“U.S. fans will truly have the chance to see the world’s best trampoline and tumbling gymnasts at the World Cup in Lake Placid this weekend,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “We are looking forward to two great days of competition that will bring out the best in all the gymnasts.”

Admission to the World Cup USA is free for both days of competition.

The current world champions are: Karavaeva, women’s trampoline and synchronized trampoline; Russia’s Alexander Rusakov, men’s trampoline; Belarus’ Nikolai Kazak and Vladimir Kakorko, men’s synchronized trampoline; Russia’s Natalia Chernova, women’s synchronized trampoline; China’s Wang Jiexu, men’s tumbling; and Russia’s Anna Korobeynikova, women’s tumbling. Canada’s Karen Cockburn and Germany’s Henrik Stehlik were the 2003 world champions in women’s and men’s trampoline, respectively.

In addition to Nikitin and Karavaeva, the field includes four other Olympic trampoline medalists: Cockburn, 2004 women’s silver medalist and 2000 bronze medalist; Ji Wallace of Australia, 2000 men’s silver medalist; Huang Shanshan of China, 2004 women’s bronze medalist; and Stehlik, 2004 men’s bronze medalist.

Five 2006 U.S. champions are competing on the U.S. Team for the World Cup USA. Highlighted by 2006 U.S. trampoline and synchronized trampoline champion Chris Estrada of Lafayette, La., the reigning U.S. champions on the squad are: Kalon Ludvigson of Cedar Lake, Ind., men’s tumbling and double mini-trampoline; Amanda Bailey of Sundown, Texas, women’s synchronized trampoline; Erin Blanchard of Lafayette, La., women’s trampoline and synchronized trampoline; and Leanne Seitzinger of Stafford, Va., women’s tumbling. Also scheduled to compete is eight-time U.S. trampoline champion Ryan Weston of Chubbuck, Idaho.

Hosted by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), the World Cup USA is the first event in the 2007-08 World Cup series and counts toward qualification for the 2008 World Cup Final. The competition format consists of three events: the Olympic discipline of trampoline, synchronized trampoline and tumbling. The qualification round for all events is on April 1 at 10 a.m., and the final round is on April 2 at 5 p.m.

“We appreciate the chance to work with USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid,” said ORDA Director of Events Jim Goff. “This is a wonderful opportunity for us to host a completely new competition. We’ll have an excellent lineup of Olympic gold medalists and World Champions, many of them headed to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Once again we can say that the road to the Games runs through Lake Placid.”

Karavaeva is an eight-time world champion with four individual trampoline titles, three team trampoline crowns and one synchronized trampoline title. She also has won two world silver medals and a world bronze medal. She has claimed the World Cup trampoline title four times (1997, 1999, 2002, 2004) and the World Cup synchronized title twice (1997, 2004). Most recently, Karavaeva finished sixth in the 2006 World Cup Final.

In addition to his Olympic title, Nikitin won a trampoline team world bronze medal in 2003 and synchronized trampoline bronze medals in 1994 and 2003. In 2004, he claimed the European individual and synchronized trampoline titles, and placed first in trampoline at the World Cup Final.

Cockburn is the reigning World Cup individual and synchronized trampoline champion. She won her ninth career Canadian trampoline title in 2006 and garnered a silver medal in synchronized trampoline at the 2005 World Championships.

The reigning tumbling world champion, Korobeynikova placed second at the 2006 World Cup Final after winning two consecutive titles in 2002 and 2004. She won a bronze medal at the 2003 World Championships and won silver at the 2004 European Championships. In addition to his 2005 world tumbling crown, Wang won the World Cup Final in 2006.

This year’s competition is the first time Lake Placid has hosted a trampoline and tumbling World Cup and the first in the United States since 2002 when the event was in Greensboro, N.C.

About the Olympic Regional Development Authority
ORDA, headquartered in Lake Placid, N.Y., was created by the New York State legislature in 1981. It manages, promotes, maintains and updates the venues that were used in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. ORDA and Lake Placid offer venues that are used by the best winter athletes for training and competition, as well as for the enjoyment of recreational users. The sites offer the activities of skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing and snow shoeing, bobsled, luge, skeleton, hockey, figure skating, speed skating, ski jumping, Nordic combined, biathlon, aerials skiing, mogul skiing and mountain biking.

About USA Gymnastics
Based in Indianapolis, USA Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Its mission is to encourage participation and the pursuit of excellence in the sport. Its disciplines include men's and women's artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, and acrobatic gymnastics.

Field for 2007 World Cup USA

Listed alphabetically by country

Australia
Scott Brown, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Ji Wallace, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Ben Wilden, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Viktor Zhuravlev, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Belarus
Nikolai Kazak, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Ekaterina Mironova, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Tatsiana Petrenia, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Vladimir Kakorko, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Bulgaria
Milen Ivanov, men’s trampoline
Aleksandar Petkov, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Martin Petrov, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Canada
Phil Barbaro, synchronized trampoline
Courtney Bowman, women’s tumbling
Jason Burnett, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Sarah Charles, women’s trampoline
Karen Cockburn, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Bryan Milonja, men’s trampoline
Anton Minayev, men’s tumbling
Cletus Okpoh, men’s tumbling
MacLennan Rosannagh, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Alex Seifert, men’s tumbling
Kelsi Semeschuk, women’s trampoline
Emily Smith, women’s tumbling
Kyle Soehn, men’s trampoline
Ashley Speed, women’s tumbling
Charles Thibault, men’s trampoline
Denis Vachon, men’s tumbling
Julie Warnock, women’s tumbling

China
Dong Dong, men’s trampoline
Huang Shanshan, women’s trampoline
Ji Ruikun, men’s tumbling
Li Meng, women’s trampoline
Lou Ming, men’s synchro
Lu Chunlong, men’s trampoline
Luo Dan, women’s trampoline
Ma Yanqing, men’s synchro
Que Zhicheng, men’s trampoline
Wang Jiexu, men’s tumbling
Ye Shuai, men’s trampoline
Zhong Xingping, women’s trampoline

Czech Republic
Lenka Honzakova, women’s trampoline

Denmark
Jacob Hansen, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Peter Jensen, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

France
Amandine Arnaud, women’s tumbling
Yannick Bustos, men’s tumbling
Camille Dru, women’s trampoline
Marina Ducroux, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Yahia Icheboudene, men’s tumbling
Romain Legros, men’s trampoline
Sebastien Martiny, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Gregoire Pennes, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Julie Perreten, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Yves Tarin, men’s tumbling

Georgia
Luba Golovina, women’s trampoline
Tengiz Koshkadze, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Zurab Tchkonia, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Germany
Adam Gotz, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Lara Huninghake, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Michael Kubicka, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Karsten Kurtiz, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Henrik Stehlik, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Sarah Syed, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Great Britain
Mark Alexander, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Michael Barnes, men’s tumbling
Charlie Burrows, men’s tumbling
James Higgins, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Laura Houson, women’s tumbling
Zoe McLean, women’s tumbling
Simon Milnes, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Jaime Moore, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Samantha Palmer, women’s tumbling
Gary Smith, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Sarah Turner, women’s tumbling
Claire Wright, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Israel
Alan Katz, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Konstantin Miroshnikov, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Japan
Haruka Hirota, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Masaki Ito, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Shunsuke Nagasaki, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Yoko Seto, women’s trampoline
Tetsuya Sotomura, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Yasuhiro Ueyama, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Natsumi Ymashita, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Poland
Tomasz Adamczyk, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Sebastian Sondel, men’s tumbling
Agnieszka Stanek, women’s trampoline
Lukasz Tomaszewski, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Jozef Wadecki, men’s tumbling

Portugal
Ana Conde, women’s tumbling
Diogo Faria, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Nuno Fernandes, men’s tumbling
Diogo Ganchintto, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Nuno Merino, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Ana Rente, women’s trampoline
Pedro Sousa, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Russia
Natalia Chernova, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Alexander Goncharov, men’s tumbling
Alexey Ilichev, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Irina Karavaeva, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
German Khnychev, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Natalia Kolesnikova, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Anna Korobeynikova, women’s tumbling
Yury Kozyakov, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Alexander Leven, synchronized trampoline
Tagir Murtazaev, men’s tumbling
Alexander Rusakov, men’s trampoline
Victoria Voronina, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Alina Yarullova, women’s tumbling

Slovakia
Katarina Prokesova, women’s trampoline

Switzerland
Michel Boillet, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Martin Ludovic, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Ukraine
Oleksandr Chernonos, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Yuliia Domchevska, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Maryna Kyiko, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Viacheslav Makovetskyi, synchronized trampoline
Andriy Matvyeyev, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Nataliia Moskvina, women’s trampoline
Yuriy Nikitin, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Olena Syvanych, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Svitlana Syvanych, synchronized trampoline
Denys Vrazhkin, men’s trampoline

United States
Chris Adair, men’s tumbling
Amanda Bailey, women’s trampoline
Erin Blanchard, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Jeffrey Brown, men’s tumbling
Brittany Dircks, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Logan Dooley, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Chris Estrada, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Steven Gluckstein, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Yuliya Hall, women’s tumbling
Susannah Johnson, women’s tumbling
Kalon Ludvigson, men’s tumbling
Leanne Seitzinger, women’s tumbling
Kaitlin Tortorich, women’s tumbling
Ryan Weston, men’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline

Uzbekistan
Ekaterina Khilko, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline
Anna Savkina, women’s trampoline, synchronized trampoline