Vault

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The Vault is one of the most energy and power-driven apparatus in the sport of gymnastics. Aside from the floor, it is the only event that both men and women gymnasts perform on. It requires athletes to run down a runway (an 82ft strip) at what is called the table and perform a variety of flipping and twisting skills both onto and off of the vault. The height of the vault/table is set to 4ft 3in at the Olympic level.

Vault Skills

There are 3 main ways a gymnast can mount the vault. The first is through a front handspring where the athlete places her hands onto the vault and pushes off the table in order to perform additional flips and twists. The second is called a Tsukahara in which the athlete performs a 1/4 turn onto the vault table which is commonly followed by a backflip (with multiple flips and twists). The third mount is called a Yurchenko. This is when a gymnast does a round-off back handspring onto the table followed by a flipping and twisting skill off the table.

Judging

A gymnasts vault is judged based on a variety of factors. The first of which being the time between when they take off and when they make contact with the vault table. The second is based on the height and distance of the skill performed after making contact with the table. The third is based on how well the athlete sticks the landing. The fourth is based on the overall execution of the vault.