Russia is the dominant power in Rhythmic Gymnastics, but Israel has been moving up smartly and had a dominant performance at the second Rhythmic World Challenge Cup in Cluj Napoca, Romania.
A silver and bronze medalist in the last two World Championships All-Around, Ashram won the All-Around, Hoop and Ribbon events and scored a silver in Clubs. Her teammate, Nicol Zelikman, 18, won four bronzes. The Israelis also scored a win in the Group All-Around and medals in the other two group events.
Russia’s Ekaterina Selezneva won the Ball event and was runner-up in the All-Around, and Ukraine’s Vlada Nicolchenko took the Clubs title. Summaries:
Rhythmic World Challenge Cup II
Cluj Napoca (ROU) ~ 23-25 August 2019
(Full results here)
All-Around: 1. Linoy Ashram (ISR), 88.850; 2. Ekaterina Selezneva (RUS), 88.400; 3. Nicol Zelikman (ISR), 85.100. Also in the top 10: 10. Laura Zeng (USA), 78.000.
Hoop: 1. Ashram (ISR), 23.400; 2. Selezneva (RUS), 23.050; 3. Zelikman (ISR), 22.350.
Ball: 1. Selezneva (RUS), 22.850; 2. Daria Trubnikova (RUS), 22.750; 3. Zelikman (ISR), 22.300. Also: 6. Camilla Feeley (USA), 19.960; … 8. Zeng (USA), 19.200.
Ribbon: 1. Ashram (ISR), 22.250; 2. Alexandra Agiurculese (ITA), 20.600; 3. Zelikman (ISR), 20.000. Also: 7. Zeng (USA), 17.100.
Clubs: 1. Vlada Nicolchenko (UKR), 22.450; 2. Ashram (ISR), 22.050; 3. Denisa Mailat (ROU), 21.600.
Group All-Around: 1. Israel, 26.650; 2. Ukraine, 24.950; 3. Azerbaijan, 24.450.
Group/5 Balls: 1. Ukraine, 28.400; 2. Azerbaijan, 26.100; 3. Israel, 25.250.
Group/3 Hoops+4 Clubs: 1. Ukraine, 27.800; 2. Israel, 26.350; 3. Azerbaijan, 24.650.
