© Filippo Tomasi

BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 20, 2021 – Four-time World silver medalist Ruben Padilla of Bluffdale, Utah/Wasatch Trampoline & Tumbling added to his medal collection Saturday, securing bronze in the men’s double mini trampoline final at the 2021 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. In all, four titles were awarded on Day 3 of competition at the Milli Gimnastika Arenasi, which also featured the men’s and women’s individual trampoline semifinals.

Padilla (74.900) delivered a 38.800 on his first pass – the highest of the round – but was unable to hold off the Russian Gymnastics Federation’s Vasilii Makarskii (77.400) and Portugal’s Diogo Cabral (75.100), who finished first and second, respectively. Veteran U.S. teammate Alex Renkert of Columbus, Ohio/Integrity Gymnastics, competing in his eighth World Championships, was sixth with a 71.000. World team double mini trampoline champions Shelby Nobuhara of Mapleton, Utah/High Altitude and Tristan Van Natta of Westerville, Ohio/Integrity Athletics are set to compete in the women’s individual double mini final Sunday.

Padilla was back in action during the men’s synchronized trampoline final. He and Cody Gesuelli of Hunstville, Ala./Merino Trampoline Gymnastics Academy earned a sixth-place finish with a 49.960. The pairs of Andrei Builou and Aleh Rabtsau of Belarus (52.930), Matthias Pfleiderer and Fabian Vogel of Germany (52.290), and Josuah Faroux and Pierre Gouzou of France (52.050) rounded out the podium. On the women’s side, China’s Hu Yicheng and Zhang Xinxin (50.190) took the top spot followed by Japan’s Tamura Narumi and Mori Hikaru (49.630) and Portugal’s Catarina Marianito Nunes and Beatriz Martins (46.670).

Gesuelli also competed in the individual trampoline semifinals Saturday, earning a 56.695. He finished 15th just behind teammate Isaac Rowley of Allen, Texas/Eagle Gymnastics Academy who was 13th with a 57.060. Just one day shy of her 18th birthday, Maia Amano of Honolulu, Hawaii/Merino Trampoline Gymnastics Academy led U.S. competitors in the women’s division, posting a 47.770. She finished in 18th. Jessica Stevens was 23rd with an 11.970. The top-eight scorers advanced to tomorrow’s men’s and women’s trampoline finals.

Tia Taylor of Knoxville, Tenn./Premier Athletics Knoxville finished eighth in the women’s individual tumbling final, notching a 62.100 across two passes. Great Britain’s Megan Kealy (67.800), France’s Lucie Tumoine (66.800) and Belgium’s Tachina Peeters (66.500) topped the standings. World bronze medalist Kaden Brown of Herriman, Utah/Wasatch Trampoline & Tumbling will compete in Sunday’s men’s individual tumbling final.

In addition to the men’s and women’s trampoline, women’s double mini, and men’s tumbling individual finals, the 2021 Trampoline World Championships will wrap tomorrow with the team all-around competition, which pits the top qualifiers from the five highest-scoring countries against one another. The U.S., which took all-around silver in 2019, will feature Rowley and Stevens in individual trampoline, the pairs of Padilla and Gesuelli and Amano and Stevens in synchronized trampoline, Brown and Taylor in tumbling, and Padilla and Van Natta in double mini trampoline. The U.S. team (659.435) qualified in second behind the Russian Gymnastics Federation (681.815).