The Bulgarian star of rhythmic gymnastics Stiliyana Nikolova won a silver medal in the individual all-around at the 42nd World Championships in the German city of Frankfurt. This is the first award for Bulgaria from this year's planetary forum. With this grand triumph, our girl officially secured a direct Olympic quota for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Valentina Ivanova's student had a phenomenal competition against the strongest gymnasts on the planet. Stiliyana Nikolova finished the competition with an impressive total of 117,600 points. She demonstrated an iron mentality, exceptional artistry and high complexity in her compositions. The judges rated her performances as follows:
- Hoop: 30,150 points
- Ball: 29,250 points
- Clubs: 29,000 points
- Ribbon: 29,200 points
With this success, Nikolova duplicated her achievement from Rio de Janeiro 2025, where she again won the world silver in the all-around. We recall that earlier this year she also became the European vice-champion in the all-around at the championship in Varna.
The world title in Frankfurt went to the representative of the hosts Darya Varfolomeev. In front of her home audience, the German collected an asset of 119,500 points and became a three-time world champion. The bronze medal was won by the Italian Sofia Rafaeli, who finished just five hundredths behind our girl – with a total of 117.550 points.
The World Championship in Germany continues in full force, with Bulgaria expecting more strong performances from its graceful athletes in the individual apparatus finals and in the ensembles.