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The Freestyle Trampoline World Championships is a new extreme action sports event that hit the stage in Hackney, London, UK on August 4, 2022 at the historic Round Chapel.
In a very close battle, Sebastian Wennmalm from Sweden (@sebbewennmalm) emerged victorious with a score of 44.7 out of 50.0 on the 5² EUROTRAMP custom freestyle trampoline stage. Ending his combo by performing the world’s first double flip with a double twist in two opposite directions, Sebastian (Sebbe) just narrowly topped contender Aleksi Sainio from Finland (@sainioaleksi) who placed 2nd (44.0) and Robin Steiner from Switzerland (@flips_by_robin) placing 3rd (43.0) to round out the podium.
EUROTRAMP, a world renowned Olympic trampoline brand, and the Official Trampoline Supplier to the FTA World Championships, partnered with the Freestyle Trampoline Association (FTA) to help grow this exciting and gravity defying new sport. For 2022, they created the extraordinary custom 12 meter stage to showcase their 5² freestyle trampoline and the talents of these young athletes. The 5² is now one of the most sought after freestyle trampolines being the highlight in many trampoline parks world wide. EUROTRAMP is also the official trampoline supplier to the Olympics, so the history of their involvement in the sport of trampoline speaks for itself. The FTA is proud to have them support this new action sport and the community of Freestyle. “Since the company was founded, over 60 years ago, there has been one common goal: to build the best and highest quality trampolines in the world,” says Head of Sales for EUROTRAMP, Rudiger Mosel.
In its inaugural year, 20 of the world’s best professional freestyle trampoline athletes were invited to compete and showcase their immense talent in a spectacular competition style show. The World Championships allows freestyle trampolinists from across Europe, North America and New Zealand to connect and showcase their skills in a competition environment. Hosted by the Freestyle Trampoline Association (FTA) the event partnered with former Red Bull Global Head of Sports, Sigurd Meiche, to bring the World Champs to the International action sports stage on a spectacular level. “Our goal is to create a freestyle competition that is a perfect playground for the world’s best athletes, showcasing their very best and pushing the boundaries of the sport. The FTA is creating a breathtaking and speak-about event; going beyond what has been done before,” states Sigurd Meiche.
Five trampoline parks partnered with the FTA to provide Official Qualifier events, where athletes vied for a chance to win a trip to London to compete at the World Champs. The qualifier events are part of the World Freestyle Trampoline Association (FTA) event series, in partnership with the FTA World Champs, to find the best freestyle athletes in the world and EUROTRAMP was there every step of the way. Official Park partners included: Airtime Trampolin in Nurnberg, Germany; Rebel Park in Bromolla, Sweden; ARL Park in St Anton Arlberg, Austria; Tempest Academy in Vista, California and Full In Park in Marseilles, France.
The freestyle trampoline community is still a movement in its infancy but has steadily grown over the past 10 years with the explosion of trampoline parks opening up in cities around the world. More kids today than a decade or two ago will learn skills and train on their garden trampolines, which they then safely translate into training at the many trampoline parks and training centers around the world, to prepare for competitions like the World Championships.
BERG Toys, the leading garden trampoline manufacturer from the Netherlands, was also a big inspiration and brand partner in this event, as many of the athletes train at home in their gardens. “With our newest BERG Pro Bouncer trampoline we created the ultimate freestyle trampoline for in every garden! With our AirFlow Pro Jump mat and Twin Spring Pro springs we allow 150% more Airflow and the highest jumps,” says Marketing Associate Germa Bokhorst. “We are super excited to be part of the first world series of freestyle trampolining, and BERG is thrilled to have one of our Master of Bounce sponsored athletes as the winner and first World Freestyle Champion.
The FTA World Champs is the brainchild of the Freestyle Trampoline Association (FTA) founders, Former National Team Canadian Trampolinist Greg Roe and sports marketing specialist Trish McGeer. It is a culmination of the past 6 years of events hosted by the FTA. This gathering of the world’s best freestyle trampoline athletes is intended to help raise awareness for the emerging sport of freestyle trampoline, improve safety and training standards, and inspire a new generation of trampoline athletes around the world.
About Founders Roe & McGeer
Roe, a Former National Team Canadian Trampolinist who is known in the acrobatic world for his insane stunts on social media, as well as his appearances on popular TV shows such as America's Got Talent will MC and co-host the event. Roe is a well known influencer in both the traditional and freestyle trampoline community. He is internationally recognized for his education programs and as the ambassador of freestyle trampoline, partnering with many trampoline brands to bring awareness to the sport and hosting many competitions around the world. While encouraging the sport of trampoline he has created a style that mixes complex acrobatic and physiological principals and developed them into a unique fun and easily applied coaching style which is celebrated throughout the International competitions he helps to coordinate.
McGeer, a sports marketing specialist, has 20 years in event planning and management, as well as marketing and was the former Team Manager for the Subaru Canada Rally Team, where she secured the sport’s first National sponsorship and first multi-year television contract with The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada. In 2002 she founded inGear Productions, a global digital marketing agency which now co-produces television documentaries and content creation for a wide variety of sports brands.
History of the Sport
The FTA World Champs is the brainchild of the Freestyle Trampoline Association (FTA) founders, Greg Roe and Trish McGeer, co-owners of GRT Network Inc. and co-ordinators of the event. Still its infancy, the new freestyle trampoline competition is set to become the pinnacle of events for this emerging new community of extreme athletes. The FTA World Championships is a Trampoline Battle, where the best athletes in the world face-off to see who has the most Creative, Difficult and best Executed combos on a EUROTRAMP Freestyle Trampoline.
The World Champs was born from a sport that originated in the backyards and gardens of hundreds of kids around the world who took to their garden trampolines and proudly showed off their skills and 'new learns’ on Instagram. In 2017 the sport was officially coined "The Sport Born On Instagram" (L.A Times) in and with it the world's first garden trampoline competition was created by the FTA.
Roe & McGeer, quickly saw the sport as a community that were looking for a way to showcase their skills, so more events were added to the calendar in the years to follow, including a GTGames in both Europe and New Zealand. Fast forward 3 years and the first Supertramp competition was held in Europe, called 'Freestyle Frenzy.' This event captured the live audiences with high flying skills never before seen in competition. The best in the world were then invited to compete at the Freestyle Frenzy Championships in 2019 in The Netherlands. This event became the impetus for the new World Championships. Now, the FTA is taking the freestyle community to a whole new level by hosting the World's First Freestyle Trampoline Championships!