Application: Men’s Artistic Gymnastics and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics
A Tsukahara vault is a type of gymnastics vault named after Japanese gymnast Mitsuo Tsukahara. It involves:
- A roundoff onto the springboard
- A back handspring onto the vaulting table
- A push off the table with a twisting backflip dismount
Both men and women gymnasts perform variations of the Tsukahara with different numbers of twists and flips in the dismount phase.
Skill levels:
- Typically introduced at the intermediate to advanced levels
- In the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic program, simplified versions may be seen at Level 7
- More complex Tsukahara variations are common at Level 8 and above
- At the elite level, gymnasts perform highly difficult Tsukahara variations with multiple twists or flips