Does twisting with the legs crossed increase the risk of injury on landing?
Certainly.
… but it’s not the only contributing factor. Nor the most critical.
Many ACL and ankle injuries are suffered on competition landings to gymnasts with legs together.
Korbut Flip put up a controversial post on this topic quoting avatareverlark:
Okay so the gymternet is going to pounce on me, but I have to say this.
A lot of people seem to think that Aliya’s ACL injury was because of her crossed legs …
However, as an amateur physicist and mathematician, this justification for why she tore her ACL just never made sense to me. …
You can see Aliya’s 2011 injury happen at 45sec of this video.
That was not nearly one of Aliya’s worst vaults.
If you’ve an opinion, pounce on avatareverlark via Korbut Flip. 🙂
Coaches should teach new gymnasts to twist with legs together. Al Fong is a role model on this.
Coaches should teach new gymnasts to land like Uchimura. The “motorcycle” position. That’s safest.
F.I.G. needs improve the Vault landing mat. Using the same surface as Double Mini would instantly reduce the number of injuries in competition.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 