Tsukahara vs. Yurchenko: How to Tell the Vaults Apart
The clearest difference between a Tsukahara and a Yurchenko is the approach to the springboard. A Tsukahara reaches the board facing toward the vault table. A Yurchenko includes a roundoff before the board, turning the gymnast to face away from the table.
Contents
After that, both familiar versions can finish with a backward somersault. Watching only the landing or the highest point of the flight can therefore hide the difference. Follow the approach and the two flight phases to identify the complete vault.
This is a recognition guide. Where formal group numbers appear, they refer to the women’s FIG 2025–2028 Code; the men’s classification is separate.
Tsukahara vs. Yurchenko at a glance
The first flight travels from the springboard to the table. The second flight begins when the hands leave the table and ends at landing. A turn “on” happens before table support; a twist “off” happens afterward.
| Checkpoint | Tsukahara entry | Ordinary Yurchenko entry |
|---|---|---|
| Before the board | Forward approach; no roundoff onto the board | Roundoff onto the board |
| Facing at board contact | Toward the table | Away from the table |
| First flight | Handspring with a quarter to half turn | Backward handspring onto the table |
| Second flight | Backward salto, with its specified shape and twists | Backward salto, with its specified shape and twists |
A salto is a somersault. The shape—tucked, piked or stretched—and any twisting help identify which vault within the family was performed. The roundoff half-on branch, including the Cheng, needs one further distinction.
Tsukahara: spot the turning entry
The gymnast runs and hurdles toward the board without placing the hands on the runway for a roundoff. From the board, the gymnast turns while traveling toward hand support on the table. The women’s Code places the quarter-to-half-turn entry followed by a backward salto in Group 3.
In a side-view replay, look first for the forward-facing board approach, then for the turn into table contact. Do not count that entry turn as extra twisting in the second flight. “Tsukahara tucked” and “Tsukahara stretched” have the same broad entry but different shapes after the table.
The gymnast’s orientation can change quickly around support, and a camera facing the end of the runway can obscure the turn. A replay that includes the board is more useful than a close-up beginning with the gymnast already above the table.
Yurchenko: find the roundoff before the board
The hands touch the runway during the roundoff, the feet arrive on the board facing away from the table, and the gymnast travels backward toward hand support on the table. The cartwheel-versus-roundoff comparison explains the roundoff’s feet-together landing and change of orientation.
That gives you two separate hand contacts to look for: the roundoff on the runway and the later support on the table. Confusing them can make the vault seem to contain an extra flight phase “off” the table when it is still in its entry.
Watch the entry: British Gymnastics’ short Yurchenko explanation uses several views of the vault. Around 0:10–0:22, follow the runway hand contact, the feet on the board and the backward travel to the table. The graphic near 0:15 makes those separate contacts especially clear.
“Yurchenko full” commonly describes a stretched backward salto with one twist after the table. A double-twisting Yurchenko has two twists in that salto. The Yurchenko double pike instead has two somersaults in a piked position. The word “double” counts different actions in those names.
Why a Cheng is a separate branch
A Cheng also begins with a roundoff onto the board, but the gymnast adds a half turn before contacting the table. Its second flight is a stretched forward salto with one-and-a-half twists.
That half turn “on” changes the entry. It is not simply another half twist added to an ordinary Yurchenko’s second flight. Nor does it make the vault a Tsukahara: the roundoff before the board is still part of the approach.
In the women’s Code, ordinary Yurchenko vaults belong to Group 4, while roundoff half-on vaults belong to Group 5. Group 4 also contains specified three-quarter-turn-on vaults, so the basic Yurchenko shown above is not a description of every entry in that formal group. Our guide to the five vault groups covers the wider classification.
Where Kasamatsu terminology fits
Men’s commentary often mentions a Kasamatsu alongside a Tsukahara. The detailed identification involves the direction and distribution of the turning, not merely adding an “extra quarter turn” to every Tsukahara. First establish the approach, then use the announced vault and the men’s element table to resolve the particular variation. The vault names guide puts those names in context.
Does one entry score higher?
The family name alone cannot answer that. Two vaults with the same entry can have different difficulty because their body shapes, number of somersaults or twists differ. Two gymnasts performing the same listed vault can receive different final scores because one performs it more cleanly.
Difficulty credit also depends on what judges recognize, rather than only on the vault announced beforehand. A higher-looking flight does not by itself establish the shape or rotation completed. For numerical comparisons, use the correct program in our vault scoring guide; FIG difficulty and a domestic Start Value are not interchangeable.
Which entry should a gymnast learn?
There is no reliable rule assigning one entry to a particular body type. Existing skills, equipment and the coach’s development plan all matter. Recognizing the phases helps a gymnast understand that plan, but a viewing diagram cannot set board distance, hand placement or readiness for either vault.
Final Takeaway
Start before the springboard: a Tsukahara approaches facing the table; an ordinary Yurchenko turns through a roundoff and arrives facing away. Then separate the turn onto the table from the somersaults and twists afterward. That sequence identifies far more than the family name alone.
Main Sources
- World Gymnastics: Women’s Artistic Code of Points 2025–2028 — Section 10.3 and the vault tables for Groups 3–5; current document listed October 16, 2026.
- World Gymnastics: Men’s Artistic Code of Points 2025–2028 — Section 13 and the Tsukahara/Kasamatsu vault entries.
- USA Gymnastics: glossary of terms — Yurchenko entry terminology. The glossary is used for vocabulary, not current scoring values.