Women’s Individual All-Around
Tokyo was the first Olympics since the 1996 Olympics that a Russian did not win gold. It was Linoy Ashram who won gold but she retired in 2022. Daria Atamanov (Israel) will try to replicate her compatriots' performance. Only 18, she won the 2022 European Championship and was the bronze medalist at the 2023 World Championship. The dominant performer in 2022 was Sofia Raffaeli (Italy). She won at the World Championship as well as World Cup events in Athens, Pesaro and Baku. In 2023, she won in Athens, Milan and Tashkent but could only win silver at the 2023 World Championships. Ahead of her was Darja Varfolomeev (Germany), only 17 herself. If you had to bet a country to medal, it would potentially be Bulgaria given the strength they have over both competitors. Boryana Kaleyn (Bulgaria) has not won a major global title yet, finishing fourth twice. She is a double European silver medalist and won the 2022 World Cup event in Sofia. Compatriot Stiliana Nikolova (Bulgaria) has a World Championship bronze from 2022 and finished fourth in 2023. She won the 2023 World Cup events in Baku and Sofia. Takhmina Ikromova (Uzbekistan) won the 2022 World Cup event in Tashkent before finishing second in 2023 and also won the 2023 Asian Games. Barbara Domingos (Brazil) won the 2023 Pan-American Games. Milena Baldassarri (Italy) was in fifth at the 2022 World Championship and also came second in Pesaro and third in Baku in the World Cup events that year.
This event is probably the most open edition of it so far without the usual Russian favourite. I think this should come down to the last two World Champions, who are Raffaeli and Varfolomeev. Raffaeli would have been a favourite a few years ago but I think Varfolomeev has accelerated past her. Raffaeli still struggles in the club discipline but if she does well in that, she can win gold. Behind them are the Bulgarians, Atamanov and Ikromova. Ikromova and Kaleyn are weak in the hoop whilst Niklova and Atamanov are weakest in the ribbon section. It really depends if one of those can score above their expected total. Nikolova and Ikromova have both won World Cup events earlier in the year in those events and I lean to the youth of Niklova to get the medal here.
🥇Darja Varfolomeev 🇩🇪
🥈Sofia Raffaeli 🇮🇹
🥉Stiliana Niklova 🇧🇬
Women’s Group All-Around
Bulgaria took the crown from the Russians at Tokyo to see them denied gold for only the second time in the history of this event. They are the 2022 world champions after winning silver in 2017 and bronze in 2018. They’ve also won numerous World Cup events including the last three years in Sofia, 2021 in Baku and 2022 in Tashkent. Israel is the current world champion. They won silver in both 2019 and 2022 when they also won the European Championships. In 2023, they won World Cup events in Athens and Milan. China has also done well in World Cup events, winning in Tashkent and Baku. They were second in the 2023 World Championship and will be looking to improve on their fourth from Tokyo. Bronze medalists at the last two World championships were Spain. Italy won silver in 2018 and 2021 but has finished fourth in the World Championships around that. They also won Olympic bronze in Tokyo. Uzbekistan won at the 2023 Asian Games whilst Brazil won at the 2023 Pan-American Games. France won the 2022 World Cup event in Athens whilst taking bronze in Sofia and also winning silver in 2024 in Tashkent. Germany took silver in Tashkent in 2024. Azerbaijan has won medals in Baku for the World Cup events over the last three years. Ukraine has not competed much in the World Cup events but was fifth in the 2023 World Championship. Mexico will also be competing.
This should come down to Bulgaria and Israel. Bulgaria are the reigning champions but Israel seems to be the team of the moment, improving over the last few years. Based on the improvements, I cannot see past Israel here. Behind them, it should come down to China, Italy and Spain. Italy need to perform in the ribbon + balls sections which has been their weakness recently. They can potentially compete if they get that right. Instead, the other two are a lot more consistent and that makes me lean slightly to China who have a slightly better record than Spain.
🥇Israel 🇮🇱
🥈Bulgaria 🇧🇬
🥉China 🇨🇳
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