The formchart ahead of the 37th FIG World Rhythmic Championships showed that Russia’s Dina Averina would dominate the competition, winning most of the events, chased by teammates Arina Averina and Ekaterina Selezneva and Israel’s Linoy Ashram.
Yes. Exactly.
● Dina Averina won the All-Around for the third straight year and won the Ball for the second consecutive year and Clubs for the third year in a row. She also won her first Worlds gold in Ribbon. She finished third in Hoop.
● Ashram won the All-Around bronze, her third straight Worlds medal in that event, and took medals in all four apparatus finals: silvers in Hoop, Clubs and Ribbon and a bronze in Ball.
● Arina Averina won the All-Around silver and the Ball silver.
● Selezneva won in Hoop and scored a Ribbon bronze.
Add in the team title for the Russians and a silver for Israel, and between these four athletes, 16 of the 18 total medals in the individual and team competitions were accounted for. Further, for Russia, their domination of the Rhythmic Worlds from 2005-19 now includes 53 of the 55 individual golds plus nine straight team titles. Just astonishing.
In terms of Olympic qualification, the top 16 in the All-Around qualified for Tokyo, which included Americans Evita Griskenas (eighth) and Laura Zeng (10th).
In the Group events on Sunday, Japan won in the 5 Balls program, while Russia (without the Averinas or Selezneva) took the 3 Hoops + 2 Clubs competition. Summaries:
FIG Rhythmic World Championships
Baku (AZE) ~ 16-22 September 2019
(Full results here)
All-Around: 1. Dina Averina (RUS), 91.400; 2. Arina Averina (RUS), 91.100; 3. Linoy Ashram (ISR), 89.700; 4. Boryana Kaelyn (BUL), 86.275; 5. Vlada Nicolchenko (UKR), 84.150; 6. Alexandra Agiurgiuculese (ITA), 83.500; 7. Milena Baldassari (ITA), 83.250; 8. Evita Griskenas (USA), 83.000. Also: 10. Laura Zeng (USA), 81.850.
Hoop: 1. Ekaterina Selezneva (RUS), 23.500; 2. Ashram (ISR), 23.400; 3. D. Averina (RUS), 23.350; 4. Nicol Zelikman (ISR), 21.450; 5. Kaleyn (BUL), 21.400; 6. Agiurgiuculese (ITA), 21.350; 7. Katsiaryna Halkina (BLR), 21.000; 8. Anastasiia Salos (BLR), 19.250.
Ball: 1. D. Averina (RUS), 23.500; 2. A. Averina (RUS), 21.050; 3. Ashram (ISR), 22.400; 4. Baldassarri (ITA), 22.200; 5. Kaelyn (BUL), 22.100; 6. Nicolchenko (UKR), 21.450; 7. Zelikman (ISR), 21.450; 8. Griskenas (USA), 20.350.
Clubs: 1. D. Averina (RUS), 23.800; 2. Ashram (ISR), 23.300; 3. Nikolchenko (UKR), 22.350; 4. A. Averina (RUS), 22.050; 5. Agiurgiuculese (ITA), 21.900; 6. Alina Harnasko (BLR), 21.600; 7. Zelikman (ISR), 20.850; 8. Halkina (BLR), 20.800.
Ribbon: 1. D. Averina (RUS), 21.800; 2. Ashram (ISR), 20.750; 3. Selezneva (RUS), 20.650; 4. Nikolchenko (UKR), 20.350; 5. Zeng (USA), 19.300; 6. Harnasko (BLR), 18.800; 7. Salos (BLR), 17.800; 8. Baldassarri (ITA), 16.725.
Team: 1. Russia (D. Averina, A. Averina, Zelezneva), 186.500; 2. Israel (Ashram, Telegina, Voronkov, Zelikman), 174.750; 3. Belarus (Halkina, Harnasko, Salos), 168.550; 4. Italy, 167.000; 5. Ukraine, 166.850; 6. Bulgaria, 164.250; 7. United States (Laura Zeng, Evita Griskenas, Camilla Feeley), 163.150; 8. Japan, 157.475.
Group/5 Balls: 1. Japan, 29.550; 2. Bulgaria, 29.350; 3. Russia, 28.150; 4. Israel, 26.950; 5. China, 26.800; 6. Italy, 25.900; 7. Belarus, 25.800; 8. Ukraine, 24.800.
Group/3 Hoops + 2 Clubs: 1. Russia, 29.450; 2. Japan, 29.400; 3. Italy, 29.200; 4. Belarus, 29.100; 5. Bulgaria, 28.850; 6. Israel, 26.500; 7. Azerbaijan, 26.450; 8. China, 26.250.
