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21st World Age Group Competition in Trampoline Gymnastics and Tumbling
Birmingham (GBR), November 24 - 27, 2011
BIRMINGHAM (GBR) - LAUSANNE (SUI), FIG Office: Four days after the conclusion of the 28th World Championships in Trampoline Gymnastics and Tumbling, 711 young gymnasts representing 35 countries including six new ones AZE, EST, LUT, LAT, SWE and FIN, took over the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham (GBR) to fight for the awards in the 21st World Age Group Competition.
The event included all four disciplines (Individual, Synchronised Trampoline, Double Mini Trampoline and Tumbling) for boys and girls devided into four age groups: 11-12 / 13-14 / 15-16 and 17-18 years old.
It was, indeed, a mammoth task to run this competition of eight Qualification and eight Final rounds each day with 683 gymnasts competing in Trampoline, 171- in Tumbling and 233- in DMT; some competitors took part in more than one discipline.
For many of the gymnasts this was their first high-profile international competition, for which they have trained and prepared for many months. For them and for those who have already competed (in a lower age group in the previous years), it was without doubt an excellent opportunity for further development and improvement.
The one question asked repeatedly throughout the competition was: “Where is China?”
The most successful nation in the previous weekend’s World Championships at the NIA,
started her ascent to glory namely with these competitions in the end of the 90’s. This time the mightiest nation in Trampoline in the world has obviously decided to skip the event.
Day One, 24 November 2011:
Japan and USA – two titles each! Russia, Denmark, Germany and Belarus open their Golden accounts!
2011 Champions Boys Girls
11-12 - Trampoline Fujita Shotoku JPN Mori Hikaru JPN
13-14- Tumbling Rasmus Hansen DEN Anastasia Berezina RUS
15-16- DMT Garret Waterstrandt USA Shaylee Dunavin USA
17-18- Synchro Lon/ Zaitsava BLR Amann/ Nadler GER
Individual Trampoline Final for the 11-12 yrs old boys and girls turned into a showcase of the Japanese strength in depth; four of their boys and two of their girls made the Finals with Fujita Shotoku and Mori Hikaru winning their respective titles and Orita Yura taking the bronze in the boys section.
In the girls section Bulgaria’s Hristina Peneva wrote history for her country by winning the first ever individual medal in the sport (bronze).£
In the DMT 15-16 years old section, the representatives of the USA followed the example of their senior team mates who won the world’s team bronze medals for both men and women just a few days before, and went even further: gold medals for Garret Waterstrandt (boys) and Shaylee Dunavin (girls). Canada, Russia, Portugal and GBR were, once again, the best represented nations in these Finals.
Day Two, 25 November 2011:
Russia’s Day – 4 gold medals! Japan and Germany add one more title each; France and Great Britain join the Champions’ League in Birmingham!
2011 Champions Boys Girls
11-12 Synchro Fujita/Wada JPN Roesler/Schneider GER
13-15 Trampoline Oleg Selyutin RUS Lea Labrousse FRA
15-16 Tumbling Maxim Shlyakin RUS Lucie Colebeck GBR
17-18 DMT Andrey Gladenkov RUS Anastasiya Ignatyeva RUS
Apart from the gold medal winning nations (as above), midway through until the end of the competition, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Australia, Georgia, New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina have also followed with pride their national flags being raised in honour of their silver and/ or bronze medallists – a good spread of the sport across all continents and a huge promise for the future.
Day Three, 26 November 2011:
Russia raises the bar with 5 gold medals on the day; Second title for Belarus and first for Kazakhstan; Ireland tumbling torpedoes!
2011 Champions Boys Girls
11-12 DMT Alexander Barbachev RUS Anastasia Petrova RUS
13-14 Synchro Aliyev/Shinkarev KAZ Kawaguchi/Kiryu JPN
15-16 Trampoline Vladislau Hancharou BLR Yana Pavlova RUS
17-18 Tumbling Mikhail Manin RUS Anastasia Tsygankova RUS
Kazakhstan, Japan and Belarus prevented Russia sweeping all the gold medals for the day: they stole the titles in the boys’ 13-14 Synchro; girls’ 13-14 Synchro and 15-16 Trampoline sections respectively.
Portugal, Argentina, Australia, USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, Denmark and Ireland celebrate their silver and/or bronze medals…
Incredible concurrence and high technical level in the 15-16 Trampoline boys’ section; 64 gymnasts divided into 6 groups- these figures speak for themselves, but what they don’t reveal at a glance is the fact that performing three triple somersaults in the voluntary routine is no more a trade mark of the Seniors. A number of those have been seen in the competition, along with Half-out Triffs (in pike position), Half-in-Half-out Triffs (in tuck position) and Half-out Triffs in tuck position.
The same goes for the Tumbling. The number of the triple somersaults and full in full out somersaults in the layout position seem to be progressively increasing.
Day 4, 27 November 2011:
Last day – Great Britain and Russia celebrate two titles each; Joy for Brazil, Australia, Germany and Japan and “Goodbye” - until Sofia 2013!
2011 Champions Boys Girls
11-12 Tumbling Maxim Zhenchenkov RUS Lucy Elliman GBR
13-14 DMT Silva Alexandre Lucas BRA Sapphire Dallard GBR
15-16 Synchro Pfleiderer/Vogel GER Uyama/Yamaguchi JPN
17-18 Trampoline Oleg Talskiy RUS Eva Kierath AUS
Dramatic developments at the opening qualifications and closing finals of the day (the 17-18 boys’ Individual Trampoline and the 15-16 boys’ Synchro) with plenty of unfinished routines and medallists winning their positions on the podium in the closing minutes of the Finals.
Spectacular competition from the beginning of the World Championships which started on 17th November until right up to the end of the World Age Group Championships. Two weeks of an inspiring Trampoline marathon at the NIA.
Goodbye until 2013 when Bulgaria’s capital Sofia will host the next World Championships and World Age Group Championships.
Nikolay Makarov, Vice President of the FIG Trampoline Technical Committee:
“We didn’t expect these competitions to be so tense; they turned out to be really tough for all those fighting for the medals.
The World Age Group Competitions are by tradition an excellent indicator of the quality of the coaches’ work in helping young athletes age 11-18 to fluently move from one age group into another building up new skills and improving their standards. The possibility to mix and communicate with each other, giving an excellent possibility to build good ideas for the future development and the new achievements of the various schools in our sport”.