World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships 2023: Darja Varfolomeev wins all-around final to sweep individual titles in Valencia
The German youngster continued her dominance in Spain, becoming the first athlete to win five individual golds at a World Championships since Evgeniya Kanaeva in 2011.
Darja Varfolomeev rounded off a week to remember by taking the individual all-around title at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships 2023 on Saturday (26 August).
Two days after completing an apparatus title sweep in Valencia, the 16-year-old German edged out reigning champion Sofia Raffaeli in a dramatic finish to the competition.
Her total score of 137.450 saw her take her tally of individual golds in Spain to five with only the great Evgeniya Kanaeva - in 2009 and 2011 - achieving the feat previously.
Kanaeva is the only two-time Olympic all-around champion in rhythmic gymnastics, and Varfolomeev is certainly the woman to beat next year at the Paris 2024 Games.
Varfolomeev also won all-around team silver behind Bulgaria as she just missed out on matching Kanaeva's two six-gold hauls.
After a small mishap with the ribbon, Varfolomeev trailed reigning champion Sofia Raffaeli by 0.850 going into the final rotation.
Varfolomeev then produced a superb routine with the ball, scoring a competition-high 35.650 to pile the pressure on the Italian.
Raffaeli was the last athlete to perform and, while her ribbon mark of 33.050 was the best of the day, it was not enough to deny Varfolomeev a historic triumph.
She took silver with 135.700 with Daria Atamanov of Israel scoring 131.400 to clinch bronze.
A disappointing ribbon score cost Stiliana Nikolova once again with the Bulgarian, who took all-around bronze at May's European Championships, finishing three-quarters of a point behind Atamanov in fourth.
Results from the 2023 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships individual all-around final:
- Darja Varfolomeev (GER) 137.450
- Sofia Raffaeli (ITA) 135.700
- Daria Atamanov (ISR) 131.400
- Stiliana Nikolova (BUL) 130.650
- Takhmina Ikromova (UZB) 130.400
- Boryana Kaleyn (BUL) 129.950
- Viktoriia Onoprienko (UKR) 129.850
- Alba Bautista (ESP) 128.800
- Ekaterina Vedeneeva (SLO) 127.650
- Wang Zilu (CHN) 127.100
- Barbara Domingos (BRA) 126.100
- Margarita Kolosov (GER) 125.800
- Milena Baldasarri (ITA) 125.700
- Polina Berezina (ESP) 125.500
- Annaliese Dragan (ROU) 124.750
- Fanni Pigniczki (HUN) 124.350
- Helene Karbanov (FRA) 122.750
- Zohra Aghamirova (AZE) 122.450
Rhythmic Gymnastics: 2023 World Championships – how to watch
The 2023 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships draw to a close on Sunday with the 5 Hoops final followed by the 3 Ribbons and 2 Balls final.
Both will be livestreamed worldwide on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics apps for mobile and connected TV devices, with replay and highlights clips also available (territorial restrictions may apply).
Sign up to your Olympics.com account via the website or our official app, sign in and add rhythmic gymnastics as a favourite sport to receive alerts about the event.
The International Gymnastics Federation will also stream all of the finals from the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships live on its Streaming Service.