Oakley native stars at 2021 Trampoline Gymnastics World Championships

“The whole competition was just really great,” said Padilla.

Padilla’s mother, Nelia, agreed — even after five all-nighters trying to keep up with the around-the-clock action.

“I have gotten better when watching Ruben,” Nelia said. “I used to be so stressed out that my watch would tell me to breathe. I just couldn’t breathe when Ruben was competing. But now that I know I have hazard life insurance on myself, I am breathing now.”

Padilla finished just 2.5 points behind gold medal winner Vasilii Makarskii of the Russian national team in the individual double mini trampoline competition, and 0.2 points behind Portugal’s silver medalist Diogo Cabral. The USA all-around team finished just a point out of first to the Russian national team. Padilla was also a member of the team that finished fourth in the double mini trampoline, with Alexander Renkert and Changamire Anderson, and sixth in the synchronized trampoline event, with teammate Cody Gesuelli.

Participants are judged on execution (how clean his routine is); horizontal displacement (how close they stay to the middle of the trampoline) and time of flight (how high they jump).

“My goal for the competition was really just to go there, do my routines and just enjoy it,” said Padilla. “That’s all I really wanted, so to come home with two medals is awesome.”

Padilla said he not only had to acclimate to the 12-hour time difference during his two-week stay in the southwest Asia region, which included a preparation camp and four days of competition, but he also had to adjust to the gym equipment being unusually elevated.

“I kind of messed up, but I still brought home a bronze medal, so I can’t complain,” Padilla said. “I didn’t do the routines that I wanted to. I had an off bounce. What that means is basically I was not where I wanted to be to set up correctly on my next still, so I had to change my routine in a split second. It still worked out.”

Padilla’s coach, Sven Nielsen, said he was generally pleased with the outcome.

“He was successful, he did what he needed to do and hit his passes, and I am proud of the outcome,” said Nielsen.

For Padilla, the event served as yet another stepping stone in his goal to reach the Olympics.

He burst onto the gymnastics scene as a 5-year-old who couldn’t resist using household furniture as his equipment. He joined the U.S. Gymnastics national team when he was 14, and three years later relocated to Utah to train with Wasatch Trampoline & Tumbling in Draper, where he remains when not competing — honing his skills an average of 15 hours a week.

The relentless dedication to his sport, which includes competing in an average of 10 events per year, has garnered him at least 30 top-three finishes, dating to 2014, according to his official USA Gymnastics profile page.

But he knows there is still work to do, especially if the Olympics are the goal.

Padilla said this week that he’s focused on increasing the difficulty of his routines; improving his consistency; and learning to quickly adapt to competition environments, including different arenas, time changes and equipment set-up variations.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Padilla said. “This is a dream I have had since I was 5. At this point, It still feels unreal.”

Nielsen said he believes the Olympics are within reach.

“I think he can reach that goal, I have no doubt in my mind,” Nielsen said. “We have some things that we can do to get better, like with our training, and building more muscle so he can jump higher. But as far as execution and everything else, I think it is all there,” he said. “The mindset is all there. We just have little things that we can fix.”

The next Summer Olympics are in 2024. Prospective Olympic team members gain a slot on the Olympic team by earning points based on select competition performances, or rising above the competition at the Olympic trials.

For now, Padilla is focused on the present.

Next up on the competition circuit is a local event in January, followed by a possible World Cup appearance back in Azerbaijan in February. U.S. Gymnastics officials have not named a World Cup team for that event.

“It’s definitely a dream,” Padilla said. “I never really thought I would reach this point.”