Darja Varfolomeev brought historic success to the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB). The 15-year-old from TSV Schmiden won the first title by a German gymnast since reunification at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Sofia on Thursday. Varfolomeev won the final with clubs with 33.550 points ahead of Bulgaria’s Stiliana Nikolowa (32.600) and Sofia Raffaeli of Italy (31.850).
The day before, the native Russian had already won the first German World Cup medals since reunification. The student took silver with the ball and bronze with the hoop. “I feel great. It’s a big surprise for me and I can’t believe it,” said the German champion, who had already won two third places at the European title fights in Tel Aviv in June.
The last German World Cup medal so far was won in 1985 in Valladolid by Bianca Dittrich from Dresden with bronze in the ball final for the GDR. The only German gymnastics world champion to date is Carmen Rischer from Schwerte, who came first three times at the 1975 World Championships in Madrid.
