Darja Varfolomeev, only 15 years old, won the silver medal after her gold coup at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Sofia.
The schoolgirl, who was born in Russia and came to Germany when she was twelve, won silver (132.450 points) in the individual all-around on Saturday (September 17th, 2022) just behind Italy’s Sofia Raffaeli (133.250). This was her fourth time on the podium in the Bulgarian capital.
On Thursday she had won the title with clubs, it was the first German World Cup gold in 47 years. Varfolomeev also won silver with the ball in Sofia and bronze with the hoop. She was automatically one of the podium candidates for the all-around, on Saturday she delivered again.
Strong again with the clubs
With clubs (33.750) she left all her competitors behind again, Varfolomeev achieved the second best value with ball (33.400) and ribbon (32.450). With the hoop (32.850), three opponents were stronger.
In the absence of the suspended Russian gymnasts, that was enough for the silver medal, Bulgaria’s Stiliana Nikolowa (128.800) finished third overall, quite a bit behind. Potsdam’s Margarita Kolosov (115,650) finished 15th.
The last German gymnastics world champion up to these title fights was Carmen Rischer from Schwerte, who came first three times at the 1975 World Championships in Madrid.