Linoy Ashram, Vlada Nikolchenko and Ekaterina Selezneva pick up titles in Cluj

The Romanian city Cluj-Napoca hosted a stage in the rhythmic gymnastics World Challenge Cup circuit this weekend.

The all-around finals on Saturday provided the most successful competition day to date at this level for the Israeli team as Linoy Ashram clinched the gold medal ahead of Russia’s Ekaterina Selezneva. In third place, Ashram’s teammate Nicol Zelikman wrote history with herself as she won her first all-around World Cup medal and for her country as it’s the first time two Israeli gymnasts stand on the podium together. And the party wasn’t over yet … The Israeli group performed two fabulous routines to score over 50 points, edging Azerbaijan by 4 tenths for the all-around victory.

In apparatus finals, Ashram was victorious with hoop and ribbon and claimed the silver with clubs behind Ukraine’s Vlada Nikolchenko. Selezneva outscored teammate Daria Trubnikova, a last-minute replacement for Aleksandra Soldatova, for the gold medal with ball. Zelikman confirmed her all-around capacities by adding three more bronze medals to her collection: hoop, ball and ribbon. Italy’s Alexandra Agiurgiuculese earned the silver medal with ribbon while the home crowd went wild for Denisa Mailat’s bronze medal winning clubs routine.

The ladies from Ukraine were on fire in the group finals, cruising to the gold medal with both performances. Israel and Azerbaijan took the silver and bronze medals with Azerbaijan winning silver for their 5 balls routine and Israel for their 3 hoops and 2 pairs of clubs exercise.

 

Results

Individuals

All-around

1.       Linoy Ashram (ISR) 88.850

2.       Ekaterina Selezneva (RUS) 88.400

3.       Nicol Zelikman (ISR) 85.100

 

Hoop

1.       Linoy Ashram (ISR) 23.400

2.       Ekaterina Selezneva (RUS) 23.050

3.       Nicol Zelikman (ISR) 22.350

 

Ball

1.       Ekaterina Selezneva (RUS) 22.850

2.       Daria Trubnikova (RUS) 22.750

3.       Nicol Zelikman (ISR) 22.300

 

Clubs

1.       Vlada Nikolchenko (UKR) 22.450

2.       Linoy Ashram (ISR) 22.050

3.       Denisa Mailat (ROU) 21.600

 

Ribbon

1.       Linoy Ashram (ISR) 22.250

2.       Alexandra Agiurgiuculese (ITA) 20.600

3.       Nicol Zelikman (ISR) 20.000

 

Groups

All-around

1.       Israel 50.250

2.       Azerbaijan 49.850

3.       Ukraine 47.950

 

5 balls

1.       Ukraine 28.400

2.       Azerbaijan 26.100

3.       Israel 25.250

 

3 + 2

1.       Ukraine 27.800

2.       Israel 26.500

3.       Azerbaijan 24.650

 

Full results can found on the FIG website: https://www.gymnastics.sport/site/events/searchresults.php

The World Challenge Cup continues next week in Kazan (RUS)!