What Is a Yurchenko Vault? | Gymnastics Explained

Key takeaways

The defining feature of every Yurchenko-family vault is the round-off entry onto the springboard, followed by a back handspring onto the table.

Different Yurchenko vaults carry very different values: from 3.00 for the basic tucked version to 5.40 for the Amanar and 6.40 for the Biles II in the 2025–2028 WAG Code of Points.

It is named after Soviet gymnast Natalia Yurchenko, who introduced it in 1982.

The Yurchenko is the best-known family of vault in elite women’s gymnastics, instantly identified by its round-off entry.

How it works

The gymnast runs, performs a round-off onto the springboard so that she is moving backwards, then executes a back handspring (in the Code of Points, a “flic-flac”) onto the vaulting table. From that table contact she pushes up and away and performs the flight elements — a salto backward, often with one or more twists — before landing.

In the 2025–2028 WAG Code of Points, the basic version is listed as “round-off, flic-flac on – tucked salto backward off” (vault 4.10), and is the vault named after Yurchenko. It belongs to group 4 of the women’s vault table, which covers round-off entries with a salto backward.

Why difficulty varies so much

The entry is the same across the family. What changes the value is the shape of the salto (tucked, piked or stretched) and the number of twists in the second flight. A few examples from the 2025–2028 WAG Code of Points:

Vault	Value
Yurchenko tucked	3.00
Yurchenko stretched (layout)	3.60
Yurchenko stretched with a full twist	4.20
Yurchenko stretched with a double twist	5.00
Yurchenko stretched with 2½ twists (Amanar)	5.40
Yurchenko double piked salto (Biles II)	6.40

That range — from 3.00 to 6.40 within a single entry family — is a large part of why the Yurchenko is so widely used: a gymnast can keep the same run, round-off and table contact while building difficulty in the air. For the other entry families, see vault numbers and groups.

Common confusion: Yurchenko or Tsukahara?

A Yurchenko is often confused with a Tsukahara, because both finish with a backward salto. The difference is the entry. A Tsukahara starts with a forward handspring that turns a quarter or half onto the table; a Yurchenko starts with a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring onto the table. The rule of thumb: if the gymnast is facing away from the table when she hits the springboard, it’s a round-off entry.

Who Natalia Yurchenko was

Natalia Yurchenko was a Soviet gymnast who introduced the round-off entry in 1982; sources differ on the exact competition where she first performed it. She won the all-around and vault at the 1982 World Cup in Zagreb and the all-around title at the 1983 World Championships in Budapest, but never competed at an Olympics because the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Games. The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, which inducted her in 2014, describes the round-off entry as “the most common vault technique today”.

For every round-off entry vault, the Code requires a safety collar around the springboard — see women’s vault. For the wider family, including round-off entries with a half turn onto the table, see round-off entry vaults.