Trampoline jumper Milco Abrahams: ‘A good series of jumps is still a piece of luck’

The last training for the world championship “didn’t go well”, says Milco Abrahams. This Thursday in Birmingham, the best trampolinist in the Netherlands will start the qualifications that should lead him to a top ranking; With a place among the best eight, Abrahams would qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. To do this, he must rise above himself, a 33rd place is his best World Cup ranking ever. A mediocre last practice session will not help. Especially not in a sport in which a wrong jump comes to mind, as Abrahams himself once described it. “It’s tough when things don’t work out. You have to be able to show it in the match.”

Two series of ten jumps await Abrahams in the qualifying round on Thursday. The series with the best score counts towards the ranking. The best 24 jumpers qualify for the semi-finals. The difference between Abrahams and most world top athletes is not in the difficulty score of his jumps, he says. It’s all in the execution. “The real toppers can jump out of a series more often and more stably. If I do it right, it’s still more luck than standard.” At this World Cup, he especially has to get through the opening of his series, says Abrahams. “The first three or four jumps are the toughest. Once I get past that, I have more peace, more breathing.”

Trampolining was first included in the Olympic program at the Sydney Summer Games in 2000. The sport received a lot of attention in the Netherlands because of Alan Villafuerte, who presented himself with great bravado as a medal candidate and played a leading role in the advertising campaign of a new mobile phone provider – in exchange for 50,000 guilders (over 20,000 euros) and free calling minutes. But in the Olympic final he ended up next to the trampoline and finished in a disappointing seventh place. It is still the best Olympic performance by a Dutch trampolinist.

After Rea Lenders finished thirteenth at the London Games in 2012, attention for the sport in the Netherlands continued to decline. Gymnastics association KNGU even removed the top sport status of trampolining five years ago. With all the financial consequences that entails. Abrahams, who took part in his first senior World Cup in 2019, knows no better than that he has to arrange his own travel and accommodation costs for major tournaments. “I now have two sponsors, and I am still in discussions with a third. With those contributions I can now pay for two international competitions. I am lucky that my parents both work and are able and willing to help me. Hopefully next year I will have finished my training, then I can go to work and make some extra money myself. But all help remains welcome.”

Good performance

Abrahams especially hopes that his “potential” will be seen by the KNGU, that someone at the gymnastics association will decide to support him financially on the way to the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. At 22 years old, he is still young, his best years as a trampolinist are still to come. “I am on my way to the real top. At a relatively young age I was able to perform all the jumps that I do now. But I didn’t always succeed, so I often had to build up and dismantle my series in recent years. The difficult exercise should now be successful.”

“Focus” is essential for good execution, says Abrahams. “It is very important to keep sharp per jump. Otherwise problems will arise and I will be thrown out.” It happened to him last month at a World Cup match in Bulgaria, where he landed next to the trampoline. For the first time he landed on the ground without touching the trampoline. In a video on his Facebook page you can see how his coach Lennard Villafuerte – a brother of Olympian Alan – tries in vain to push a rug under him. “Yes, how does that happen? Sometimes the concentration just disappears for a while. Because of the light that is annoying, someone in the audience or just because.”

Abrahams suffered nothing from his fall from a great height, trampolin jumpers go up to five or six meters into the air “on a good day”. As far as injuries are concerned, he can consider himself quite lucky in this injury-prone sport, he says. “You often end up in a slightly wrong position, which means your body cannot absorb the g-forces properly. I’ve been struggling with my back for a long time, and I still have a tear in my meniscus. But it doesn’t ruin my career. I see broken ankles and arms around me. Or backs that are completely broken.”

Think less

Abrahams says he is fit for the tournament in Birmingham. It will be his fourth World Cup and the “sweaty palms” he had during his debut in 2019 will be a lot less this time. “It remains exciting, but I have learned from all the competitions. This season I especially notice that I start my jumps more relaxed. I think less, I’m mainly concerned with myself. I often used to think: if things go wrong, I have spent money for nothing, my parents have done everything for nothing. Now I know: my parents are very proud of me. That jumps just a little bit better. I just have to properly execute the exercise that I have written and for which I have trained so hard.”

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