Gymnastics Glory in Varna

The spotlight burns brightest on Stilyana Nikolaeva as she commands the leaderboard in the all-around competition at the European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship in Varna. The Bulgarian star, fresh from her European title in Budapest 2024 and silver in Tallinn 2025, has set a commanding pace with a total of 59.650 points after the first two apparatuses.

Nikolaeva delivered a masterclass with the hoop, securing the highest score of 30.550 points, broken down into 14.4 for difficulty, 8.100 for execution, and 8.050 for artistry. She followed this with a rock-solid ball routine, earning 29.100 points (12.9 difficulty, 8.050 execution, 8.150 artistry). This performance keeps her firmly in contention for the super final, where she will compete with clubs and ribbon.

The Tightening Race

However, the competition is fierce. Germany’s Daria Varfolomeev, an Olympic and two-time world champion, sits just behind in second place with 59.600 points. Her scores were 30.150 on the hoop and 29.450 on the ball. Defending champion Taisia Onofriychuk from Ukraine holds third with 58.100 points (29.550 and 28.550).

The new format for the Varna championship means only the top 10 gymnasts from the initial 20 will advance to the super final to compete with clubs and ribbon. The absolute European champion will be determined by the sum of all four apparatus scores from this elite group.

Fellow Bulgarian Eva Brezalieva finished the first phase with 51.200 points, placing 19th and missing the top 10. She scored 24.300 on the hoop (10.2 difficulty, 6.650 execution, 7.450 artistry) and improved to 26.900 on the ball (11.8 difficulty, 7.550 execution, 7.550 artistry).

Other gymnasts in the top 10 include Alina Kharlanskaya (Belarus), Maria Borisova (Russia), Tara Dragash (Italy), Vera Tugolukova (Cyprus), Sofia Ilteryakova (Russia), Sofia Raffaeli (Italy), and Daniella Muniz (Israel). The second phase of the all-around begins at 12:50.