Championship without champions – Sport – Kommersant

The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, which takes place this week in Sofia, Bulgaria, will definitely go down in history as the most lackluster tournament of recent decades. In the absence of Russian and Belarusian gymnasts, who did not qualify for the world championship due to sanctions, as well as Israeli Daria Atamanov and Bulgarian Boryana Kalein, who withdrew due to injuries, medals are played between athletes of the second and third echelons. The showdown of the Russians competing at the same time at the All-Russian Spartakiad, meanwhile, resulted in the absolute triumph of Lala Kramarenko: she by a large margin bypassed the long-term leaders of the national team – Dina and Arina Averin.

The world championship, now taking place in Sofia and having the status of the most significant start of the season, has turned into the most uninteresting competition in terms of composition in recent decades. It does not have a single gymnast from the elite.

Russian women Dina and Arina Averin, as well as the new star of the national team Lala Kramarenko, who had previously taken away piles of medals from all starts in which they took part, were not allowed to Sofia due to sanctions. Belarusian Alina Gornosko, who won bronze in the all-around at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and Anastasia Salos are not at the championship for the same reason. Israeli Lina Ashram, sensational winning Olympic gold, ahead of Dina Averina, with the loss of the ribbon, announced her retirement this spring, and her compatriot Daria Atamanov, who won the last European Championship in Tel Aviv, withdrew due to a leg injury. Following her, due to an infection, the strong Bulgarian Boryana Kalein refused to perform.

For this reason, awards in individual events were distributed among themselves by those athletes who, under other circumstances, could at best claim a place in the top ten. Three gold medals – in exercises with a ball, a hoop and a ribbon – went to 18-year-old Italian Sofia Raffaelli, and another, in clubs, was taken by 15-year-old Daria Varfolomeev, who plays for Germany. This is the first gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics for the German team in 47 years.

At the end of the Olympic cycle, the rules in rhythmic gymnastics were, as usually happens, subject to adjustments, so it is not entirely correct to compare the scores of current champions with the results of last year’s champions. But you can compare them with the indicators that Russian women give out on the same dates at their own, domestic competitions – the All-Russian Spartakiad.

Their main feature is that some of the domestic stars, including 18-time world champion Dina Averina and her twin sister, five-time world champion Arina, still compete according to the rules of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). And another part – for example, Lala Kramarenko and juniors – according to special, Russian rules (there are no restrictions on the number of elements performed), proposed by the president of the All-Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation (VFCG) Irina Viner.

If Sofia Raffaelli received 34.85 for exercises with a hoop, then Arina Averina, who went to the start with a bandaged thigh, with a gross mistake in the form of losing the apparatus, still earned more at home start – 36.65. Dina Averina’s marks for the hoop look absolutely cosmic against this background – 39.45. The same is true for other disciplines. For the ball, Raffaelli was awarded 34.90 points, and Dina Averina (her sister had already withdrawn by that time) with an injured back, a taped knee and, in addition to this, with a loss, more than 40. The new world champion in clubs Daria Varfolomeev won with a score of 33, 55, meanwhile the silver medalist of the Olympics has 39.40.

But even if the Russians were allowed to the World Cup, then all the world gold would go, most likely, not to Dina Averina, but to her compatriot Lala Kramarenko. It was she who won the individual all-around at the All-Russian Spartakiad, and in terms of the total points of the formal leader of the national team, the 17-year-old superstar was ahead by more than five points: 163.30 against 158.50.

Ekaterina Remizova