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Sensational Stiliana wins her first major all-around rhythmic title

“The feeling when you perform, and the music, the dance, the apparatus, everything altogether is just amazing. I love it!”

photo courtesy BRGF – Anna Nedkova Photography

June 2024 – Meet the new European all-around Rhythmic champion, 18-year-old Bulgarian Stiliana Nikolova. Ever since her senior debut in 2022, she has sparkled at major championships and World Cups, winning many medals, but this year marks her first major all-around title.

Perhaps best known for her astounding exercise with the ball, performed to “Arabian Nights” from the musical Aladdin, the exotic middle-eastern style of that routine stems from the influence of her home town Cairo in Egypt, where she was born after her family had relocated for her father’s job.

He was a footballer who helped the Bulgarian team qualify for the 1986 World Cup, while her mother Paulina Nikolova was a rhythmic gymnast who won gold with the Bulgarian group at the 1985 World Championships.

“My mother is a coach, so I grew up in the gym,” says Stiliana of her early days. “I was always playing around with the apparatus. It just came naturally. I went on my way and began competing. My mum is my inspiration and I would like to be like her.”

Her older sister Paola is also a rhythmic coach, and Stiliana trained with her for many years, later travelling from Egypt to Bulgaria every year for the national championships. When Stiliana was accepted onto the Bulgarian national squad, she moved there to live and train on a permanent basis.

Stiliana’s opening pose with the ribbon (*photo courtesy BRGF – Anna Nedkova Photography*)

Prior to winning the European all-around title in late May, Stiliana tasted success at the inaugural European Cup of Rhythmic Gymnastics, which featured a new format called the “cross battle” where the gymnasts competed in a knock-out competition. The last gymnast standing became the all-around champion, and Stiliana took the top spot.

“It was quite challenging,” she said afterwards. “Maybe because it is the first cross battle and you didn’t know what to expect, but it was very interesting and I would love to have more challenges like this one.”

Her love of the sport shines through in everything she does. “The feeling when you perform, and the music, the dance, the apparatus, everything altogether is just amazing. I love it.”

She has certainly brought a new style to rhythmic gymnastics. Typically associated with taller, more balletic gymnasts, Stiliana has infused a unique effervescence of her own. Despite excelling with the ball, she doesn’t favour it above the other events, saying “I don’t have a favourite apparatus. I like all my routines. They are perfectly made for me!”

Stiliana set the European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, alight with her dazzling displays, most notably for her iconic ball routine. In the all-around final she scored a massive 37.200 with this apparatus, eclipsing all the others to win the title.

The stars seem to be aligned for Stiliana to shine at the Olympic Games in Paris in August. This European title will surely boost her medal chances against other Olympic hopefuls such as 2023 world champion Darja Varfolomeev of Germany, 2022 world champion Sofia Raffaeli of Italy and her own Bulgarian teammate, Boryana Kaleyn.

However she acknowledges that the biggest battle is with herself. “In the first place we compete against ourselves,” she says. “I hope for the best, but first of all I have to do my job, and then there is a possibility.”

Rebeca Andrade – “if you want to make it happen, you can do it”

*Leaping into the spotlight – Rebeca at the 2021 world championships (photo courtesy Kitakyushu world championships)*

2 February 2023 – An exceptionally talented junior gymnast, Rebeca struggled for several years to reach her full potential as a senior due to a series of injuries. But she made a sensational comeback at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, and a year later became world all-around champion. Here’s what the 23-year-old Brazilian star had to say about her career after she won the all-around title in Liverpool last November.

Jessica Gadirova – rising star

“It’s just crazy that I have a medal round my neck”

*Jessica’s final pose on floor (photo courtesy Basel 2021 )*

23 June 2021 – Back in April, Jessica burst onto the scene at her first major international event – the European championships in Basel, Switzerland. The 16-year-old from Aylesbury won three medals – gold, silver and bronze. Since then, she has been selected for the British Olympic team, along with her identical twin sister, Jennifer. Gym Stars spoke with Jessica at the European championships virtual press conferences – read on to hear what she had to say about her success.

Nikita Nagornyy – everything he does is for the team

“It’s important for me and David to be together on the podium”

*Nikita Nagornyy adds another medal to his collection (photo courtesy Basel 2021)*

30th April 2021 – Last week’s European championships in Basel (Switzerland) was the first fully-attended championships for a year and a half, held without spectators and run with meticulous safety precautions due to the coronavirus pandemic. The circumstances may have been unusual, but Nikita Nagornyy of Russia was well prepared – with a spectacular new element to debut, too.

“Sometimes I wonder how I do it” – Simone Biles sets new records in Stuttgart

*Five times all-around world champion – Simone Biles (photo courtesy Stuttgart 2019)*

17 November 2019 – As 2019 dawned, Simone was already an Olympic champion and four times all-around world champion. Her difficulty ratings were way ahead of everyone else – could she go any further? You bet – later in the year she would unveil new moves and set new records. During the world championships in Stuttgart last month, she talked about pushing the boundaries and winning more world championships medals than any other gymnast in history.

“It was hell, I was terribly nervous” says Yana Batyrchina about her first world championships

16 September 2019 – The rhythmic gymnastics world championships started today in Baku, Azerbaijan. The ambassador for the event is none other than Yana Batyrchina of Russia, 1996 Olympic silver medallist. She recently wrote about her experiences at her first-ever world championships in Paris in 1994 on her Instagram profile. Here are some highlights from her harrowing account.

Oksana Chusovitina & Svetlana Boginskaya

“When Svetlana is next to me as a coach, I feel confident.” (Oksana)
“That’s very flattering to me!” (Svetlana)

Former team mates – Svetlana Boginskaya (left) and Oksana Chusovitina in London earlier this year. (Photo copyright Sarah Baldwin / Gym Stars)

August 2019 – These two gymnasts competed together on the last-ever Soviet gymnastics team (called the “Unified” team) at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. They both went on to compete at the 1996 Olympic Games – Oksana for Uzbekistan and Svetlana for Belarus – but little did they know that 23 years later, Oksana would still be competing at the age of 44, and Svetlana would be her part-time coach!

Casimir Schmidt – back on track

Casimir Schmidt at Superstars of Gymnastics *(photo by Sarah Baldwin / Gym Stars)*

27 June 2019 – At the Dutch national championships last weekend, Casimir became all-around champion, a title that had eluded him since he first won it in 2013. Now aged 23, he is working hard to reach his goal of competing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. I met him in March at the Superstars of Gymnastics show in London, where he got into the spirit of the occasion by colouring his hair green. This, with his trademark Dutch orange leggings, earned him the nickname “the gymnastics carrot”!

Ellie Downie – back in the medal hunt

“Gymnastics is getting so much harder”

Elissa Downie of Great Britain *(photo by Sarah Baldwin / Gym Stars)*

27 April 2019 – European all-around champion in 2017, Ellie Downie of Great Britain then spent over a year recovering from surgery – twice – on her left ankle. She returned to competition at the 2018 world championships, then became British champion in March. In April she won the all-around silver medal and bronze on vault at the European championships. I talked to her about what it took to make a successful comeback.

James Hall – perseverance pays off

“It’s so exciting to be the top dog”

James Hall of Great Britain *(Photo courtesy Glasgow 2018 via Getty Images)*

3rd April 2019 – Bronze medalist in the last European all-around competition, James is a top prospect for next week’s European championships in Poland. Now 23 years old, he struggled for many years to reach this level and is a perfect example of the saying “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again”. He talked to Gym Stars just before the Superstars of Gymnastics show in London.