The commencement of the Individual Women competition is just days away, and we anticipate many strong contenders fighting to become the new World Champion. Despite extreme disruptions to the athlete’s training and competition over the past 18 months, we can expect to see these incredible women bring their passion for the sport to the floor; showing that you can rise above any obstacle blocking your path.
With the retirement of Ekaterina Pykhtova, one of the favourites to stand on top after a consistent 2019 season, and the absence of current World Champion Riri Kitazume we see an abundance of new possibilities to take out the title in the IW competition.
On top of the Italian team since winning a bronze medal in 2018, Anna Bullo is one of the candidates to stand in the top 8. Bullo has proven her readiness at events prior to the World Championships with well executed and dynamic performances.
Bulgaria brings two experienced athletes to hit the floor in this category. Darina Pashova is sure to captivate the judges with her elegant and graceful, yet strong and powerful, movements whilst we can expect to see teammate Ana-Maria Stoilova show her unique, energetic and entertaining style of performance.
Daria Tikhonova is expected to present a strong and difficult routine to the judges in her senior World Championship debut. As the winner of AG2 in 2018 and AG1 in 2016, will we see Tikhonova awarded with a third gold IW medal? Her Russian teammate Tanya Konakova, the current European Champion, is a very experienced and consistent competitor who will be a direct rival to Tikhonova.
Ayşe Begüm from Turkey is another athlete we see with great potential to earn a spot in the final with her artistic and energetic Latin style routine. Madelina Cucu from Romainia will return to the stage after a long awaited come back to competition and we are very excited to see her performance.
Anastasiia Kurashvili from the Ukraine and Dora Akoshegyi from Hungary will make their senior debuts in the World Championships, after seeing Kurashvili take home the AG2 silver medal in 2018.
Belen Esterlich was also a strong competitor in the 2018 World Championships, only narrowly missing out on a podium finish. We expect she will impress the judges with a unique and emotive performance.
Representing our American continent, we look forward to seeing Thais Fernandez, the 2019 Panamerican Champion, in action. This athlete consistently improves her performance from one season to the next. Tamires Silva and Caroline Santiago will represent Brazil, Bianca Henriquez will represent Chile and we also welcome Jaylene Menjivar to the floor- the first USA senior competitor to participate in a World Championship since 2014.
These are just a few of many athletes that we expect to see perform brilliantly and we acknowledge the hard work from all athletes and coaches around the world. We know the high energy levels and excitement on the competition floor will be welcomed by all judges and spectators- even through your computer screen for those streaming at home! On behalf of MeloGym we wish all competitors the best of luck and hope that you enjoy your time to shine.