Tkatchev Salto (Bars)

The Tkatchev, sometimes spelled Tkachev, is named after Alexander Tkachev, a highly decorated Soviet gymnast. He competed internationally in the late 1970s and early 1980s, winning multiple Olympic and World Championship medals. He originally performed this daring release move on the horizontal bar, revolutionizing the sport.

The gymnast swings backward on the high bar, executing a giant swing to build momentum. As they swing up toward the opposite side, they forcefully let go of the bar, arching their back to fly backward over it. During the flight phase, they perform a salto or twisting rotation before spotting the bar and catching it on the way down.

The difficulty value of a Tkatchev varies heavily depending on the gymnast's body position during the flight. A basic straddle Tkatchev is generally valued as a D skill in the Women's Code of Points. More difficult variations, such as the piked Tkatchev (an E skill) or the layout Tkatchev (an F skill), carry much higher values due to the physical difficulty of rotating in those positions.

While a counterswing release involves letting go of the bar and flying over it, the Tkatchev specifically incorporates a backward flight path originating from a giant swing. The defining characteristic of the Tkatchev is the gymnast's body arching backward over the bar, often combined with a straddle or pike position to safely clear the metal. This makes it a highly spectacular, crowd-pleating move.