Nineteen-year-old Leuca McLeod recently clinched the gold medal in senior men’s trampolining at the Australian Gymnastics Championships, becoming the first Tasmanian gymnast to win the prestigious Senior International Men’s Trampoline event. Leuca lived in Deloraine for several years before moving to Kingborough. His family still live in Deloraine.
The victory came as part of a historic moment for Tasmania. McLeod shared the podium with fellow Kingborough Gymsports athletes Matthew French and Patrick Schuter, who won silver and bronze respectively. This marked the first time all three medals in the Senior International level have been awarded to Tasmanians.
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Leuca’s mother, Manon Liefin, spoke of the significance of her son’s achievement. “He travelled up with a team from Tasmania and ended up coming away with the gold medal for the senior trampolines,” she says. “So that was very exciting.”
McLeod, who is a member of the 2025 Olympic Squad, has bounced back from injury earlier this year and delivered a personal best performance in the qualification round. The result is a culmination of years of dedication to a sport he has embraced since early childhood. According to Manon, Leuca’s introduction to trampolining came in the most unexpected way, through a discarded trampoline found on the side of the road in Brisbane.
“He was about five,” she recalls. “We actually found an old trampoline, one of those old rectangular trampolines in hard rubbish. And he loved it. He just loved bouncing on it.”
That early energy soon evolved into formal gymnastics lessons. Though his first competition was met with reluctance “he was absolutely petrified and didn’t want to do it.” Leuca quickly took to the sport and began competing from a young age.
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Over the years, he has honed his skills in several disciplines, including individual and double mini trampolining. “He really loved [double mini trampolining] for a long time but then after a while he decided he wanted to focus on individual trampolining more,” says Manon. He also competes in synchronised trampolining, a discipline admired for its elegance and precision.
Internationally, McLeod has already represented Australia in competitions in Italy and Bulgaria. Back home, his commitment has remained consistent. “He was training three nights a week in Launceston and then we’d take him one day a week down to Hobart,” says Manon.
His schools, St Patrick’s College and Launceston College, supported his training by allowing it to count as academic credit. “It was wonderful that he could be supported to develop his skills further,” Manon says.
Now based in Hobart, McLeod trains with a strong gymnastics network at Kingborough Gymsports. “He’s had wonderful support from Ben Kelly and Allison Morgan,” says Manon. “There’s a genuine friendship network outside of trampolining or gymnastics. They look out for each other in a range of ways.”
As part of a high performance squad, Leuca will join other elite athletes later this month in Brisbane to train and compete with an eye on future international competitions, including the Olympics.
McLeod’s achievements come amid a record-breaking performance from the Gymnastics Tasmania State Team, which collected 38 medals, including 12 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze across men’s artistic, women’s artistic and trampoline gymnastics. It is the most successful campaign in the team’s history.
With the national club championships on the Gold Coast in September, another world qualifying event, Tasmania’s rising star continues to bounce toward his Olympic dream.
