Body angles of elite male Chinese gymnasts during the take-off phase in vaulting

Yijia Gao¹Zhenke Tan²Xiaomei Wei²Siwei Yang³Fengyuan Yu¹Yuanyan Ma⁴Baoxuan Lin²Lei Chen⁵Yingjun Nie^2*

• ¹Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou, China
• ²Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan, China
• ³Hubei Light Industry Technology Institute, Hubei, China
• ⁴Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
• ⁵hefei no.3 high school, Hefei, China

Background: The body angle during the take-off phase directly influences how effectively vaulters convert run-up speed into kinetic energy, which determines the execution quality of complex vaulting techniques. However, the relationship between performance and the body angles of elite male gymnasts on vault still needs to be explored in detail. Method: Twelve elite male gymnasts, certified as "National Masters" by the Chinese Gymnastics Association, performed front handsprings and Tsukahara vaults under controlled conditions. Spatio-temporal data from the run-up and take-off phases were collected using the TCi-System 2018 infrared speed measurement instrument, DJI Osmo Action second-generation sports camera, and Qingde Zhitai intelligent sports analysis system. Paired sample t-tests, a one-sample t-test, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were used for statistical processing. Result: (1) Gymnasts exhibit significant differences (p < 0.05) in knee joint angle and trunk forward lean angle during front handspring and Tsukahara vaults. (2) Trunk forward lean angle during pedal phase significantly differs (p < 0.05) when performing front handsprings of varying difficulty. (3) Knee joint angle, trunk forward lean angle during pedal phase, and landing angle show significant differences (p < 0.05) during Tsukaharas of different difficulty movements. (4) The last five meters' run-up speed is positively correlated with knee joint angle, trunk forward lean angle during pedal phase, and take-off angle (p < 0.05), but negatively correlated with landing angle (p < 0.05). The strongest correlation is with trunk forward lean angle (r = 0.301, p < 0.05), followed by knee joint angle (r = 0.299, p < 0 .05). Conclusion: There are differences in body angles at the take-off phase when Chinese elite male vaulters perform different types and difficulty movements of vaults. The body angles are also an important factor affecting the speed over the last five meters of run-up. Training should therefore adjust body angles based on specific vault type and difficulty movements. For high-difficulty vaults, athletes should focus on increasing knee joint and trunk forward lean angles while maintaining a smaller landing angle.