China's Wang Zisai wins fourth straight Trampoline World Cup title

RICCIONE, Italy, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's Wang Zisai won the men's individual trampoline title on Sunday, completing a sweep of four consecutive World Cup events and securing the overall World Cup title.

Just a week earlier at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Wang and two-time world champion teammate Yan Langyu dominated the men's individual event. The day after returning to China, they immediately left for Italy for the latest World Cup stop.

"Honestly speaking, it was hard to compete back-to-back, but I had to chase my goal, especially when it's so close," Wang said.

The 2026 Trampoline World Cup comprises six stops. Wang had previously won three consecutive events in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal, beating two-time Olympic champion Ivan Litvinovich of Belarus in the Netherlands and Portugal.

One of Wang's main goals in Riccione was to practice alternating between routines with different difficulty values while also seeking to secure the overall World Cup title.

Rather than attempting his maximum difficulty in every round, Wang varied the difficulty of his routines. He used a difficulty score of 21.900 only in the second preliminary round and the final, opting for 19.500 in the first preliminary round and semifinal.

Wang delivered a steady performance in the final to win with 66.020 points. Yan took silver with 64.870, while 20-year-old Portuguese Gabriel Albuquerque finished third with 64.140.

"I'm very happy to have won four consecutive titles, but I'm also well aware that the World Championships are still ahead of me," Wang said.

The 39th Trampoline and Tumbling World Championships will be held in Nanjing, China, from November 4 to 8.

In the women's synchronized trampoline event, Zhang Xinxin, who won the world synchronized title last year, teamed with 18-year-old Zhang Yu for their first major competition as a pair.

The duo won the title with 49.690 points. Zhang Yu and Zhang Xinxin also finished third and fourth, respectively, in the women's individual event.