Dina and Arina Averina lead hoop and ball rankings at #RGECh2019

Day two of the 35^th European Championships in Rhythmic Gymnastics saw the senior individual gymnasts performing their hoop and ball routine, aiming to reach the top 8 and thus advance to Sunday’s apparatus finals. Another goal is to reach the top 24 in the all-around with the best three scores counting as this ensures a place for their country at next year’s European Championships in Kiev (UKR).

Divided in three sets, the first gymnasts on the carpet set a high standard. Bulgaria’s Boryana Kaleyn proved the one to beat both with hoop and ball, edging her teammates Neviana Vladinova and Katrin Taseva respectively. Italy’s Milena Baldassarri started off well with ball, making the final. In set 2, the Belarussians Alina Harnasko, Katsiaryna Halkina and Anastasia Salos delivered great routines, earning their place among the top gymnasts. In the absence of Linoy Ashram, Israel’s hopes rest on the shoulders of Nicol Zelikman who excelled and made both finals. The audience went wild for the home town heroes Veronika Hudis and Zohra Aghamirova, with Zohra advancing to the hoop final.  

In the final set, all eyes were on the Russian superstars. Arina Averina started with hoop, having to use the replacement apparatus before switching back to her own hoop. Dina Averina also had some execution issues but her sky-high difficulty of 14.0 put her in the lead. Arina redeemed herself immediately, producing a fabulous display with ball. Her difficulty matched that of Boryana Kaleyn but Arina surpassed all her rivals in execution, posting the highest E score of the day: 9.350!

 

Qualified to apparatus final:

Hoop

1.            Dina Averina (RUS) – 22.300
2.            Boryana Kaleyn (BUL) – 21.650
3.            Katsiaryna Halkina (BLR) – 21.400
4.            Anastasiia Salos (BLR) – 21.250
5.            Nicol Zelikman (ISR) – 21.050
6.            Vlada Nikolchenko (UKR) – 20.700
7.            Neviana Vladinova (BUL) – 20.400
8.            Zohra Aghamirova (AZE) – 20.050

Ball

1.            Arina Averina (RUS) – 22.750
2.            Boryana Kaleyn (BUL) – 22.100
3.            Katrin Taseva (BUL) – 21.600
4.            Nicol Zelikman (ISR) – 21.250
5.            Katsiaryna Halkina (BLR) – 21.100
6.            Aleksandra Soldatova (RUS) – 20.825
7.            Alina Harnasko (BLR) – 20.500
8.            Milena Baldassarri (ITA) – 19.750

 

Find the full results on our website: http://www.ueg.org/event/2019-european-championships-rhythmic-gymnastics/results

These Europeans continue tomorrow with the senior individuals performing their clubs and ribbons routines, while the junior groups show us their performance with 5 ribbons.