At the final day of the 30^th European Championships of Rhythmic Gymnastics the elite's groups were in the focus of interest.
The performance with 10 clubs was won by the national group of Bulgaria (17,766), followed by Russia and Spain. Belarus had to settle with fource place only.

The combined exercise, 3 balls / 2 ribbons was dominated by Russia's girls with the most difficult performance (9.1) and also nearly perfect with the highest score of this final (18,366). The silver medal went to the host Azerbaijan (17,650) and Bulgaria won the bronze medal

E L I T E's GROUPS FINAL:  3 Balls / 2 Ribbons
________________________________________

The mixed routine with 3 balls / 2 ribbons was dominated by the Russian girls with a solid routine without mistakes. This routine was composed looking forward to the World Championships in Izmir (Turkey), so they use a very famous song of Tarkan named “Simarik” (“Kiss”) to try to get the attention of the local audience. It also helped in Azerbaijan, as they are close related to Turkey and their language is very similar. The final score for Russia was unreachable for all other teams, 18.266.
* GYM v i d e o ---: National Group of RUSSIA - 3 Balls / 2 Ribbons

* Youtube (934)
After a touching routine to a song of the national’s most famous singer, Muslim Magomaev, Azerbaijan managed to get the desired silver medal with a high score of 17.650, far more what they use to get in the previous competition. The Execution jury awarded them with 9.000 points, which is really remarkable. At the end of the performance, the competition hall exploded in cheers and shouting, while all the girls started to cry, knowing they had done a good job.
The bronze medal went to the Bulgarian group, after a really thrilling last moment, where they were competing directly with the fourth placed country, Israel. At the end, Bulgaria got 17.683 points and Israel 17.500.

3 Balls / 2 Ribbons: (1) Russia - (2) Azerbaijan - (3) Bulgaria

Israel uses to have their strong point in Execution, probably because their routines are not so difficult as the ones of their competitors, so the chances to make a mistake are less by far. This was the case: Israel had better E than Bulgaria, but the D score made the difference.
Spain placed fifth, with the same D score than Israel, but again with lower E, due to the same reasons explained before (17.400). The more difficult your routine is, the bigger the risk to have a failure.
Place six was for Italy, with a high D score but little mistakes and adjusts that made them get a low E score and reach only 17.283 points.
France did a fair job, not spectacular and with little execution problems, but enough to get 15.733 points and the seventh position in the final.

The unlucky team of the mixed routine’s final was Ukraine with a lot of big mistakes and finishing even with a ribbon out of the carpet. That brought with it a deduction of 0,600 in E, and a very low final score of 13.100 points. This time their “Sweet dreams” became sadly more a nightmare for them…

   ►► Detailed Final results