Aleksandra Soldatova's victories at the World Cup in Lisbon!

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The World Cup in Lisbon that was held on March 17-20 was an extreme success for a Russian rhythmic gymnast, Aleksandra Soldatova.

Aleksandra Soldatova showed her potential and all professional skills performing with her teammates, Yana Kudryavtseva and Margarita Mamun, at the World Championships in Stuttgart in 2015. However, she didn’t compete in the All-around competition that time. This year she has made up for it, having achieved several All-around victories in her first three competitions of 2016.

At the World Cup in Lisbon Soldatova got the highest scores with every apparatus. She managed to score nearly two points more at the overall competition than the Ukranian rhythmic gymnast, Ganna Rizatdinova. Rizatdinova’s low scores didn’t let her to compete equally with Soldatova. The Israel’s star Neta Rivkin was only one point ahead of the South Korea’s Son Yeon Jae. Thus, Rivkin got the bronze medal.

Rizatdinova, considered a top contender for a medal in Rio, split the event titles with Soldatova. Rizatdinova redeemed herself by winning the Ribbon, which posed a problem for the 22-year-old from Semferopol in the All-around competition, as well as the Clubs, where she earned her highest score of the weekend (18.600), while Hoop and Ball belonged to Soldatova, who added supplementary bronzes with the Ribbon and Clubs.

Son, who became the first gymnast from South Korea ever to win a World Cup All-around title in Lisbon in 2014, continued her medal march, earning silvers with the Ball and Clubs and bronze with the Hoop. In the All-around competition, however, she was disappointed, finishing fourth after a rather low 17.450 with the Ribbon.

The Russian reign continued in Group competition, with the reigning World All-around champion Group turning in top scores with both the 5 Ribbons and Hoops and Clubs to easily take the Group title over challengers Israel and Spain.

Italy, the reigning World champions with the Ribbons and silver medalists with the Hoops/Clubs, finished a distant fifth in the All-around competition and did not place in either event final.