Stiliana Nikolova crowned Queen of Europe

A jam-packed Saturday in Budapest’s Papp Laszlo Sports Arena, as both the individual gymnasts and the groups battled for all-around glory.

With most of the top qualifiers competing in the first of two sets, the standard was set early on. 2022 World Champion Sofia Raffaeli performed best, with her usual flair and without any major errors, supported by vocal Italian fans. Other favourites like Darja Varfolomeev (GER), Boryana Kaleyn (BUL) and Daria Atamanov (ISR) encountered difficulties on their path, taking them out of gold medal contention.  

In set two, all eyes were on Stiliana Nikolova. The Bulgarian starlet got off to a brilliant start with clubs, scoring a massive 36.050, the highest score of the event so far with that apparatus. Her Paris-inspired ribbon routine brought in another great score. Performing last with ball, Nikolova gave it her all. Her already iconic ‘Arabian Nights’ routine got the audience onto its feet with delight. Scoring a phenomenal 37.200, we witnessed the coronation of a new Queen of Europe, Stiliana Nikolova!

Raffaeli earned the silver medal again while reigning World Champion Darja Varfolomeev clinched the bronze. Defending Champion Boryana Kaleyn (BUL), Israel’s rising star Daniela Munits, Italian grace Milena Baldassarri, German energy boost Margarita Kolosov and hometown girl Fanni Pigniczki round out the top 8.

In the group competition, Spain raised the bar in the first group, showcasing two lovely routines for the early lead. Big shots Bulgaria and Italy were still to come though. And defending Champions Bulgaria opened with a fantastic 5 hoops performance, reward with a score just shy of 40 points. With mixed apparatus, Sofia Ivanova, Magdalina Minevska, Kamelia Petrova, Rachel Stoyanov and Margarita Vasileva earned another top mark, 34.850, to convincingly retain their European all-around crown. The Italians were fabulous with 5 hoops but suffered some deductions with ribbons and balls. In the end, they posted the same total score as Spain. This tie was broken based on the highest execution score … silver for Italy, bronze for Spain.

The last remaining Olympic ticket goes to the group of Azerbaijan, pending FIG confirmation.

Determining the team ranking were the results of the eight individual qualification routines plus the two group routines. Thanks to the combined efforts of Boryana Kaleyn, Elvira Krasnobaeva and Stiliana Nikolova and their brilliant group, Bulgaria successfully defended their team title. Silver went to Italy and bronze to Israel.

 

Congratulations to the medallists!

Individual All-Around

GOLD Stiliana Nikolova (BUL) 143.750

SILVER Sofia Raffaeli (ITA) 139.750

BRONZE Darja Varfolomeev (GER) 138.450

Group All-Around

GOLD Bulgaria 74.000

SILVER Italy 71.200

BRONZE Spain 71.200

Team

GOLD Bulgaria 343.150

SILVER Italy 338.550

BRONZE Israel 334.500

Find the full results on the event website: 2024 Rhythmic Europeans - Budapest (HUN) | European Gymnastics.

These Europeans conclude tomorrow with the apparatus finals for both individuals and groups.