Beauty, Art & Sport The Rhythmic Gymnastics Newsletter N° 11 - May 2026

Dear Rhythmic Gymnastics friends

Since the beginning of the year, our new Technical Committee has been working hard: planning and delivering the European Cup in Baku, preparing for our training camp in Montenegro next month and -of course- the European Championships coming up now in Varna (BUL).

I’m pleased to lead this experienced team featuring Isabelle De Cossio (FRA), Nataliia Ieromina (UKR), Ariel Milanesio (GER), Saila Pitkänen (FIN), Vesna Radonic (MNE) and Hristiana Todorova (BUL). Together, we aim for excellence while putting the interests of our gymnasts first. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to contact us!

head of the European Cup, European Gymnastics launched an incredible documentary called ‘Chasing Perfection – Inside the Cross Battle’ giving that rare insight into the gymnasts’ preparation and experience in these head-to-head battles. Thanks to Sofia Rafaelli, Sofia Ivanova and Rachel Stoyanov for offering a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes.

Watch it! Documentary 'Chasing Perfection - Inside the Cross Battle' - European Cup in Rhythmic Gymnastics

All eyes are now on Varna! In 5 action-packed competition days, we’ll see a record-breaking 43 countries participating. The juniors will compete individually for team and apparatus honours, while the seniors compete both individually and in groups, for medals in the all-around and apparatus finals, in addition to the combined team ranking. We’ll debut an innovative new format for the individual All-Around final, adapted to the needs of TV and finetuned for the overall enjoyment of the worldwide audience.

Read all about it below…

Over 4 exciting days, the fourth edition of the European Cup took place, for the third consecutive year already in Baku’s wonderful National Gymnastics Arena.

The highlight of this innovative concept are the Cross Battles. This edition featured three types of Cross Battle competitions: junior team, senior individual and senior groups. Israel’s Daniela Munits and the Bulgarian group excelled, securing the illustrious gold medals. Munits narrowly outscored Taisiia Onofriichuk with ribbon, 27.550 to 27.000. Sofia Raffaeli joined them on the podium as she defeated Polina Karika for the bronze medal. In the group Cross Battle, Bulgaria first aced their 5 Balls routine with a brilliant 27.950 and then continued with an excellent 3 Hoops / 2x Pairs of Clubs exercise that saw them beat Israel and AIN2.

Read the full article: Munits & Bulgarian Group get Cross Battle titles | European Gymnastics

The full replays are available for free on gymtv.online. Create an account and check it out to get your Rhythmic Gymnastics fix!

The superstars of Rhythmic Gymnastics have arrived in Varna!

Fan favourites like starlet Stiliana Nikolova (BUL), defending European all-around Champion Taisiia Onofriichuk (UKR), World and Olympic Champion Darja Varfolomeev (GER) and Italian grand lady Sofia Raffaeli headline the field.

I hope to see many fans in the hall, loudly supporting their favourite gymnasts. If you can’t join us on site, don’t worry, European Gymnastics has you covered! The junior individual qualifications and finals, plus the senior individual qualification rounds on Wednesday 27, Thursday 28 and Friday 29 May will be streamed on SmartScoring’s Gymtv.online platform, for just € 20, accompanied by the expert commentary of Blythe Lawrence and Olly Hogben. Subscribe

The senior finals on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 May will be broadcast on TV throughout Europe, thanks to EBU. A comprehensive list of TV rights holders and their planned coverage is available on our event website. Livestreaming on the EBU platform European Gymnastics will be accompanied by expert commentary courtesy of Olly Hogben and Blythe Lawrence. Geo-blocking can occur if your national TV channel shows the event.

Find all necessary information on the event website: 2026 European Championships in Rhythmic Gymnastics - Varna (BUL) | European Gymnastics

From 17 to 22 June, we’ll meet in Montenegro, in the beautiful coastal town of Budva, for a training focusing on junior and pre-junior gymnasts.

On the programme in this exciting week are physical preparation, apparatus and body preparation, creation of composition, ballet and dancing, and a seminar on ‘Physical rehabilitation and injury prevention exercises’. In addition to that, we’ve planned some sightseeing and social activities too.

Led by our Technical Committee member Vesna Radonic (MNE), the camp relies on internationally renowned experts like Spela Alenka Dragas (ITA) for expert Body work and Apparatus work, Senam Mahmudlu (AZE) for Ballet and Dance and Raif Refetov (AZE) as physiotherapist. We could not be in better hands!

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Wishing all gymnasts the best of luck in Varna!

Eliso Bedoshvili

RG-TC President