Coming into the second FIG Trampoline World Cup of 2019, Russia’s Mikhail Melnik would not have been even a long-shot to win the individual title against an excellent field.
But the 27-year-old veteran, who has been in the World Championships since 2010, pulled off a a stunner with a 61.045 score in the final to out-point 2018 Worlds bronze medalist Andrey Yudin (60.750) and home favorite (and 2016 Olympic Champion) Uladzislau Hanarchou (60.460).
This really is a surprise, as Melnik’s best-ever World Championships performance was 10th in 2018.
The women’s competition was almost as wild, with Canada’s Rosie MacLennan – the 2012 and 2026 Olympic champ – and Lingling Liu of China, the 2018 Asian Games winner, finishing 52nd and 54th in qualifying and missing the final. The winner ended up being Xueying Zhu, China’s 2018 World Championships silver medalist, ahead of last year’s Worlds bronze winner, Yana Pavlova (RUS). Summaries:
FIG Trampoline World Cup
Minsk (BLR) ~ 19-21 April 2019
(Full results here)
Men
All-Around: 1. Mikhail Melnik (RUS), 61.045; 2. Andrey Yudin (RUS), 60.750; 3. Uladzislau Hancharou (BLR), 60.460; 4. Dylan Schmidt (NZL), 60.235; 5. Aleh Rabtsau (BLR), 60.175.
Synchro All-Around: 1. Uladzislau Hancharou/Aleh Rabtsau (BLR), 52.700; 2. Allan Morante/Sebastien Martiny (FRA), 50.640; 3. Pirmammad Aliyev/Danil Mussabayev (KAZ), 50.560; 4. Jeffrey Gluckstein/Aliaksei Shostak (USA), 50.020; 5. Ginga Munetomo/Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN), 49.490.
Women
All-Around: 1. Xueying Zhu (CHN), 56.955; 2. Yana Pavlova (RUS), 56.130; 3. Qianqi Lin (CHN), 56.125; 4. Hikaru Mori (JPN), 56.000; 5. Bryony Page (GBR), 55.275.
Synchro All-Around: 1. Maryia Makharynskaya/Valiantsina Bahamolava (BLR), 48.170; 2. Ayano Kishi/Yumi Takagi (JPN), 47.640; 3. Madaline Davidson/Alexa Kennedy (NZL), 47.170; 4. Samantha Smith/Rachel Tam (CAN), 47.020; 5. (NED), 46.020.
