Research has suggested that the maximal power of lower limbs and the biomechanical variables of a vaulting performance will affect the judge's score (Kochanowicz, 2016). The purpose of this study was to investigate the maximal power of the lower limbs and the biomechanical variables of a handspring and their effect on the judge's score in a variety of competitive level gymnasts. 32 female women's artistic gymnasts participated in the study, 11 competed at County level, 11 competed at Regional level and 10 competed at National level. The gymnasts all started training between the ages of two and seven and were aged between eight and 17years of age. The gymnasts were 139.41 + 14.03 cm tall and had a mass of 33.89 + 9.65 kg. Each participant had given consent and had gained informed consent from a parent or guardian. The participants were asked to complete a measurement for maximal power and perform one handspring vault in a competition set up. A series of correlations and difference
were conducted. Dissimilarly to previous research, no significant relationship was found between the maximal power of the lower limbs and the score received from the national judge (rho= 0.204, p=0.262), this suggesting that maximal power has no effect on the score received from the judge. However, multiple significant relationships were identified between the biomechanical variables of the vault and the judges score, the key relationships found between the judges score and the height of the second flight (rho= 0.417, p=0.17) and the landing distance from the vault (rho=0.735, p<0.001) suggesting that the biomechanical variables of the vault have an effect on the score received. Furthermore, the difference tests indicated a significant difference in the judge's scores between the different competitive levels (F(2,29)=20.127, p<0.001) this suggesting that gymnasts of a Regional or National level received a higher score than those of a County level. The findings of this study suggest that maximal power has no effect on the judge's score but does affect the biomechanical performance of the vault and that Regional and National competitive level gymnasts are able to better perform a handspring vault and therefore receiving a higher score.