GYMNASTICS: Gao and MacLennan back on top in Trampoline Worlds

Rio Olympic women's Trampoline champion Rosie MacLennan (CAN)

The centerpiece of the FIG World Trampoline Championships is the individual Trampoline final, which also happens to be the only event from this championship which is also on the program of the Olympic Games.

And two veterans were back on top of the podium in both the men’s and women’s divisions: China’s Lei Gao and Canada’s Rosie MacLennan.

For Gao, it was business as usual, winning his third straight world title. He had stiff competition from teammate Dong Dong, himself a three-time World Champion. But Gao had a higher degree of difficulty in his routine and he executed a little better – 17.000 to 16.800 – to finish ahead by 62.255-61.185.

MacLennan’s attempt to win a second world title – she also won the gold medal in Rio in 2016 – was a tough fight with China’s Xueying Zhu, who actually compiled a higher score: 57.280-057.180. But Zhu was assessed a penalty of 0.200 and ended up with the silver, 57.180-57.080.

MacLennan, now 30, came all the way back to the top five years after winning her first world title in 2013 and after recovering from concussions and ligament damage in her neck. Why?

“For me, it just goes back to that I just really love jumping and I really love competing,” she said. “Watching all the athletes over the past couple of years has reignited my passion and kept me going.”

China led the medal table with six in total, to five for Russia and 14 countries won medals in all. Summaries:

World Trampoline Champs
St. Petersburg (RUS) ~ 7-10 November 2018
(Full results here)

Trampoline

Men: 1. Lei Gao (CHN), 62.255; 2. Dong Dong (CHN), 61.185; 3. Andrey Yudin (RUS), 60.950; 4. Diogo Abreu (POR), 60.815; 5. Allan Morante (FRA), 60.645; 6. Uladzislau Hancharou (BLR), 60.560; 7. Ivan Litvinovich (BLR), 59.450; 8. Luke Strong (GBR), 58.025.

Men’s Synchro: 1. Uladzislau Hancharou/Aleh Rabtsau (BLR), 52.510; 2. Sebastien Martiny/Allan Morante (FRA), 51.850; 3. Ty Swadling/Dominic Clarke (AUS), 52.170; 4. Diogo Ganchinho/Pedro Ferreira (POR), 51.150; 5. Xiao Tu/Dong Dong (CHN), 50.100; 6. Oscar Smith/Felix Holgersson (SWE), 48.800; 7. Benjamin Kjaer/Teis Petersen (DEN), 48.790; 8. Mikhail Melnik/Sergei Azarian (RUS), 31.330.

Men’s Double Mini: 1. Mikhail Zalomin (RUS), 78.200; 2. Ruben Padilla (USA), 73.500; 3. Lucas Adorno (ARG), 72.400; 4. Matthew Hawkins (USA), 71.900; 5. Vasilii Makarskii (RUS), 69.100; 6. Rhys Gray (GBR), 67.800; 7. Alejandro Bernardez (ESP), 31.700.

Women: 1. Rosie MacLennan (CAN), 57.180; 2. Xueying Zhu (CHN), 57.080; 3. Yana Pavlova (RUS), 56.405; 4. Lingling Liu (CHN), 55.585; 5. Hikaru Mori (JPN), 55.510; 6. Lea Labrousse (FRA), 55.085; 7. Katherine Driscoll (GBR), 54.560; 8. Megu Uyama (JPN), 54.340.

Women’s Synchro: Hikaro Mori/Megu Uyama (JPN), 48.340; 2. Rosie MacLennan/Sarah Milette (CAN), 47.500; 3. Dafne Navarro Loza/Melissa Flores (MEX), 43.950; 4. Marine Jurbert/Lea Labrousse (FRA), 39.040; 5. Nicole Ahsinger/Sarah Webster (USA), 18.720; 6. Camilla Gomes/Alice Gomez (BRA), 18.050; 7. Cassandra Hoare/Claire Arthur (AUS), 14.120; 8. Shouli Zhu/Xueying Zhu (CHN), 9.910.

Women’s Double Mini: 1. Lina Sjoeberg (SWE), 72.100; 2. Melania Rodriguez (ESP), 70.000; 3. Kristie Lowell (USA), 67.700; 4. Kalena Soehn (CAN), 67.200; 5. Lucila Maldonado (ARG), 66.700; 6. Lawrence Roux (CAN), 63.100; 7. Bronwyn Dibb (NAL), 59.500; 8. Tristan van Natta (USA), 22.700.

Tumbling

Men: 1. Vadim Afanasev (RUS), 79.200; 2. Elliott Browne (GBR), 77.900; 3. Kuo Zhang (CHN), 7.700; 4. Kristof Willerton (GBR), 76.300; 5. Kaden Brown (USA), 75.100; 6. Adam Mattiesen (DEN), 75.100; 7. Maxim Shlyakin (RUS), 72.400; 8. Elias Soegaard Green (DEN), 64.600.

Women: 1. Fangfang Jia (CHN), 71.100; 2. Shanice Davidson (GBR), 69.500; 3. Viktoriia Danilenko (RUS), 69.500; 4. Tachina Peeters (BEL), 68.600; 5. Rachel Davies (GBR), 67.700; 6. Hope Bravo (USA), 66.300; 7. Manon Morancais (FRA), 54.400; 8. Raquel Pinto (POR), 46.100.

All-Around

Team: 1. China, 27 points; 2. Portugal, 24; 3. Canada, 24; 4. United States, 24; 5. Russia, 21.