INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 3, 2017 – The U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., will host trampoline and tumbling’s 2018 Elite Challenge, May 18-20. The three-day event features USA’s best in men’s and women’s trampoline, tumbling, double mini-trampoline and synchronized trampoline. In addition to the junior and senior elite levels, the Elite Challenge also includes athletes competing in Level 10, Youth Elite and Open Elite. For more information on the Elite Challenge, including accommodations for the event, please visit usagym.org/tt.
Trampoline events involve athletes using trampolines that can propel them up to 30 feet in the air, during which they can perform double and triple twisting somersaults. Tumbling utilizes elevated rod-floor runways that enable athletes to jump at heights more than 10 feet and execute a variety of acrobatic maneuvers. For the double-mini competition, the athlete makes a short run, leaps onto a small two-level trampoline, performs an aerial maneuver and dismounts onto a landing mat. Synchronized trampoline demands the same athletic skill as individual trampoline, while adding the element of precision timing. Using two trampolines, two athletes perform identical 10-skill routines at the same time. Trampoline was added to the Olympic Games in 2000, and at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the USA had its first athlete in history advance to the finals.