Great Britain's Bryony Page only had one Olympic trampoline medal missing from her collection. This week in Paris, she got it.
After winning silver in Rio and a bronze in Tokyo, Page, at the age of 33, will leave Paris with a gold medal as an Olympic champion (56.480).
"It sounds amazing," Page said after the competition. "I had quite a difficult build-up, anticipating this competition for a long time. I have struggled with an ankle injury, I twitched my neck yesterday (during podium training). So going on I was really nervous and wanting to stay focused and wanting to make it into finals. I managed to get through prelims, so I was really happy with that. And then, in the finals, I was able to upgrade from what I did in the last Olympics."
The 19-year-old Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya of Belarus, who is competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), had a superb competition to clinch her first Olympic medal, the silver (56.060).
Canada’s Sophiane Methot rebounded remarkably after securing the eighth and last spot into the final after qualifications to finish third (55.650). Since trampoline was introduced in 2000, Canada has had a woman earn a medal in the discipline at every Olympic Games except for 2020 Tokyo.
"It means a lot to me," Methot said. "It means everything. For the Tokyo Olympics, I wasn't on the team because I was injured. I've had a lot of mental blocks (in my career). Just to be here, get through those things, and go out there, do the performance of a lifetime and get bronze is amazing."
Defending champion Zhu Xueying was looking to join Canadian great Rosie MacLennan as only the second trampoline gymnast to win back-to-back titles. Although she showed a clean routine, she was a little off center in her final routine. Her 55.510 in the final was 1.21 points behind what she scored in qualifying, resulting in a fourth place finish.
With her teammate Hu Yicheng falling in the final, Paris marks the first podium without a Chinese trampolinist since 2000.
American Jessica Stevens, who made history at the 2023 World Championships by becoming the first American to win an individual medal since 1974, finished 13th after qualifying and did not advance to the final.