Shasta Trampoline’s Tamara O’Brien put in the work and reaped the rewards after finishing second in the women’s double mini-trampoline (DMT) competition at the World Games in Poland last week.
In her debut appearance at the World Games, O’Brien finished sixth in the qualifying round to advance to the top eight final. In the final, the 20-year-old completed both final passes with high execution, difficulty and precision, landing both passes in the box, to soar to the top of the leaderboard.
She maintained top position through the majority of the final before U.S. double-mini champion Paige Howard surpassed her. O’Brien’s final score of 71.000 points put her just .400 points out of first place and one point ahead of bronze medallist Lina Sjoeberg of Sweden.
“It was absolutely amazing,” said O’Brien, the defending Canadian double-mini champion. “I was happy with my ranking heading into the finals as it removed a lot of pressure, not being the last one to compete and knowing the score to beat. I’ve always had difficulty competing well in finals at international competitions, including World Age Group and World Championships.
“I’m just happy that I competed well; the medal is the cherry on top.”
O’Brien’s coach Curt De Wolff, from the New West-based Shasta Trampoline Club, was on hand to support her throughout the competition.
“I knew a medal was possible but I got very nervous because Tamara was at the top of the leaderboard after the first pass in the finals,” said De Wolff. “I’m just very happy because she worked so hard for this meet.”
Part of that hard work included getting to measure her progress against the likes of Howard and Sjoeberg at the Canada Cup last April.
At that competition, O’Brien placed third.
