Second vault, not secondary for Olympian Dipa Karmakar

The Tsuk with a difficulty of 6.0 is again a frontal handspring style half twist during the pre-flight with two twists during the post-flight in the air before landing. “I think while her Produnova is impressive, the second vault she performs – the Tsuk double is equally impressive,” US expert Lauren Hopkins says.

It’s also one of the tougher vaults being competed in the world – a combination of generating sufficient height to complete rotation and the difficulty in finding the ground after twisting in order to control the landing. “And her execution on this vault is actually a great deal better than her Produnova,” Hopkins notes.

It’s a point behind in difficulty at a 6.0, but there are only a couple of gymnasts in the world competing it, and Dipa’s is a creditable effort at most times. It’s this second skill that puts her in contention at the Rio Games. A thrilled former India coach Jim Holt says: “There are only a few gymnasts who will be competing two vaults at the Olympics. Dipa has a good chance of making Event Finals, and an outside chance of winning a medal. You should not assume that a medal is likely, but it is certainly possible now.”

There are five vaults above a 6.0 start value that women are currently competing, and they’re all pretty rare to see in competition, and Dipa is performing two of them, giving her an average difficulty of 6.5, the highest average of difficulty for two vaults in the world (gymnasts must compete two vaults to make it to the final).

The second vault pits her in the mainstream (it’s not as rare or raved as the Produnova), proving she’s not entirely reliant on her big 7.0 skill. “Her second vault got her around 14.5. So she would have qualified to the Olympics even if she only used that vault and not the Produnova,” Hopkins explains. What’s more, she believes she can go up to 15 even on the Tsuk. “The Tsukahara will need to be on top form if she has to think of medal at Olympics,” coach BS Nandi says.

Shorn of the glamour and awe of the Produnova, the Tsuk will test her ability to do well in something where direct comparisons apply. In a way, the Tsuk also brings her routines respectability that goes beyond folks obsessing over whether her landing will be safe and steady.

“If the only thing she did was the Produnova, I’d say yes, she’s using it as a crutch to boost her overall score, but because she has also made improvements by adding a really strong second vault and some great work on beam and floor then I don’t think her vault is such a problem,” Hopkins says.

On a day when she unleashed her best-ever effort of the Produnova at Rio, she had also given a good account on the Tsuk. It might be her second vault, but is far from secondary in importance.