Highlights of #TRA2024

The 29^th edition of the European Championships in Trampoline, Double Mini-Trampoline and Tumbling welcomed a record-breaking 423 gymnasts from 29 countries to the wonderful city of Guimaraes, the cradle of Portugal. In five jam-packed days, history was written, new European Champions crowned, titles defended, and world-class performances witnessed. Relive all the action, courtesy of our highlights … in no particular order!

Bryony’s Brilliance

Fresh off securing a second Olympic ticket for the British women in the World Cup series, defending Champion Bryony Page did what she knows best: flying high. With the highest difficulty and excellent marks all across the board, reigning World Champion Page safely secured her European title, ahead of France’s Lea Labrousse and Spain’s Noemi Romero Rosario.

Legacy … assured

In a thrilling Double Mini-Trampoline super final, Portugal’s Tiago Sampaio Romao aced his pass, much to the satisfaction of the Guimaraes audience. And the crowd got on their feet seeing the score: 29.900 and the European title! Fun fact: Tiago won the junior DMT title, 10 years ago … in the exact same venue. His legacy is definitely assured.

Rodriguez rules

Reigning World Champion Melania Rodriguez lived up to her reputation as Queen of DMT. The Spanish star twisted and somersaulted her way to the European crown, her first senior title, after winning the juniors in 2018.

Portuguese dominance

The Men’s Trampoline final had the crowd on the edge of their seats. The spectacular skills performed on Trampoline always have that effect, and having 2 Portuguese in this final definitely helps. The support of the home crowd gave Pedro Ferreira and Diogo Abreu wings. Quite literally. The Synchro partners both gave the best of themselves. Ferreira recorded the highest time of flight while Abreu executed the cleanest routine. As the scores flashed, the Portuguese delegation jumped for joy: gold for Ferreira and bronze for Abreu. What a way to conclude these home Championships for Portugal!

Greek Goddess

Leading after qualifications, and after the preliminary final, Greece’s Alexandra Efraimoglou managed to contain her nerves extremely well. The delight of both athlete and coach after an excellent pass are the moments that make championships like these so memorable. Her score of 26.200 tied her with Portugal’s Mariana Cascalheira, the tie being broken based on the results of the previous round: a historic European title for Efraimoglou and Greece, another medal into the large collection of Portugal, silver for Cascalheira, a first for their women’s tumbling programme.

French Team Double

In a nail-biting women’s team final, France and Georgia went head-to-head. The experienced Luba Golovina led her Georgian team with a stellar performance in the first round. Then, France’s Laura Paris won round 2, and Georgia’s Mariam Ragimovi round 3. The final results? 12 – 12! The tie was broken based on the combined Time of Flight scores, giving France the edge. The guys completed the French party with defending European Champion Allan Morante securing victory in round 3. His teammates Julian Chartier and Pierre Gouzou paved the way to the team’s total score of 13 by both placing second in their round. A double victory for France, within moments of each other.

Amazing Azerbaijan

In tumbling, all eyes were on Azerbaijan, the reigning World Champions. Featuring big names like Mikhail Malkin and Tofiq Aliyev, Azerbaijan seems to have found the golden formula to produce world-class tumblers, all courtesy of head coach Adil Huseyn-Zada. Their total of 14 outscored Great Britain, where class acts William Cowen, Jaydon Paddock and Kristof Willerton performed their daring routines, by 2 points. A European crown to match the World title for the Azeri men.

Lindholmer magic

Denmark’s Magnus Lindholmer follows in the footsteps of his compatriot Rasmus Steffensen, the 2022 European Tumbling title holder. His spectacular pass in the super final got rewarded with a score of  28.700, and the gold medal. Two in row for Denmark!

British Synchro success

Defending European Champions Bryony Page and Izzy Songhurst were on a mission, showing the highest difficulty to retain their title quite comfortably. Sharing their joy were compatriots Zak Perzamanos and Corey Walkes who outscored France’s Pierre Gouzou and Morgan Demiro-O-Domiro, 51.940 to 51.720, for the European crown.

Belgium’s tumbling sensation

Writing her name in the history books for Belgium, junior Lani Spiessens has shown impressive skills throughout this week, and saw the culmination of her efforts rewarded with the gold medal in tumbling. With former European Champion Tachina Peeters retiring after this event, the future generation seems ready to take over.

The Shooting star award goes to …

Slovakia’s Tamara Ustohalova is the first female athlete from her country in 19 years to participate in a major Trampoline Championships. She competes both in Trampoline and in Double Mini-Trampoline, after switching from artistic gymnastics just 3 years ago, becoming the only senior trampolinist in Slovakia. As she mostly trains with the Czech team, Tamara often travels 700km to train in the Czech towns of Liberec and Prague. With big support of her family, the 17-year-old works hard, even without any peers to train with. Thanks to coach Miroslav Parnai and the dedication of Tamara, the sport of Trampoline can hope of a revival in Slovakia.

Great Britain’s Kristof Willerton is the epitome of hard work and class. When you say his name, fans immediately think about his daring skills on the Tumbling track. Competing on the international circuit for over a decade, Willerton has collected medals and titles at Europeans, Worlds and World Games, including European gold individually in 2014 and the World title in 2013. Nowadays, Willerton divides his time between his own training and passing on his knowledge to a new generation of tumblers. A fun fact: Willerton coaches Fred Teague, his teammate in major competitions. Together they won silver at last year’s Worlds, and here in Guimaraes. And that’s not all from Willerton, the 30-year-old studied biochemistry at Oxford, and is preparing for … his wedding this summer.

What a wonderful competition we witnessed in beautiful Guimaraes! A huge ‘Obrigado’ to the Portuguese Gymnastics Federation and the Local Organising Committee for their impeccable organisation. And an even bigger Thank You to the gymnasts and officials for making this such a fabulous event!