The 25th of November saw the NIA (National Indoor Arena) in
Birmingham, host to some of the best trampolinists and tumblers in the
world.
On the morning of the 25th the following group from VerteX TC went down to watch the finals; the group included Pam, Gary, Rachel Hogg, Rachel Trickett, Heather, Shauna, Danielle, Simon, Steven, Sean, Daniel Cain, Katie, Louise, Lee and myself. We set off in the morning at about six o’clock from Ashington and went to pick Gary up at his house and then we were off on the way to Birmingham. At about nine o’clock we stopped at a Welcome Break for some breakfast, Rachel H was happy as there was a KFC but she was very disappointed to find out that it didn’t open till ten. After breakfast we didn’t stop until we reached the Travel lodge we were staying at that night and then realised we couldn’t check in until two o’clock. As it was only eleven, we decided to have a little walk down the road to the arena. We decided on a time then split up with the orders to meet up at quarter past twelve outside the arena.
Pam, Gary, Rachel Hogg, Rachel Trickett, Heather, Shauna, Danielle, Katie, Louise, Lee and I went down the street to the outdoor ice rink and decided to spend the hour on the ice to pass the time. Pam and Gary didn’t do it as they had to drive so they couldn’t have any accidents and Rachel T couldn’t as her ankle was still weak from when she damaged the ligaments in it at a training session. When the hour was up we met up with Abbie & Jacqui Plunkett who are friends of ours then headed off to the NIA.
When we got to our seats we were very pleased with them as they were first second and third row and right next to the landing mat for the tumbling so they were excellent seats. The arena was filled to capacity and the atmosphere was electric. The championships opened with displays from sports acro, martial arts and best of all a comedy vault team who were really fun to watch.
The first event of the afternoon was the Women’s Synchronised Final the women taking part in this event were, Irina Karavaeva & Natalie Chernova (RUS), Karen Cockburn & Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN), Anna Dogonadze & Jessica Simon (GER), Yulia Domchevska & Olena Movchan (UKR), Ekaterina Mironova & Tatiana Petrenia (BLR), Hiromi Hanmoto & Yoko Seto (JPN), Rirsten Boerma & Patricia Meijer (NED) and Claire Wright & Jamie Moore (GBR). The results of this final were as follows: Karen Cockburn & Rosannagh MacLennan (CAN) in 1st place, Anna Dogonadze & Jessica Simon (GER) in 2nd place, Yulia Domchevska & Olena Movchan (UKR) in 3rd place. Unfortunately even after a brilliant performance Claire Wright & Jamie Moore (GBR) finished in 4th place.
The next event was the Men’s Synchro Finals, the competitors in this event were: Vladimir Kokorko & Nikolai Kazak (BLR), Michael Serth & Henrik Stehlik (GER), Tetsuya Sotomura & Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN), Mickael Jala & Sebastian Laifa (FRA), Michael Boillet & Ludovic Martin (SUI), Sven Mooji & Alan Villafuerte (NED), Kawanishi Takkayuki & Nakata Daisuke (JPN) and Mark Alexander & Simon Milnes (GBR). The results of this final were as follows; Michael Serth & Henrik Stehlik (GER) were 1st, Tetsuya Sotomura & Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) were 2nd, Michael Boillet & Ludovic Martin (SUI) were 3rd place and Mark Alexander & Simon Milnes (GBR) finished in 7th.
The next event was the Women’s tumbling finals, the competitors in this event were, Anna Korebeynikova (RUS), Yulia Hall (USA), Anna Terrenia (BEL), Emily Smith (CAN), Emeline Millory (FRA), An de Win (BEL), Samantha Palmer (GBR) and Zoë McLean (GBR). This was really exciting as none of us had seen tumbling before. The results of this were as follows; Samantha Palmer (GBR) in 1st, (you should have heard the cheer, it was tremendous). Anna Korebeynikova (RUS) in 2nd, Anna Terrenia (BEL) in 3rd and Zoë McLean (GBR) finished in 7th.
The men’s tumbling final was equally exciting with Britain represented by Damien Walters. Also competing were Andrei Kabishev (BLR), Josef Wadecki (POL), Nicolas Fournials (FRA), Wang Jiexu (CHN), Pan Huanian (CHN), Alexandre Skorodumov (RUS) and Tagir Murtazaev a wild card from RUS. Some of the moves executed during the tumbling run were awesome, a lot of people struggle to do these moves on a trampoline never mind a tumbling run! The results were as follws; Wang Jiexu (CHN) in 1st, Tagir Murtazaev (RUS) in 2nd, Josef Wadecki (POL) in 3rd and Damien Walters in a creditable 4th place.
The second last event of the day was the Women’s individual trampoline final, with the following people competing: Irina Karavaeva (RUS), Karen Cockburn (CAN), Anna Dogonadze (GER), Natalie Chernova (RUS), Olena Movchan (UKR), Huang Shanshan (CHN) and Claire Wright (GBR). This was a excellent display of trampolining, to see people bounce at this level was amazing. Nice to know that world class competitors travel across the bed as much as me!!! The results for the individual trampolining were Karen Cockburn (CAN) in 1st, Anna Dogonadze (GER) in 2nd and Claire Wright (GBR) in 3rd, (another huge cheer).
The last event of the day was the Men’s individual trampoline final the competitors in this were, Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN), Alexander Rusakov (RUS), Henrik Stehlik (GER), David Martin (FRA), Yuri Nikitin (UKR), German Knytchev (RUS), Cheng Zhi Que (CHN) and Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN). The results for the men’s individual final were as follows, Yasuhiro Ueyama (JPN) in 1st, Alexander Rusakov (RUS) in 2nd, Tetsuya Sotomura (JPN) in 3rd, unfortunately no British men qualified for the finals but the competitors we saw were amazing.
We all really enjoyed our trip to the world championships and we are all looking forward to the 2012 Olympics, our next chance to see world class trampolining and tumbling stars in action in England
Pippi Firth
VerteX T.C.
