Preview of the inaugural European Cup in Rhythmic Gymnastics in Baku (AZE)

A staggering 37 nations from all over the globe are heading to the Azerbaijani capital Baku to compete in the inaugural European Cup in Rhythmic Gymnastics.

From Friday to Sunday, the magnificent National Gymnastics Arena will be the scene of battles between the junior individuals (team and apparatus), senior groups (all-around and apparatus) and senior individuals (all-around Cross Battles and apparatus). 

New in a European Gymnastics competition … prize money is awarded! A grand total of €40,000 will be distributed . For the Cross Battles, the winner gets € 8000, second place € 5000, third place € 3000, fourth € 2000, places 5 to 8 get € 1000 each, and places 9 to 16 € 500 each. The winner of the Senior Group All-Around gets € 5000, silver gets € 3500 and bronze € 2500. In the junior competition, the team winner earns € 1300, second place € 1000 and third € 700.

 

Who to watch?

The 160 gymnasts strong field is headlined by European stars like the reigning European All-Around Champion Boryana Kaleyn (BUL) and her superstar teammate Stiliana Nikolova, 2022 European All-Around Champion Daria Atamanov (ISR) who is accompanied by former junior standout Daniela Munits, 2022 World All-Around Champion Sofia Raffaeli and Milena Baldassarri (ITA), Ukraine’s Krystyna Pohranychna, Azerbaijan’s pride and joy Zohra Aghamirova, and many many more!

In the group competition, we expect an exciting battle between the host nation Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Israel, Italy, Georgia, Hungary, and Romania.

 

Schedule (all times listed are in Baku local time)

Friday 3 May

09:00 – 12:00    Senior Individual Qualifications – Hoop & Ball – Set A

12:15 – 15:10    Senior Individual Qualifications – Hoop & Ball – Set B

16:00 – 19:00    Senior Individual Qualifications – Clubs & Ribbon – Set A

19:00 – 19:30    Opening Ceremony

19:30 – 22:24    Senior Individual Qualifications – Clubs & Ribbon – Set B

 

Saturday 4 May

10:00 – 11:30    Senior Group All-Around

Followed by Senior Group All-Around award ceremony

12:00 – 14:38    Senior Individual Cross Battles

Followed by Senior Individual award ceremony

15:30 – 18:18    Junior Individual Qualifications – Set A

18:35 – 21:23    Junior Individual Qualifications – Set B

Followed by Junior All-Around & Team award ceremonies

 

Sunday 5 May

10:05 – 11:14    Senior Individual Apparatus Finals – Hoop & Ball

11:25 – 12:34    Senior Individual Apparatus Finals – Clubs & Ribbon

Followed by Senior Hoop, Ball, Clubs & Ribbon award ceremonies

13:50 – 14:30    Senior Group Apparatus Final – 5  Hoops

14:35 – 15:15    Senior Group Apparatus Final – 3 Ribbons / 2 Balls

Followed by 5 Hoops & 3 Ribbons / 2 Balls

15:50 – 17:00    Junior Individual Apparatus Finals – Hoop & Ball

17:10 – 18:20    Junior Individual Apparatus Finals – Clubs & Ribbon

Followed by Junior Hoop, Ball, Clubs & Ribbon award ceremonies

 

Competition format

Senior Individuals

1-2 gymnasts can compete per National Federation (NF), 4 to 8 routines per team. If a NF participates with only 1 gymnast, she must present 4 exercises. The best 16 all-around gymnasts from the qualifications advance to the ‘Cross Battle’, an exciting new format which sees the gymnasts going head-to-head to advance to the next stage. The best 8 individual gymnasts, with a maximum of 1 gymnast per NF, per apparatus advance to the apparatus finals.

 

Senior Groups

Groups compete 2 routines in qualification: 5 Hoops plus 3 Ribbons & 2 Balls. The total score determines the all-around standing. The best 8 Groups per apparatus advance to the apparatus finals.

 

Junior Individuals

1 to 4 gymnasts per country, four exercises in total. Only NF with minimum 2 gymnasts participate in the team ranking which is decided on the qualification results. If a NF participates with only 1 gymnast, she must present 4 exercises.

The best 8 individual gymnasts per apparatus, with a maximum of 1 per NF, advance to the apparatus finals. 

 

Tie breaking rules

RGI Junior & RGG Senior: The FIG tie breaking rules of the World Championships in force are to be applied.

RGI Senior: Olympic Games tie-break rules in force are to be applied. If with these a tie cannot be broken at any stage vital to the Senior RGI all-around cross battles, the younger gymnast will be ranked first. In the case that the gymnasts are born on the same date, a draw will be made.

 

How to follow the competition?

European Gymnastics and its Global Partner SmartScoring are committed to bringing all the action to your living room via livestream on SmartScoring’s Gymtv.online platform. For just € 6, you get to witness the entire competition! Get your subscription here: European Cup in Rhythmic Gymnastics - Europeangymnastics (gymtv.online).

You can follow the live scoring on Live Results - SmartScoring | Every second matters.

As usual European Gymnastics will provide start lists, results, photos, videos and competition reports on its website and social media.

Official hashtags of the event: #RGBaku2024 and #EuropeanCup