Boryana Kaleyn, Stiliyana Nikolova, Eva Brezalieva and the Bulgarian rhythmic gymnastics ensemble became team champions at the European Championships in Baku.

After Boryana Kaleyn won the all-around title earlier yesterday, the ensemble also won the gold medals.

Zhenina Trashlieva, Sofia Ivanova, Kamelia Petrova, Rachel Stoyanov and Radina Tomova collected a total of 68,050 points after performing both of their compositions without error. The Bulgarians received scores of 35.600 for their five-hoop composition and 32.450 for three bands and two balls. So they added their world title in the all-around from Sofia 2022 and that of the continental championship.

The competition was extremely dramatic as the last starting number was the hosts from Azerbaijan, who ended up third.

Vesela Dimitrova’s girls performed very strongly in their five-hoop combination and were evaluated with 35.600 points, of which 19.200 for difficulty, 7.950 for performance and 8.450 for artistry.

In their second appearance on the carpet, the Bulgarians also performed excellently in their composition with ribbons and balls, receiving 32.450 points (16.8 for difficulty, 7.450 for artistry, 8.200 for performances). Headquarters filed a challenge with us for a device difficulty, which was dismissed and the rating remained unchanged.

Thus, the ensemble of Bulgaria qualified for both finals today with the second-highest scores.

“We are very excited. This is a great recognition for us,” Kamelia Petrova told the National Television.

“I think that to some extent this is quite natural, because we know how much work we put into the training gym. We fought a lot. Let’s not forget that there are finals tomorrow, as we wish to be on the first step”, added Zhenina Trashlieva.

“We are very happy for our two individual gymnasts. We always support them and wish them many more such successes,” added Sofia Ivanova.

“I can definitely say that we are in very good shape and we are very happy to have shown what we have been working on,” shared Rachel Stoyanov.

I think we managed to stick together after the girls accepted me very quickly,” admitted Radina Tomova.

“Motivation never dies with us. I think that tomorrow we will show our best“, stated Kamelia Petrova.

We want to thank everyone who supports us. We really feel the support. Let them continue to support us,” concluded Zhenina Trashlieva.

In second place was Israel with 67,300 points (35,600 and 31,700), and bronze honors went to Azerbaijan with 65,400 (32,900 and 32,500). Ukraine, Italy and Spain are also in the top 6. 18 teams participated in the competition.

Bulgaria won the third gold for today in the team competition. The team consisting of Boryana Kaleyn, Stiliyana Nikolova, Eva Brezalieva and the women’s ensemble defended its team title with 324,500 points. In second place is Ukraine with 311,800, and in third place is Israel with 310,200 points.

Thus, Bulgaria already has seven medals from the championship in Baku, of which five gold, one silver and one bronze. The ensemble and Boryana Kaleyn took the all-around titles, Bulgaria is No. 1 team, Stiliyana Nikolova placed third in the all-around, and the girls’ ensemble won silver in the all-around and two golds in the five-rope and five-ball finals.

On the last day of the European championships, six more sets of medals will be handed out today – in the finals of individual apparatus for women and for ensembles. Stiliyana Nikolova will argue for the honors in hoop, ball and ribbon, Boryana Kaleyn – in hoop, ball and bats, Eva Brezalieva – in ribbon. The ensemble is among the five-hoop and three-ribbon/two-ball finalists.