site.btaBulgarian Athletes Win Four Titles, Nine Medals at European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Budapest

Bulgaria recorded another strong performance and won four titles and a total of nine medals at the 40th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, which ended on Sunday at the Laszlo Papp Sports Arena in the Hungarian capital Budapest. The national gymnasts won four gold, two silver, and three bronze medals, including the first places in the women's all-around, the ensemble, and the team event.

On Sunday, Boryana Kaleyn, Stiliana Nikolova and Elvira Krasnobaeva won one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. Kaleyn brought the first European hoop title for Bulgaria since 1988. The pupil of Mariana Pamukova was flawless in her routine and took the gold. In the clubs final, she took the bronze.

The absolute European champion Stiliana Nikolova took silver with hoop. The pupil of Valentina Ivanova recorded fourth place with ribbon and fifth with ball.

Elvira Krasnobayeva, a debutant at the Women's European Championships, made serious mistakes in the finals of the clubs and finished seventh, but in the ribbon routine she showed her class and won the bronze medal.

The individual gymnasts performed very strongly and this helped the team to defend the team gold. On Saturday, Nikolova won her first overall European title, which remains in Bulgaria after the gold went to Boryana Kaleyn in Baku.

The Bulgarian ensemble defended its absolute title in the all-around. Magdalena Minevska, Sofia Ivanova, Kamelia Petrova, Rachel Stoyanov and Margarita Vasileva were unbeaten in both their routines. The pupils of Vesela Dimitrova and Yasena Stoyneva, who are European champions in the all-around from Baku 2023, received for their five-hoop composition the extremely high score of 39.150 points. The Bulgarians also played well with three ribbons and two balls, and were given 34.850 points. They thus collected 74.000 points and took the gold medals for the second year in a row.

In the finals on Sunday, the Bulgarians placed fourth with five hoops and eighth with three ribbons and two balls after making serious mistakes in their second performance.

Two more accolades for Bulgaria were won by the young Dara Malinova and Magdalena Valkova, who took silver with ribbon and bronze with ball respectively in the individual event finals, and also placed fourth in the team event.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev met with the national team at the tournament in Budapest. He arrived at the Laszlo Papp Sports Arena for the women's individual finals to support the Bulgarian competitors. Afterwards, he presented the gold medal to Boryana Kaleyn, who became the champion in the hoop final.

The next European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships will be held in Tallinn (Estonia) from June 4 to 8, 2025.