"VAN" (Sports Desk - 03.09.2025) :: This year's Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, held in Brazil at the Arena Carioca in Rio de Janeiro, once again highlighted the outstanding performances of German gymnast Darja Varfolomeev, who has an impressive portfolio.
In Brazil, Varfolomeev secured the all-around title and three individual apparatus gold medals (ball, clubs and ribbon). Fifth place in the hoop apparatus denied her a golden clean sweep, like she achieved two years ago.
THE BEGINNING Varfolomeev began rhythmic gymnastics when she was three years old, after being brought to the gym by her mother, Tatjana, a former rhythmic gymnast whose career was ended by injury. She was born in Russia but now has German citizenship through her grandfather. Varfolomeev had attended a training camp in Germany in 2018 and was asked to stay because of her qualities. The following year she moved to Germany without her parents to be coached by Olympic silver medalist Yulia Raskina. She initially lived in a boarding school and was visited by her grandparents, before her parents moved to Germany three years later.
“It was the most difficult decision of my life, but also the most important decision I made at the time,” the 18-year-old said at a press conference.
At the first World Junior Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Moscow in 2019, she placed 15th in the team all-around event.
SENIOR DEBUT She made her senior debut in 2022 at the World Cup in Tashkent, winning two silver and two bronze medals. Since then she has continued to collect medals in continental and world tournaments. At her first world championships in 2022 in Sofia, Bulgaria, she became the first rhythmic gymnast representing a unified Germany to win a world medal. At the 2023 edition in Valencia, Spain, Varfolomeev won all five available individual gold medals, becoming the first rhythmic gymnast to do so since Evgeniya Kanaeva in 2009 and the fourth to ever do so, after Bianka Panova, Oksana Kostina and Kanaeva. It was the first world all-around title for a German rhythmic gymnast in almost 50 years, after Carmen Rischer won the 1975 World Championships.
At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Varfolomeev was the only competitor with multiple scores over 36 points as she became the first German rhythmic gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal and the first rhythmic gymnast to win a medal for Germany since Regina Weber, who at the time had won a bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
GERMAN AWARD On her 18th birthday, on 4 November 2024, Daria Vartolomeev was awarded the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf), Germany's highest award for sporting achievement, by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
She spent the first part of the 2025 season balancing elite-level training and school. She wrapped up her high school diploma in June before completely focusing on her sport and the world championships in Brazil.
2025 SEASON At the European Championships in June, for which Varfolomeev said she was just 40 percent prepared, she claimed the bronze medal in the all-around final and took 4th place in the team competition. In the apparatus finals, she placed fifth with hoop and won gold with her ribbon routine. Although she said “not everything went according to plan”, she was still happy with her performance.
Before the World Championships in Rio, she won every gold medal in the all-around and all apparatus finals at the 2025 German National Championships.
Then she stole the show in Rio, in front of passionate Brazilian fans, defending her all-around world title with a commanding display that attracted high scores from the judges. She scored 121.900 in the all-around final, 2.6 points over silver medallist Stiliana Nikolova, while Sofia Raffaeli took the bronze medal with a score of 117.950. The German gymnast then collected gold medals in ball, clubs and ribbon to solidify her status as the reigning queen of rhythmic gymnastics.
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