He rests in the air, head pointing downward.
Several seconds pass, but his body stays straight as a board.
In another scene, Micah Christensen somersaults through the air before landing with the grace of a bird.
It’s a sport based on precision, which is why the 16-year-old Manchester resident was invited to compete in the Junior Olympic Men’s Gymnastics Championships in May.
Christensen almost didn’t make it to Cincinnati, though.
He began feeling pain in his lower back after falling on a parallel bar early this year and was diagnosed with a Pars Fracture in his spine. But after taking a few weeks off, Christensen began to feel better. A specialist in Kirkland told him that the injury, which generally takes seven months to repair, had healed.
The Junior Olympic Men’s Gymnastics Championships didn’t begin well as he rolled out and hit his head during the floor exercise. Christensen thought he was OK until he took a step during the routine when he was supposed to be still.
He called it an “embarrassing error,” but recovered and moved on to the pommel horse, which is performed on an apparatus, and not one of his favorite events.
“It produces mixed feelings in a gymnast,” Christensen said. “It’s one you want to get out of the way first because everyone hates it. But if you do well at it, you know you probably will beat a lot of people.”
He advanced to the second day in the high bar, which he said traditionally is his best event, and ended up placing 15th.
“It’s my favorite event because it’s the one I started on,” said the 5-foot-6, 120-pound Christensen. “It gives me the sense that I’m flying.”
AN INSPIRED START
That began when Christensen, a Kirkland native, was in Texas with his family as a 7-year-old. They were watching the Olympics and Christensen was captivated by the gymnastics routines. When the family returned to their home in Rochester, Minn., he joined a local gym and “I never wanted to do anything else.”
His father, Doug, worked for Northwest Airlines but the family decided to return to Washington state two years ago after the company merged with Delta Air Lines and transferred its operations to Atlanta.
Now, three members of the family can be found working at Lacey’s Black Hills Gymnastics. Christensen’s younger sister, Hannah, 13, also competes in the sport, while his mother, Kim, coaches at the club.
“I picked up coaching because just sitting down there or spending money wasn’t an option,” said Kim, adding that her work trade helps defray some of $420-a-month club fee for each of her children.
It’s an expensive sport — Christensen said assessments to compete at events are $1,450 per year, which doesn’t include nationals — but he said it’s worthwhile. While living in Minnesota, he tried other sports such as baseball and soccer, but struggled because of exercise-induced asthma.
“Just running around the field, I would get asthma attacks,” Christensen said. “For some odd reason, gymnastics don’t affect my lungs.”
He said there’s less running involved with training for gymnastics than other sports. He focuses flexibility and strengthening several areas of the body, which are important hand stands and holding rings.
And it isn’t easy.
“He comes home looking like he’s been bucked off a horse and trampled,” Kim said.
LOOKING AHEAD
Christensen isn’t certain how much longer he’ll compete. He hopes to perform in the Visa Championships next year because “that’s where the best gymnasts in the world go.”
“Three people from our gym made it last year,” he said. “I want to represent my country and gym there.”
Christensen, who is home-schooled and takes Running Start classes through Olympic College, hopes to compete collegiately and is looking at universities such as Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan and Stanford. He plans to earn his associate’s degree in science next year and then hopes to pursue a physical-therapy degree.
“I could be a trainer,” he said. “I really love gymnastics and I would love to stay with it the rest of my life.”
