Young Trampoline Gymnast Selected For Olympic Test Event

Young Trampoline Gymnast Selected For Olympic Test Event

18-year-old Dylan Schmidt has been selected to compete for a spot at the Rio Olympics.

Auckland, Friday 18th December: GymSports New Zealand (NZ) announced today that young trampoline star Dylan Schmidt, from Auckland’s Extreme Trampoline, has been selected to attend the Olympic Test Event in April to attempt qualification for the Rio Olympic Games 2016.

NZ earned a country spot at the Trampoline World Championships held in Odense, Denmark at the end of last month. The top 8 individuals qualified country spots at Rio (maximum 2 per nation), then the next best ranked 12 individuals were allocated a country spot at the Test Event, for a shot at earning one of the remaining 5 berths at Rio.

Dylan capped off the end of his junior career with a gold medal at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, and has followed through with a successful first year of international senior competition. He placed 15th at last year’s World Championships, took out first place at Australian Nationals in May, placed 5th at the World Cup in Spain in September, and finished 10th at World Champs in Denmark as the second youngest in his semi-finals field, missing direct country qualification to Rio by 0.490. Dylan also made history with synchro partner Kierran Tuhi with New Zealand’s first trampoline podium finish at a World Cup, earning themselves silver medals at the Loule World Cup in Portugal in October.

Dylan’s top 15 finish at Worlds last year, caught the attention and subsequent support of High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) when he became GymSports NZ’s first ever carded athlete at the end of last year. HPSNZ continue to acknowledge their support by announcing last week, a renewal of his funding for the 2016 year, and near doubling this support through the addition of a Performance Enhancement Grant.

A further testament to Dylan’s potential is his inclusion in the NZ Olympic Committee’s Be the Inspiration campaign, and his recent nomination for the SKY NEXT Emerging Talent Halberg Award.

Dylan’s synchro partner Kierran Tuhi, also from Extreme Trampoline, has been named as the Test Event reserve athlete.

Jarrod Heriot has been selected to attend as coach to the Test Event. Australian born, Jarrod was a National Team Coach for 23 years in his home country before moving to New Zealand in 2013. Jarrod holds the highest FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) trampoline coaching qualification and has been Dylan’s primary coach for the last two and a half years.

“Dylan’s top 10 finish at this year’s World Championships was an amazing result for New Zealand trampoline and a just reward for all of his hard work. His unwavering determination, self-belief and work ethic has driven him to succeed for many years and, now as a senior athlete, he is starting to see the result of his continued dedication. He is an inspiration to many athletes, both nationally and globally, to set their goals high and don’t let any set back stand in the way. For Dylan there is no limit to what he can achieve.” – Jarrod Heriot, Coach.

“It was a long year of preparation building up to World Champs and the first Olympic trial. I trained extremely hard to be as ready as I could. Qualifying 9th and the first country spot (of 12) for Test Event was relieving for me, and a whole lot of weight was lifted from my shoulders. And then being nominated for the [SKY NEXT Emerging Talent] Halberg Award means a lot – it is nice to be recognized for my hard work and results.” – Dylan Schmidt.

“The result for Dylan at World Championships this year was a tremendous achievement based on his age (one of only 2 athletes aged 18 years) in comparison to the average age of the semi-final field (22 years). With age comes experience, and to be within a whisker of automatic Olympic qualification shows how much experience Dylan has gained in the year subsequent to last year’s World Championships. We are not only excited about the Test Event, but also the long term future as Dylan continues his development trajectory and starts to deservedly take his place amongst the world elite. With a high performance career that could stretch realistically to age 30, continuing to have fun along the way will play an important part in maintaining his drive and enthusiasm.” – Tony Compier, CEO.

ENDS

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