The Shooting star award goes to … Fanni Pigniczki (HUN)

After the Individual All-Around final at the 39^th European Championships in Rhythmic Gymnastics in Baku (AZE), Kamran Ramazanov, CEO of our global partner SmartScoring presented the SmartScoring Shooting star award to Hungary’s Fanni Pigniczki.

Started in 2018, this award aims to put a gymnast with an exceptional story in the spotlight, someone who is an inspiration for the future generation of gymnasts and the general public alike.

Fanni Pigniczki started doing rhythmic gymnastics at the age of 5. It simply was love at first sight.

At 12, she joined the member of the Hungarian National Team, competing with the junior group at her first European Championships in Vienna. The following year, in 2014, she was selected to compete with ball and ribbon as an individual gymnast at the Junior European Championship in Baku, and in 2015 she was competing again in the group. She is the first Hungarian gymnast who competed at three junior European Championships. Her first European Championships as a senior was at home in Hungary. Since then, she participated as an individual in all European Championships with Baku marking her 10^th participation.

Fanni’s continuous strive for excellence has earned her many accolades. In 2021, she qualified to the Tokyo Olympics by taking the continental spot, becoming the first Hungarian in over 20 years to earn an Olympic berth. Last year, Fanni became the first Hungarian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the World Games when she won the bronze with hoop and ball. One month later she became the first Hungarian to win a World Cup medal, adding to that collection this year as well. Her motto? "I almost never focus on medals or who I want to beat. I just want to get better.” And she’s just getting better and better.