINA strikes again ---: One day after their triumph in the team final, the Chinese pair Zhong Xingping and Zhu Xueying returned to the Arena Armeec to claim the Synchro World title. Thanks to the highest scores in execution and difficulty, Zhong, the reigning champion in this event, and Zhu upheld China’s supremacy on the Trampoline bed. In a final where each mistake carried a heavy cost, Japan’s Hikaru Mori and Takagi Yumi took silver ahead of Tatsiana Piatrenia and Maryia Makharynskaya, the Belarusian pair who now added bronze to their team silver medal of the day before.

♦ Friday, 10.11- QUALIFICATION.
- SYN, women: -- On top of the altogether 24 women's pairs are China, Japan, Belarus and Russia. Also duos frpm Portugal, France, Azerbaidchan and Canada are qualified for the final ...
> SYN, wom-ind; 

SYNCHRO, MEN: First Gold for 2016 Olympic Champion ---: After winning  silver medals at the past two World Championships in Synchronised Trampoline, Uladzislau Hancharou finally managed to reach the highest step of the podium as he and his new partner Aleh Rabtsau outdid their rivals thanks to a clean routine. This was a golden day for the 2016 Olympic champion, who now has six World medals in his collection, albeit a first gold. With the four-time World champions Dong Dong and Tu Xiao (CHN) having failed in qualification, the British duo Luke Strong/Nathan Bailey were delighted to earn second place ahead of the Russian pair of Dmitrii Ushakov, the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, and Andrey Yudin, a 2015 World medallist in individual.   

  
- SYN, men: --On men's side lead the pair Uladislau Hancharou / Aleh Rabtsau
  > SYN, men-ind;
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D M T  -  DOUBLE MINI TRAMP
♦ WOMEN's Individual
A first for South Afrika ---: A silver medallist at the 2010 and 2011 World Championships, Bianca Zoonekynd completed a six-year wait before at last clinching gold. The South African set the pace with her first pass and consolidated her advantage with her second one to offer her country its first title in women’s Double Mini-trampoline. This was a welcome reward for Zoonekynd, who has only recently recovered from serious injuries sustained in a car accident in August. Polina Troianova, crowned with the Russian team on Saturday, took silver while Sweden’s Lina Sjoeberg secured her place on the third step of the podium, as in 2015, after a rough start. 

♦ MEN's individual
Zalomin reclaims title as Nacey wows ---: Russia's Mikhail Zalomin emerged as the big winner after a thrilling final. As expected, the reigning champion from The World Games outperformed the chasing pack with two remarkable passes to pocket his third World individual title, and fifth in total. But it was Austin Nacey who dazzled the audience, the American sending a wave of excitement around the arena  by performing an incredible quadruple somersault perfectly stuck. His reward was second place in between Zalomin and Alexander Odintsov, the two Russians who had already taken gold in the team final the day before. 

* MEN's DOUBLE MINI TRAMP - Teams
RUSSIA retains titl --: Mikhail Zalomin began the day by confirming he would be the man to beat in the men’s Double Mini-trampoline final after the two-time individual World champion dominated the qualification round thanks to his two clean passes. A few hours later, Zalomin then brought a close to his team’s gold-medal effort with a perfect landing to bring Russia (also featuring Aleksandr Odintsov, Vasilii Makarskii and Andrei Gladenkov) their second world title in a row by a golden margin of 4.5 points. The United States (Carter Rhoades, Austin Nacey, Alexander Renkert and Matthew Hawkins) took silver, climbing one step on the podium compared to the last Worlds. Australia (Jack Petrie, Dominic Clarke, Ryan Hatfield and Jarrod Spear) won the tight battle for third place against Argentina, the surprise package of the event, who were competing in their first final. 

* WOMEN's DMT Teams
Russia's women end wait --: Russia’s women were the dominant team in Double Mini-trampoline throughout the first decade of this millennium but prior to arriving in Sofia, their last title had come back in 2009. On Saturday in Sofia, Dana Sadkova, Alina Khristenko, Polina Troianova andEkaterina Zhigalova put their country back on top by easing to the gold medal. It was only after a review by the jury of their last score that Great Britain (Kim Beattie, Phoebe Williams, Kirsty Way andBethany Williamson) could savour their silver medal while Portugal (Beatriz Peng, Mafalda Bras, Ines Martins andSara Sousa) took bronze.

* DMT, women's qualifying: -- In the discipline Double Mini Tramp the favorits are Russia, Spain, Australia and the USA. Also the best from Argentina, Great Britain and Germany qualified for the individual  final.
► DMT, wom-ind;    ► DMT, wom-teams
* DMT, men's qualifying: --- The leading trio is Polina Troianova (RUS) in front of Bianca Zoonekynd (RSA) and Hally Piontek (USA) ...
► DMT, men-ind;   ► DMT, men-teams
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* Sunday, Nov 12 -  T U M B L I N G
 ♦ TUMMEN's Individial
ZHANG sets new brandmark --: The men’s Tumbling final turned into a terrific duel between Russia and China’s rising stars, Maxim Zhlyakin and Zhang Kuo, the 2015 bronze medallist. Their stunning first passes gave them a share of the lead. But while Zhang dazzled again with his second pass and could flex his muscles, the Russian fell short on his final landing and finished in sixth place. A day after the team final, where China came in second behind Great Britain, the same national flags were raised above the individual podium on Sunday. Only this time Denmark’s Anders Wesh occupied the second position ahead of Britain’s Elliott Browne.

* Saturday, Nov 11 
 ♦ TUM-Women's Individual
* Fourth title for the reigning queen ---: Gold or nothing could be the motto of Jia Fangfang. In each uneven year since 2013, the Chinese has pocketed every major title going. Three months after her second success at The World Games, Jia paired her team gold medal with the individual gold on the World track. It did not come easy, though. In order to reclaim her crown, she had to overcome a strong challenge from the former queen of the discipline, Anna Korobeinikova, who performed the highest difficulty seen in today’s women Tumbling. By only 0.2 pts, the Russian was relegated to second place. With her four individual titles, Jia has now equalled the record of Korobeinikova. However, she is still far off the 34-year-old Russian’s overall tally of 15 world medals. Another medallist seen before, Lucie Colebeck (GBR), completed the podium.

* MEN's TEAM FINAL
* Britain's track to gold ---: For more than a decade the team title in Tumbling used to be a duel between Russia, the reigning champions, and China. This duopoly came to an end in Sofia, where both suffered landing failures in their air show. The British team (Greg Townley, Elliott Browne, Kristof Willerton and Kallum Mulhall) took advantage by performing three flawless passes to secure the gold medal. It was the first title for Great Britain in the event since 2003. Despite their bad start, China (Zhang Luo, Meng Wenchao, Zhang Kuo and Zhang Weiwei) recovered to salvage silver. The Denmark team (Adam Matthiesen, Steffensen Rasmus, Anders Wesch and Rasmus Soerensen) were far from flawless but, in a competition format where each pass counts, they did enough to earn the kingdom a first ever medal in Tumbling. 
* Friday, Nov 10  - 
* TUM - WOMEN's TEAM FINAL
Four a row for China --: With the hardest tumbling pass, three­time individual World champion Jia Fangfang secured China’s fourth consecutive World team title in Tumbling. Jia, Chen Ling, Chen Lingxi and Zhu Shouli climbed on to the top of podium with a 3.5 point lead over the British team (Lucie Colebeck, Rachel Davies, Yasmin Taite and Ashleigh Long), who took silver as in 2015. The failure of the first Russian representative, who suffered a loss of rhythm, put the team out of contention for a podium finish. Instead the French women (Lauriane Lamperim, Marie Deloge, Léa Callon and Emilie Wambote) held their nerve and their solid performance enabled them to take bronze, six years after their previous medal.

♦ Thursday, 9.11. - TUMBLING QUALIFICATION:  - MEN - Russian assert supremacy: - Like the Chinese in Trampoline, for the Russians in Tumbling the qualification turned into an internal battle within the Russia team, which saw its four representatives finish in the top five on the back of some amazing tumbling. Maxim Shlyakin, the 21-year-old national champion, led the Russian challenge with Grigorii Noskov following as the second-placed qualifier. China's Zhang Kuo, the 2015 bronze medallist, was the only one to threaten Russia's supremacy fest, ranking fourth. With such domination of the event, which other country could possibly deny Russia a second consecutive men's team world title?
► TUM, men-ind;   ► TUM, men-teams;

♦ TUM, Women: JIA Fangfang dominates women's qualifying: - Four months after her second World Games title, the triple world champion Jia Fangfang shone again on the track. With her exceptional combination of elements, the Chinese gymnast deserved the highest difficulty scores and built a gap of more than four points between herself and the rest of the field. Russia's Anna Korobeinikova, the previous queen of Tumbling, was her closest contender.  On this form Jia has a good chance of pocketing a gold medal with the Chinese team on Friday, a day before the individual final.
► TUM, wom-ind;   ► TUM, wom-teams;

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