A beautiful double layout can impress gymnastics fans and judges alike. But how can you tell which ones are truly the best? While a controlled landing is important, the amplitude, body position, form, and ability to maintain the layout position are also evaluated during this tumbling pass.
In the next section, I picked seven gymnasts who have competed double layouts this season, breaking down each phase of the skill with comparisons. I started with a video of the full skill and screenshots of each part. After you review the article, check out the videos, see which one you think is the best, and if you can catch the deductions in real-time.
Amplitude
The Ideal: The gymnast should show an adequate rise of the body and hips relative to the athlete’s size. The height should peak at the midpoint of the skill and be sufficient to allow the safe and apparent effortless completion of the skill. There should be a good balance between height and the speed of rotation. The deduction for insufficient height is three-tenths. With great amplitude, gymnasts usually avoid landing-position or pike-down deductions.
Good Example
Although an amplitude deduction is rare in college gymnastics, these DLOs rotate quickly but don’t have much hip rise throughout…
