Maddie Davidson produced just the performance she was hoping for to finish seventh in the women’s trampoline today. Unfortunately, New Zealand’s other trampoline competitor, Dylan Schmidt, the bronze medallist in Tokyo three years ago, came unstuck in the men’s final and finished eighth.
Davidson, 25, had performances of 54.740 and 53.910 in the qualifying round, which left her in seventh spot, with the top eight to progress to the final.
The New Zealander had a particularly challenging start because she was the first trampolinist of the day to compete… no time for nerves to settle, or to become more comfortable with the environment.
She felt after her qualifying efforts she’d performed well enough to make the finals, but still offered a sigh of relief when she saw her name in the list.
Mixing with the elite of her sport, the Christchurch trampolinist looked anything but overwhelmed. She produced another fine effort in the final with 54.230, which stacked up quite well with the winning performance, Briton Bryony Page’s 56.480.
Davidson, who was eighth in the world championships in 2022, said she was “speechless” about getting to take part in the Olympic final. “It was amazing to be part of it, very special to be there.”
But she did more than just take part in the finals. She produced personal best performances in all her routines today, and certainly grabbed her opportunity to make her mark on the big stage.
Schmidt looked sharp in qualifying and with performances of 59.510 and 60.810 he qualified fourth for the final.
In the final he began his routine promisingly, but then he lost his bearings and went crashing off the side of the trampoline. Fortunately, he was unhurt, and could only look resigned about his fate.
With the cut-throat nature of the trampoline finals, that was the end of his Games – he was scored a token 19.500 and of course was far behind the other finalists.
“It’s super frustrating,” he said. “That’s sport. The margins are so small. I was pushing hard to get on that podium. There were some big scores out there.
“So, I pushed hard and it didn’t come off. It’s hard to explain what went wrong. Sometimes it happens so quickly and suddenly you’re on the floor!
“I had such a good build-up and I felt really good. It’s very disappointing not to deliver on the day.”
The gold went to Ivan Litvinovich with 63.090.