Bulgaria to defend Olympic crown after Group-All Around World Title

Bulgaria will get to defend its Olympic title after winning the Group All-Around title for the first time since 2014 at the World Championships. In terms of Olympic qualification, the top three nations in the group all-around final qualify a team of five athletes to the games. The 2022 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships are currently being held in Sofia, Bulgaria from September 14th to September 18th 2022.

The host nation, performed consistently well in both apparatuses, scoring a 33.800 in the five hoops and a 32.800 in the three ribbons + two balls for an overall score of 66.600. The 3 ribbons + 2 balls performance was the difference maker as they finished two points clear over second place Israel and were the only two nations to finish with a score above 30. Israel finished with a total score of 64.650 while Spain grabbed the third and final quota thanks to a 63.200 performance.

The Bulgarian team was made up of an entirely new group from the team which won gold in Tokyo. The team included Sofia Ivanova, Kamelia Petrova, Rachel Stoyanov, Radina Tomova, Zhenina Trashlieva and Margarita Vasileva.

Pre-tournament favourites Italy had a relatively poor performance in the 3 ribbons + 2 balls and while they were the best team in the 5 hoops, it was not enough and they finished fourth. Italy and other nations will have other opportunities to qualify to the Olympics, with the next one being the 2023 World Championships.