Boryana Kaleyn of Bulgaria won all-around gold while compatriot Stiliana Nikolova, right, settled for bronze ©AGF

Boryana Kaleyn of Bulgaria upgraded from her 2022 all-around silver to gold at the 2023 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships here.

The 22-year-old World Championships silver medallist put in a superb performance, topping the clubs and ribbon segment on her way to the title.

Kaleyn scored a total of 131.000 after 33.250, 33.100, 32.900 and 31.750 in the hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon events as she won her first European all-around gold.

Defending all-around world champion Sofia Raffaeli of Italy settled for silver with 129.550 overall.

However, she did better than Kaleyn with the hoop, scoring 33.800, before adding 31.900, 32.350 and 31.500 in the ball, clubs and ribbon routines.

Kaleyn's compatriot and four-time World Championships medallist Stiliana Nikolova, who won European all-around bronze in Tel Aviv last year, added one more medal of the same colour.

The 17-year-old was sensational with the hoop, outscoring Kaleyn and Raffaeli with 34.700.

She got 0.50 more points in the ball and looked on course to win the title.

But the Clubs segment saw her 32.300 before some mistakes in the ribbon routine cost her the title.

She scored 27.750 in the ribbon and amassed 129.500 for the last place on the podium.

After topping the clubs qualifier yesterday, Darja Varfolomeev of Germany scored 129.050 overall, missing out on the podium by 0.450 points.

Team and ball European champion from 2020, Polina Karika of Ukraine, completed the top five, with a score of 123.800.

Bulgarians underlined their dominance in Baku by winning the groups all-around event.

The Europeans were technically superior to their opponents, scoring 35.6000 in the five hoops and 32.450 in the three ribbons and two balls to total 68.050.

Israel was the next best team, bagging 67.300 for the silver medal.

While they matched Bulgaria with 35.600 in the five hoops, the three ribbons and two balls routine saw them score only 31.700.

Hosts Azerbaijan won the bronze medal with 65.400 points.

They scored 32.900 and 32.5000 in the five hoops and three ribbons and two balls, respectively.

Ukraine once again missed out on a medal, finishing fourth with 64.100 overall while fifth place went to the Italian team that scored 63.150.