Event
Balance beam
Skill type
Dance
Value
C
(upgraded from B to C in 2017)
Known as
Split jump 1/2
Split 1/2
About
The split jump with 1/2 turn has learned the fickle ways of fame. It shot to international prominence in 2017 when it was increased in value from B (0.2) to C (0.3). Because elements performed from side position receive an extra tenth on top of their normal value, evvvvveryone suddenly started doing a split jump 1/2 from side position for an exceedingly useful D (0.4) value.
It was an overnight celebrity. But all that was about to change.
In 2022, the technical requirements were amended to say that jumps with 1/2 turn must show a split position either before or after the 1/2 turn, but not during. One cannot leave the beam, do a 1/4 turn to show split long ways down the beam, and then do the remaining 1/4 turn to land. Which is exactly how everybody was doing the split jump 1/2 from side position.
So all the gymnasts in the whole wide world immediately left the split jump 1/2 behind to cry in the bathroom. Well, not all of them. But most of them. It’s still a C, and you can still get D if you do it the permitted way, where your split is perpendicular to the beam instead of parallel.
