What Is a Cassina Release?

The Cassina is a horizontal bar release move built directly on top of another named release, the Kovacs, with an added twist.

How it works

The gymnast lets go of the bar and performs a double salto backward over it — the basic shape of a Kovacs — but with the body straight (stretched) rather than tucked, and with a full twist added during the flight. They then re-catch the bar and continue the routine.

The 2025–2028 MAG Code of Points lists it in a single box as “Kovacs straight or piked with 1/1 turn”, element 96 in the horizontal bar flight group, credited to two gymnasts: Cassina for the straight version and Pineda for the piked one. Both are valued at G (0.7).

Where it sits in the Kovacs family

Adding the full twist raises the value by two letters, from E to G. Like other releases, the Cassina is judged on height, distance from the bar and a clean re-grasp, and on horizontal bar it can be linked directly with other releases for connection value — see men’s horizontal bar.

How to tell it apart

The twist is the clearest clue. A straight double back release without a twist is a straight Kovacs (E); with a full twist it becomes a Cassina (G). If the body is piked rather than straight, the twisting version is the Pineda.

Why it’s named as it is

The skill is named after Italian gymnast Igor Cassina, who first performed it at the 2001 World Championships in Ghent. The FIG recognised it in the Code of Points as the Cassina the following year. Cassina went on to win the horizontal bar gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, with this release forming part of his routine.

For how skills come to carry a gymnast’s name, see how gymnastics skills get named. For the wider family, see horizontal bar releases.