Kaleyn, Bulgaria crowned European All-Around Champions

An important day here today in Baku’s National Gymnastics Arena as both senior individuals and groups battled for all-around glory.

After two silver medals, in 2021 and 2022, Boryana Kaleyn seized her opportunity to shine outright. The 22-year-old impressed with her signature exquisite pivot technique, sealing the deal with a fabulous clubs routine that scored 32.900. Her total score of 131.000 gave her a cushion of almost 1,5 points ahead of her nearest rivals. A comfortable lead to end Bulgaria’s all-around title draught, as Kaleyn brings the gold back to Bulgaria for the first time in 29 years when the legendary Maria Petrova won!

Reigning World Champion Sofia Raffaeli’s best performance of the day came with clubs, scoring 33.800. The young Italian edged top qualifier Stiliana Nikolova for the silver medal. Nikolova started off with two incredible routines, earning the top scores of the day with hoop and ball until her ribbon refused to cooperate, causing her to lose ground in the ranking. German rising star Darja Varfolomeev rocked her ribbon exercise but a hoop mishap bumped her to fourth place. Polina Karika lead the Ukrainian challenge in the first set where she was the only gymnast to score over 30 points on each apparatus, ultimately ending in fifth place. Slovenia’s Ekaterina Vedeneeva, Azerbaijan’s Zohra Aghamirova and Spain’s Polina Berezina round out the top 8!

While Kaleyn got the Bulgarian party started, the group competition only added to their joy. Sofia Ivanova, Kamelia Petrova, Rachel Stoyanov, Radina Tomova and Zhenina Trashlieva delighted the audience for the top score with 5 hoops and the second highest score for their mixed apparatus routine to clinch the gold medal. When did Bulgaria last win this title? In 1990! Defending Champions Israel settled for silver thanks to an incredible 5 hoops performance while hosts Azerbaijan stunned their fans with a fantastic ribbons & balls combination for the bronze medal.

For the calculation of the team ranking, the 2 group scores were added to the 8 individual scores gathered the past 2 days in qualifications. Bulgaria cruised to victory, effectively scoring a hattrick today. Ukraine clinched the silver medal in a remarkable display of unity and perseverance in these troubled times. Israel completed their day with the bronze.

 

Congratulations to the medallists!

Individual All-Around

GOLD Boryana KALEYN (BUL) 131.000

SILVER Sofia RAFFAELI (ITA) 129.550

BRONZE Stiliana NIKOLOVA (BUL) 129.500

Group All-Around

GOLD Bulgaria 68.050

SILVER Israel 67.300

BRONZE Azerbaijan 65.400

Team

GOLD Bulgaria 324.500

SILVER Ukraine 311.800

BRONZE Israel 310.200

The full results are available on our website:  2023 European Championships in Rhythmic Gymnastics | European Gymnastics

These Rhythmic Europeans conclude tomorrow with the senior individual and group apparatus finals.