Bulgaria shines in Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup

Stiliana Nikolova won a silver medal, while Eva Brezalieva placed sixth in the women's all-around at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup held at Arena 8888 in Sofia.

Nikolova scored a total of 116.200 points (29.600 hoop, 29.850 ball, 29.800 clubs, 26.950 ribbon). She delivered strong routines with hoop and ball on the previous day but made some mistakes with the ribbon, CE Report quotes BTA.

For the second consecutive year, Nikolova claimed silver in front of a home crowd in Sofia. She also earned her first points towards the Olympic ranking for the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

Coached by Valentina Ivanova, she qualified for all four apparatus finals, ranking third on hoop with 29.600, first on ball with 29.850, second on clubs with 29.800, and eighth on ribbon with 26.950.

The second Bulgarian competitor, Eva Brezalieva, finished sixth overall with 111.150 points (27.400 hoop, 27.250 ball, 29.500 clubs, 27.000 ribbon). She qualified for two finals - clubs, where she placed third, and ribbon, where she ranked sixth. On ball, she finished ninth and is first reserve for the final.

This was the first World Cup and first major competition of the new season for both Nikolova and Brezalieva.

Ukraine's Taisiia Onofriichuk, the European all-around champion from Tallinn 2025, won gold for the second consecutive year with 116.600 points (29.650, 28.500, 30.250, 28.200). Italy's Sofia Raffaeli, bronze medallist at the Paris 2024 Olympics, took bronze with 115.700 (29.650, 28.350, 28.850, 28.850).

Also in the top six were Alina Harnasko (neutral athlete) with 112.350, Meital Sumkin (Israel) with 111.500, and Brezalieva with 111.150.

A total of 89 gymnasts from 52 countries took part in the competition.

The apparatus finals are scheduled for Monday at 12:30 p.m.