Dodd stomps difficult pass in big moment to snare bronze at World Games

“It’s got to be close to that top spot if not the top spot,” Dodd said when asked how this accomplishment ranks in his career. “So yeah, this is big. This is a big one.”

Dodd finished atop qualification-round standings, posting a combined score of 58 after two passes to place two points ahead of Sitkowski.

The event broke from double-mini tradition to determine medallists, adopting a sudden-death-playoff system that featured the top four seeds advancing from the qualifying round.

In the traditional format, the top eight competitors are whittled to four after performing one routine each and the final four perform one more pass each to determine final rankings.

“I think it’s cool for spectators that have never seen it,” Dodd said of the unusual format. “I think what they’re trying to do is figure out the best way to get our sport more out there. So maybe by changing the format, seeing what works best, they can see how we can get the most eyes on us. And, you know, this had a lot of people watching.”

Each of the matchups in the semifinals and final were one-pass-takes-all affairs.

Dodd was the No. 1 seed and faced No. 4 Omo Aikeremiokha of Great Britain in the semi-final round, in which Aikeremiokha went first and pulled off an incredible routine that earned a score of 30.400.

The Kamloops gymnast and his coach made a strategic decision, surmising that of the two passes Dodd had in his back pocket for the playoffs, he would save his most difficult – and potentially best scoring – for the bronze-medal round.

Dodd explained that even if he nailed the more-difficult pass in the semi-final, it was not likely to score well enough to surpass the mark posted by Aikeremiokha, so he opted to save it for the bronze-medal matchup, noting competitors cannot repeat the same pass in the semi-final and final rounds.

“I thought it was the best chance to save my big pass, which obviously worked out really well,” Dodd said. “We just thought that was our best play to give ourselves the best chance of getting a medal.

“About a month before this, I went to Portugal for a World Cup where I made the final, but then unfortunately I made a mistake on the same pass that I did in the [bronze-medal] final here. So it was good redemption to get it done here and get it done in the big moment.”

Aikeremiokha advanced to the final – after Dodd scored 28.600 – and wound up with the silver medal, falling 26.800 to 25.900 to Brent Deklerck of Belgium in the gold-medal match.

Dodd has won provincial, national and world titles in double-mini throughout his career and added a senior men’s World Cup bronze medal to his resume earlier this year in Italy.

He is scheduled to compete in trampoline at a World Cup event in September in Germany and in double-mini, trampoline and synchronized trampoline at the Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships in November in Spain.

“We’ll be doing it all there,” Dodd said of the world championships. “It’s going to be busy week.”

by Marty Hastings

Dodd stomps difficult pass in big moment to snare bronze at World Games

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