Highlights of the #ACRO2025 European Age Group Competitions

Held for the first time in the city of Luxembourg, 24 countries were represented by 385 gymnasts at the European Age Group Competitions in Acrobatic Gymnastics, held from 10 to 13 April 2025 in the beautiful D’Coque Arena. The future stars of ACRO competed in one of the two age groups: Pre Youth (11 – 16) or Youth (12 – 18). During two days of qualification rounds, units battled for their place in the finals, and a potential medal.

Here are our highlights … in no particular order!

Bulgarian brilliance

Eight Pre Youth Mixed Pairs gave it their all during their Balance routine to battle for the medals. With a great score of 27.500, the Bulgarian duo Simona Ivanova and Hasan Ismail created a gap of 6 tenths over their nearest rivals Lourenco Cartaxo and Noa Rodrigues (POR), giving the vocal  Bulgarian fans exactly what they came for: a European title for this talented duo!

Israel impresses

ACRO powerhouse Israel had a fabulous outing, earning a grand total of 5 European titles! Their success started in the first final where Pre Youth Men’s Pairs Yonatan Shechner and Jonathan Weitzman Dach amassed a total score of 26.900 for their dynamic exercise and the first gold medal for their nation. On the second day of finals, Gal Harel and Gilad Shiner continued the winning way as this Youth Men’s Pair showcased an incredible combined routine to cruise to victory over Spain’s Eric Sales and Borja Soriano. The highest score of that day came courtesy of Israel’s Youth Women’s Group Ofek Biran, Vanessa Babel and Tom Levy Aizner. With a 1.1 difficulty and 18.300 execution score, this trio amassed a total of 28.300 for the European title. To top it all off, Israeli gymnasts won gold in both remaining Pre Youth finals, with Ella Ben Zvi and Nurit Luria crowned in the Women’s Pairs and Michelle Obolencev, Tzuf Asor and Shachar Vardi in the Women’s Groups.

British boost

The British national anthem ‘God save the King’ filled the arena for the spectacular performance of Great Britain’s Men’s Group featuring Lucas Mcdermott, Henry Sharman, Joseph Scotney and Morris Hyde. With the highest scores across the board, the British lads posted a 27.720 to clinch the Youth title!

Pure joy

Cheered on by a crowd of supporters, Germany’s Johanna Schoene and Nona Kara gave it their all on the carpet. Rewarded with 28.020, the girls erupted in cheers of pure joy in the Kiss & Cry. A gold medal for Germany too, this one in the Youth Women’s Pairs!

Shining bright

Under equally loud crowd support, Portugal’s Benedita Lopes and Salvador Oliveira edged past Israel’s Moriah Bercovici and Oren Bar-Yoseph by the tiniest margin: 27.450 - 27.440 to secure their very own gold medal in the Youth Mixed Pairs.

A warm welcome to Türkiye

When Ada Eylul, Azra Canpolat and Deniz Ozcan walked out onto the carpet, they wrote history. This Pre Youth Women’s Group became the first unit to represent Türkiye on the European level. The European Gymnastics Technical Committee in Acrobatic Gymnastics has invested a lot of time and effort into development camps and course, and it’s great to see it paying off. Welcome Türkiye!

What a thrilling competition we witnessed at these 13^th European Age Group Competitions. We warmly congratulate all the participants for putting on such exciting performances! Our heartfelt thanks goes out to the Local Organising Committee and the Gymnastics Federation of Luxembourg for the impeccable organisation.