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.

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.”