Vote for your favourite gymnast, team and coach of 2022!

European Gymnastics proudly launches the third edition of its ‘Gymnast of the Year’ election! You can vote for your favourite gymnast, team and coach of the year 2022 on our website and on our social media channels.

For this edition, our Executive Committee chose the following 5 categories: Male, Female, Team, Outstanding Performance and Coach.

Nominations for the long list were made by our Technical Committees, staff and the 50 member Federations. A selection committee featuring European Gymnastics Vice-President Michel Boutard, Executive Committee members Paolo Frising, Natalja Inno and Solveig Jonsdottir, General Director Lisa Worthmann and Head of Media Tina Gerets, had the difficult task to choose 5 nominees in each category.

The nominees are listed alphabetically by surname per category. Discover the nominees!

 

Male Gymnast of the Year 2022 - Nominees

Tofig Aliyev (AZE) – TeamGym

Tofig was part of the Azerbaijan senior men’s team that took part in the TeamGym Europeans for the first time in 2021. In 2022, he was back again with even more explosive tumble routines that excited the entire audience. He received a standing ovation and was awarded a place on the prestigious All-Stars Team [the six best men and women].

 

Adem Asil (TUR) – Men’s Artistic Gymnastics

What a year it has been for Adem Asil. First, Asil conquered the all-around, team and vault titles at the Mediterranean Games, followed by the Europeans in Munich where he claimed silver on rings and bronze all-around and with the Turkish team. The icing on the cake came in Liverpool where he clinched his first World title, on rings!

 

Daniel Bali (HUN) – Aerobic Gymnastics

The Hungarian Aerobics star delivered yet again in 2022 when Bali won no less than 3 World titles:  mixed pair with Fanni Mazacs, trio with Fanni Mazacs and Balasz Farkas and team, in addition to silver with the Hungarian group. At the World Games, he clinched another gold for the trio routine and silver in mixed pair and group. Can’t get much better than that!

 

Illia Kovtun (UKR) – Men’s Artistic Gymnastics

Junior stand-out Illia Kovtun made his mark on the senior level in his 2021 debut. In 2022, Kovtun and his teammates were competing at the Cottbus World Cup when the war in their country Ukraine broke out. Prevented from returning home, Kovtun travelled from one World Cup stage to another, becoming one of the main stars of the World Cup circuit. Although conditions were far from ideal,  Kovtun won several editions, in Baku, Cairo, Doha and Cottbus. At the European Championships, he won the silver on parallel bars.

 

Rhys McClenaghan (IRL) – Men’s Artistic Gymnastics

Rhys started 2022 with fantastic results with a gold and silver medal respectively in the Cairo and Doha World Cups, a gold medal in the World Challenge Cup, Paris and a silver medal on pommel horse at the Commonwealth Games. At the Europeans, Rhys narrowly missed finals, qualifying in 1st reserve position. Again, although extremely disappointed in his performance, Rhys took the learnings from the event into his training to focus on the World Championships. His strength of character and determination to be the best Pommel Horse gymnast in the world gave him the momentum to rise to the challenge of the 2022 World Championships. After qualifying in 1st place for the finals, once again, Rhys made history for Ireland by securing the gold medal on Pommel and becoming the first Irish World Champion.

 

Vote here: https://take.quiz-maker.com/Q7KBCWW5F

 

Female Gymnast of the Year 2022 - Nominees

Nicole Hosseini (SWE) – TeamGym

Three time gold-medal winner Nicole has proven to be a role model within TeamGym setting new standards. As a team member, her presence is both calming and inspiring and she has had a large and direct impact on both the gold medal in the mixed team 2021 and the gold medal in the women’s team 2022. Nicole has through her performances been selected as part of the Championships All Star Team 2022 on floor, out of nearly 300 girls and women competing.

 

Zsofia Kovacs (HUN) – Women’s Artistic Gymnastics

After success at World Cup events in spring, Hungary’s Zsofia Kovacs began the European Championships as one of the favourites for all-around glory. However, in qualifications, which also determined the all-around ranking, Kovacs suffered some setbacks, ultimately finishing 9^th. She did qualify to the vault final where she excelled regaining the European vault title she first won in 2020. Kovacs was able to show her incredible mental strength, rebounding quickly.

 

Anastasiia Kurashvili (UKR) – Aerobic Gymnastics

Recognised as a talented Aerobics gymnast for several years already, Anastasiia Kurashvili overcame the incredibly difficult circumstances of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to demonstrate resilience and perseverance. Her tremendous ability to focus resulted in the best possible result as she won her first individual World title at the Aerobics World Championships in Portugal.  

 

Bryony Page (GBR) – Trampoline Gymnastics

A familiar sight at major international trampoline events over the past decade, double Olympic medallist Bryony Page had another incredible year in 2022. She started off perfectly at the Europeans winning both the individual title and pairing with Izzy Songhurst to win the synchro gold. At the World Championships, she helped Great Britain win the all-around team World title and placed second individually and with the Trampoline team.

 

Sofia Raffaeli (ITA) – Rhythmic Gymnastics

For Sofia Raffaeli 2022 truly was a historic year, breaking records at most of the competitions she attended. At the Europeans, she won gold with hoop and clubs and silver with ball and the Italian team, becoming the first individual Italian to win European gold. At the World Championships, she did even better: gold in the all-around, with ball, hoop ribbon and team ranking and bronze with clubs! Several ‘firsts’ for her there: first Italian individual World apparatus Champion and first Italian World All-around Champion.

 

Vote here: https://take.quiz-maker.com/QX3DYZ3RN

 

Team of the Year 2022 - Nominees

Fabian Vogel & Matthias Pfleiderer (GER) – Trampoline Gymnastics

At the Trampoline Europeans in Rimini, Fabian Vogel and Matthias Pfleiderer put Germany on the map with their fabulous victory in the synchro final, climbing up from third place in qualification to stun the audience with exquisite form and divine synchronisation. In Sofia, at the World Championships, Vogel and Pfleiderer followed a similar path, ultimately winning the World synchro title, upgrading from the silver won at the last edition.

 

Great Britain senior mixed team – TeamGym

Great Britain’s rise to the top in TeamGym has been nothing but remarkable. Having won their first gold in 2021 with the junior mixed team, the British coaches saw their chance to bring out their strength even more, focusing their efforts on building an impressive senior mixed team. And it paid off as the gymnasts tumbled, danced and vaulted their way to victory, their first ever senior European title!

 

Italy – Women’s Artistic Gymnastics

The performances by the Italian women lit up Munich’s Olympiahalle. In the European team final, Angela Andreoli, Alice D’Amato, Asia D’Amato, Martina Maggio and Giorgia Villa delivered an exceptional showing, highlighted by their 42.799 total on bars to cruise to victory, almost 4 points ahead of their nearest rivals. Italy won this title only once before, back in 2006.

 

Men's Trampoline Team (POR) – Trampoline Gymnastics

Known for its talent in trampoline, the Portuguese men’s trampoline team combined efforts in Sofia to clinch the World Team Trampoline gold. A true achievement of teamwork and team spirit by Diogo Abreu, Pedro Ferreira, Lucas Santos and Rubén Tavares.

 

Rhythmic Gymnastics Group (POL) – Rhythmic Gymnastics

Poland’s rhythmic group featuring Mariia Balakina, Milena Gorska, Madoka Przybylska, Malgorzata Roszatycka, Magdalena Szewczuk and Julia Wojciechowska has been on the rising trajectory of development and success since 2018, when the ensemble was a junior one. Working only with their head coach Inga Buczyńska, without permanent support of a wider staff of choreographers, dance teachers, ballet masters, dieticians, in 2022 - their first year as the Senior Team, they managed to reach places and win medals on the scale never seen before. In the first half of 2022, the team had to face unexpected challenges. Most of sports halls in Poland were temporarily handed over by state and local authorities for use as accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. The gymnasts had to stop training for some time and then had to use various provisional gym halls, travelling around Poland. Yet they managed to write a new chapter of Polish RGG. There were also several personal changes and replacement within team, with the last one happening several weeks prior to the World Championships. However, the new team made it and got the highest ranking reaching 10th place with 5 hoops.

 

Vote here: https://take.quiz-maker.com/Q8IS628DD

 

Outstanding Performance of the Year 2022 - Nominees

Alexandru Avasiloae (ROU) – Trampoline Gymnastics

From a traditionally strong gymnastics country, Romania, Alexandru Avasiloae decided to take a lesser known path. Not competing on Artistic or Aerobic Gymnastics, for which Romania is famous, but in Trampoline. His perseverance saw him participate at the Trampoline Europeans in Rimini (ITA) becoming the first gymnast to represent Romania at a major Trampoline event.

 

Die alten Knochen (GER) – Gymnastics for All

One of the oldest gymnastics boy groups in Germany, ‘The Old Bones’, comes from the north of Germany. They regularly fascinate with their parallel bars performance and receive standing ovations. Upper arm stand in formation, that's their absolute trademark. The average age of this exceptional team is 74, with the youngest at the moment 68 years old and the oldest 82 years old. It is already  the 2nd generation of ‘Old Bones’. Since 1997, the gymnastics troupe has been thrilling people with their performances and they are regularly a highlight at the Golden Age Gymnastics Festival! Also in Madeira (POR) in 2022 they fascinated the audience!

 

Darja Varfolomeev (GER) – Rhythmic Gymnastics

In 2022, Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev made her senior debut at the Tashkent World Cup, immediately claiming an all-around medal. And she just kept going. At the Europeans in Tel Aviv, the 15-year-old impressed the audience by securing two bronze medals, with ball and clubs. These were the first medals won by a German gymnast since the reunification. At Worlds, she did even better, placing second in the all-around, with the team and with ball. The icing on the cake came with clubs, where her expressive routine got rewarded with the World title.

 

Krete Kaasik (EST) – Trampoline Gymnastics

Krete is the first ever Estonian gymnast who competed in trampoline gymnastics senior World Championships in 2022. She is from a small Estonian town called Paide and has a degree in physical education from Tartu University. Besides her athlete career, she coaches small children and has a certified gymnastics coach licencse. Krete started doing trampoline gymnastics because of her mother who accidentally took part in trampoline gymnastics coaches´ course instead on sport acrobatics one. Her mom Katrin Kaasik is still her coach and mentor. Krete´s strongest characteristics are immense will power and persistance.

 

Rhys McClenaghan (IRL) – Men’s Artistic Gymnastics

Rhys started 2022 with fantastic results at World Cup stages. As an Irish citizen hailing from Northern Ireland, Rhys was selected for the 2022 Commonwealth Games as the reigning 2018 Commonwealth gold medalist on Pommel horse. After some initial complications around eligibility, Rhys was thankfully permitted to take part and, delighted to have the opportunity to defend his title, ended the event as the silver medallist. Heading confidently into the 2022 European Championships, Rhys narrowly missed finals, qualifying in 1st reserve position. Again, although extremely disappointed in his performance, Rhys took the learnings from the event into his training to focus on the World Championships. His strength of character and determination to be the best Pommel Horse gymnast in the world gave him the momentum to rise to the challenge of the 2022 World Championships. After qualifying in 1st place for the finals, once again, Rhys made history for Ireland by securing the gold medal on Pommel and becoming the first Irish World Champion. Wrapping up the year for Rhys, was his nomination as RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year 2022 alongside top record-breaking sports people in Ireland. Rhys has ridden the highs and lows of 2022 with such professionalism, autonomy, honesty, and pragmatism which sets him apart as a fantastic ambassador for the sport of gymnastics. He supports many causes related to sport and mental health and is a great role model for young athletes in Ireland and indeed all our gymnasts across all disciplines and levels from participation to high performance.

 

Vote here: https://take.quiz-maker.com/Q8ISP28DD

 

 

Coach of the Year 2022 - Nominees

Julieta Cantaluppi (ITA) – Rhythmic Gymnastics

Formerly a high-level gymnast herself and coming from a rhythmic gymnastics family, Julieta Cantaluppi puts great care into training her gymnasts. She’s the personal coach of Italian greats Milena Baldassarri and Sofia Raffaeli who both have -and continue to- write history for Italy.

 

Yilmaz Göktekin (TUR) – Men’s Artistic Gymnastics

As head coach of the Turkish men’s team, Yilmaz Göktekin has been preparing the men for years. His passion and strive for excellence rubs off on the team. He plays a big part of the success that Türkiye has experienced in recent years.

 

Tordis Helga Lilian Hagfors Mollatt (NOR) – Gymnastics for All

Known as Titelidn, Tordis is an inspiration for the whole gymnastics community. At 97 years old, she’s still the choreographer and coach for the Group Nostalgia from Norway. During the pandemic, she gave lifestyle and fitness advice to her community so people would stay fit at home. She has participated in all but one editions of the Golden Age Gym Festival!

 

Iryna Nadyuk (UKR) – Men’s Artistic Gymnastics

Regarded as an extremely influential person in the life of her gymnasts, Ukraine’s Iryna Nadyuk is one of only few female coaches at the highest level in men’s artistic gymnastics. As the personal coach of junior standouts Illia Kovtun and Nazar Chepurniy, she followed her boys onto the senior level as national coach.

 

Lars Nørgaard (DEN) – TeamGym

Lars has been part of the Danish senior men’s coaching staff for a long time, winning the gold medal at almost all championships. Lars started out with the Danish Junior Men’s team in 2010, and has been the leading coach behind the senior men’s success since then. Although Denmark has a lot of senior men to choose from, they still need to be ready on the day of competition and balance the high difficulty against the level of competition to maximise the chance of winning even when the level of the competitors is getting closer and closer.

 

Vote here: https://take.quiz-maker.com/Q0TJZ8J5H

 

 

Start voting now! You have until Wednesday 14 June at 12 noon CET!

On our social media channels, we’ll introduce each category on a different day. Male on Tuesday 30 May, Female on Wednesday 31 May, Team on Thursday 1 June, Outstanding Performance on Friday 2 June and Coach on Saturday 3 June. A like of the gymnast’s candidate profile on Instagram equals 1 vote for this gymnast. These results will be combined with the poll. The nominee with the highest total score wins the title!