The Bulgarian grace Stiliyana Nikolova secured participation in the clubs and ribbon finals at the 42nd World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in the German city of Frankfurt. The qualifications of these two apparatuses have officially ended, guaranteeing the home national player a place among the eight best in the world.
Nikolova showed exceptional class and entered the final of clubs with the second highest score of 29.250 points. In the stream of tape, the Bulgarian earned a score of 28,300 points, which gave her fifth position for the final battle.
The intrigue in the all-around gets tangled
In the provisional ranking for the individual all-around, Stiliyana Nikolova occupies second place with a total of 87.350 points. She gave up the leading position to the representative of the hosts Darya Varfolomeev (Germany), who collected an asset of 89.000 points after a phenomenal performance on the ribbon for 30.050 points. Third so far is Sofia Ilteryakova (neutral status) with 85.600 points. The highest score of the championship so far remains for the Italian Sofia Raffaelli – 30.100 points in hoop.
Unfortunately, the other Bulgarian representative Eva Brezalieva remained out of the finals in clubs and ribbon. She finished 18th in clubs with 26.750 points and recorded the same position in ribbon with 27.050 points. As of 17:49, Brezalieva is 12th in the all-around (81.150 points) and will have to wait until the end of the competition day to find out if she makes it into the top 18 for tomorrow's grand final.
The Frankfurt qualifiers continue with the remaining four groups, playing with hoop and ball. The final lists for the all-around finalists will be clear around midnight Bulgarian time.