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Dylan Schmidt earned New Zealands first gold on the medal table today with a victory in the mens trampoline. Schmidt defeated Chinese favourite and longtime rival Changxin Liu.

I feel awesome, said Schmidt after the competition. Ive wanted to do it for a long time, hes the guy I wanted to beat.

A mistake in Schmidts second routine and final qualifier almost proved costly, with one of his legs collapsing in takeoff. But the 17-year-old from Auckland fought back in the last five skills of the routine to move through to the final in 4th position. It was the 3rd and final routine on the trampoline that saw Schmidt soar above his competitors.

It was much better, said coach Jarrod Heriot about Schmidts 3rd routine. Schimdts final routine had a difficulty of 15.400, an execution of 24.600 and a 17.340 time of flight, resulting in an overall score of 57.340. The winning score was ahead of Chinas Liu, who scored 56.935 and bronze medal winning Pedro Ribeiro Ferreira from Portugal, who scored 56.040.

It was pretty solid, said Schmidt about his gold medal winning routine. I know I can do better, but Im happy under the circumstances how I went.

The title at the Youth Olympic Games is a confidence booster for Schmidt, with both coach and athlete pointing out the difficult challenges from the past year. Heriot said that Schmidt needed to be able to get up here today and prove himself to himself.

He did that, Heriot said. Hes back on track.

The win for Schmidt comes at just the right time, before the New Zealand national championships and the World Championships in November.

Ive had my rough times in the last year, said Schmidt. To come out here in the biggest competition Ive had in a long time and win, its crazy. It feels good.


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