A Yurchenko vault is a family of gymnastics vaults defined by a specific entry: the gymnast runs toward the vault, performs a round-off onto the springboard, then does a back handspring onto the vaulting table. From there, she launches into a backward somersault with varying amounts of flips and twists before landing. It’s the most common vault style in elite women’s gymnastics today, and the foundation for some of the most difficult skills ever performed.
How the Vault Works
The Yurchenko is easiest to understand as three distinct phases. First, the gymnast sprints down the runway and launches into a round-off, landing backward on the springboard. This is what makes the Yurchenko unique: instead of hitting the springboard facing forward (as in a handspring vault), the gymnast arrives backward, which converts her running speed into rotational energy.
Second, she uses that springboard bounce to perform a back handspring onto the vaulting table, pushing off with her hands. Third, she flies off the table into a backward somersault. The somersault portion is where the difficulty varies wildly. At the simpler end, a gymnast might do a single tucked backflip. At the extreme end, she might perform a layout (straight body) with two and a half twists, or even a double backflip in pike position.
The round-off entry is what generates the vault’s power. By turning backward before hitting the springboard, the gymnast can use the elastic rebound to launch into the back handspring with significantly more speed and height than a forward approach would allow. That extra energy is what makes the increasingly difficult twisting and flipping combinations possible.
Where the Name Comes From
The vault is named after Soviet gymnast Natalia Yurchenko, who debuted the round-off entry technique in international competition at the 1982 World Cup. Before Yurchenko, vaults typically began with a forward hurdle onto the springboard. Her innovation of approaching the table backward opened up an entirely new category of skills and fundamentally changed the direction of the sport.
How It Differs From Other Vault Families
In competitive gymnastics, vaults are grouped into families based on how the gymnast contacts the springboard and the vaulting table. The three major families are the handspring, the Tsukahara, and the Yurchenko.
- Handspring vaults: The gymnast runs forward, hits the springboard feet-first while facing the table, and pushes off the table in a forward direction. The body passes through a handstand position on the table.
- Tsukahara vaults: The gymnast also hits the springboard forward, but adds a quarter or half turn onto the table so that the push-off launches a backward somersault. It’s a hybrid: forward onto the board, backward off the table.
- Yurchenko vaults: The gymnast does a round-off onto the springboard, arriving backward, then a back handspring onto the table, launching into a backward somersault. The entire second half of the vault happens in a backward direction.
Because the Yurchenko entry generates the most rotational momentum of the three, it supports the most difficult combinations of flips and twists. That’s why it dominates elite competition.
Common Yurchenko Variations and Difficulty Scores
Each variation of the Yurchenko carries a difficulty value (called a D-score) assigned by the International Gymnastics Federation. The harder the vault, the higher the starting value. Here are several benchmarks from the current 2025-2028 scoring code:
- Yurchenko layout: A single backflip with a straight body. D-score of 3.60. This is a common vault at the college and lower elite level.
- Yurchenko full (layout with one full twist): D-score of 4.20. A standard elite-level vault, frequently seen at the Olympics.
- Yurchenko double twist (layout with two full twists): D-score of 5.00. Often called the Amanar after Romanian gymnast Simona Amanar. This was the gold-standard difficulty vault for over a decade.
- Yurchenko double pike: A round-off, back handspring onto the table, then a double backflip in pike position. Officially named the Biles II after Simone Biles, it carries a D-score of 6.40, making it one of the most difficult vaults ever competed in women’s gymnastics.
The progression from a layout (3.60) to the Biles II (6.40) illustrates how dramatically the Yurchenko framework can scale in difficulty. Each added twist or flip demands more speed on the runway, more power off the table, and more precise body control in the air.
How Judges Score It
A vault score combines the difficulty value with an execution score that starts at 10.0 and drops with every visible error. Judges watch every phase of the Yurchenko for specific faults. During the approach and entry, deductions of up to 0.30 can be taken for insufficient speed or power, for an arched or piked body, or for bent knees. Legs separating during the round-off or back handspring costs up to 0.20.
During the flight from the springboard to the table (called the first flight phase), judges look for flexed feet (up to 0.10), bent knees (up to 0.30), legs crossing or separating (up to 0.30), and poor hip or body angles (up to 0.20 each). If the gymnast doesn’t pass through a near-vertical position on the table, that’s another deduction of up to 0.30.
The second flight phase, from the table to the landing, is where the twisting and flipping happens, and deductions continue for body shape errors, incomplete rotations, and landing faults like steps or falls. A gymnast performing a high-difficulty Yurchenko with clean execution will outscore one who attempts the same vault but lands with significant errors, so choosing the right level of difficulty is a real strategic decision.
Why the Vaulting Table Matters
Until 2001, gymnasts vaulted over a narrow, leather-covered apparatus called a vaulting horse. For Yurchenko-style vaults, where the gymnast arrives on the apparatus backward and can’t fully see the surface, the narrow horse posed serious safety risks. The International Gymnastics Federation replaced the horse with a wider, tongue-shaped vaulting table in 2001. Its curved front edge and broader surface give gymnasts a more forgiving and stable platform to push off from, which has been especially important as Yurchenko difficulty has continued to escalate.