Toronto's Karen Cockburn beat the Olympic champion for the gold medal in the individual trampoline on Saturday at a World Cup event in Birmingham, England

Cockburn added a second victory with Rosannagh MacLennan of Toronto in synchronized trampoline.

Karen Cockburn, shown here in 2002, won two gold medals on Saturday.
(Canadian Press photo)

"I've never won both events at the same competition before," said Cockburn, a two-time Olympic medallist. "Coming here, my goal was to win two medals. I knew it would be hard to win gold both times so I'm surprised about that."

The World Cup final is a one-day competition that gathers the top-eight performers from the seven-stop World Cup series to determine the season champs.

In individual trampoline, Cockburn earned 37.40 points to edge Olympic champion Anna Dogonadze of Germany, who placed second with 37 points. Claire Wright of Great Britain also scored 37 and was awarded third spot. Five-time World Cup champion Irina Karavaeva of Russia was sixth.

Cockburn was planning to execute the most difficult routine of her career but decided on Friday to go with a safer program because she didn't feel all that comfortable on the trampolines at the venue.

"The trampolines were softer than usual and I saw in training that a lot of competitors were struggling with them," said Cockburn, the world champion in 2003.

"It was really smart to go with an easier routine, do it clean and receive a solid score. It's a stressful decision because you don't want to kick yourself later but I was confident it was the right way to go."

In synchro trampoline, Cockburn and MacLellan, world silver medallists last year, totalled 47.80 points with Dogonadze and Jesica Simon of Germany second at 47.30, and Yulia Domchevska and Olena Movchan of Ukraine third at 45.20.

"The hard work paid off and it feels great," said MacLellan. "We stuck with the routine that we are familiar with and that made it easier on the nerves.  Our synchronization was excellent and our form was good as well.

'Know each other's strengths'

"Working and training together almost every day really helps. We know how each other bounces, we know each other's strengths and can foresee what adjustments need to be made before we get on the trampoline."

In women's tumbling, Samantha Palmer of Great Britain was the winner with 68.80 points, followed by world champion Anna Korobeynikova of Russia in second at 66.80 and Anna Terrenia of Belarus third at 63.80. Emily Smith of Burlington, Ont., was fifth at 62.70.

"Emily did her passes very well," said Traci House, trampoline and tumbling co-ordinator for Gymnastics Canada. "She showed she belongs and is a serious medal contender at this level."

courtesy Canadian Sport News