It is the first time a Russian has failed to win the title since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and is arguably one of the biggest surprises in the sport's history. The 22-year-old becomes just the third Israeli Olympic champion, following in the footsteps of sailor Gal Fridman and Artem Dolgopyat, who won men's floor gold in the artistic gymnastics in Tokyo. Pending confirmation from FIG, Fanni Pigniczki (HUN) clinched the individual Olympic spot while Ukraine will perform in the group competition.Israel's Linoy Ashram claimed a shock victory in the rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around final on Saturday, edging out three-time world champion Dina Averina to end two decades of Russian Olympic dominance.Īshram clung on despite a mistake in her closing ribbon routine to win with 107.800 points overall, just 0.150 ahead of Averina. This time they held off Belarus and Israel. The Russian anthem was heard a third time today as winners of the team competition. In the group all-around final, Russia presented the most difficult routines to take the European crown with almost 3 points ahead of Italy’s Farfalle who edged Israel by a tiny margin.

Competing first in set A, Ashram suffered from a low score with ribbon which eventually bumped her off the podium. Having qualified in second place, defending Champion Linoy Ashram (ISR) drew the shortest straw. This is the first all-around medal at a European Championships for Bulgaria since Maria Petrova’s victory in 1994!

Varna’s Palace of Culture and Sports erupted with joy. As the very last performer, the 20-year-old Bulgarian showed the clubs routine of her life, scoring 27.950, passing by the triple World Champion with 3 tenths. In a last-minute plot twist Dina was overtaken for the silver medal by crowd favourite Boryana Kaleyn. As the twins have hinted at retiring after the Olympics, Dina’s fabulous medal collection could miss the European all-around gold. She posted a total score of 109.100, against 107.325 for her sister. Dina qualified in first place to the final but in a repeat of 2018, it was Arina who had the better day. Russian superstars Dina and Arina Averina were the usual suspects to beat. With 2 Olympic tickets at stake, 1 for individuals and 1 for groups, the all-around finals at the 37th European Championships in Rhythmic Gymnastics provided tons of excitement.

Dina and arina averina