Darja Varfolomeev

Darja Varfolomeev (; born 4 November 2006) is a Russian-born German rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2024 Olympic all-around and 2023 World all-around gold medalist and the 2022 World all-around silver medalist. She is a two-time (2024, 2025) European all-around bronze medalist. At the national level, she is a two-time national all-around champion (in 2022 and 2023) and a two-time all-around junior champion (in 2019 and 2021).

Personal life

Varfolomeev was born in Barnaul, Russia, to father Dmitry and mother Tatiana. Her grandfather is an ethnic German. She started rhythmic gymnastics at a young age after being brought to the gym by her mother, a former rhythmic gymnast.

Varfolomeev attended a training camp in Germany in 2018. She was asked to stay, and though her parents were uncertain, Varfolomeev said that she wanted to do so, which she later said "was the most difficult decision of my life, but also the greatest decision I made at the time". She moved to Germany in 2019 without her parents to be coached by Olympic silver medalist Yulia Raskina. Varfolomeev initially lived in a boarding school and was visited by her grandparents when they were able to do so. Her parents moved to Germany as well three years later.

She owns a chihuahua. Due to her training load ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, she reduced her schoolwork and delayed her graduation from secondary school.

She was criticized in Ukrainian media in 2024 for photos on her Instagram, some of which showed her competing in Russian-occupied Crimea in 2021, when she was 14, and one which showed a wooden map of the world apparently bought in Russia and depicting Ukrainian territories annexed in 2022 by Russia. The photos were removed a day later.

Career

Junior

At the first Junior World Championships in rhythmic gymnastics in Moscow in 2019, she placed 15th in the team event with Margarita Kolosov. She also placed 15th in qualifications for the clubs, which was the only apparatus she competed with.

Senior

2022 season: Senior debut and World silver all-around medal

She debuted in the senior category in 2022, at World Cup Tashkent, where she won the bronze medal in the all-around. She took another bronze medal in the hoop final and two silver medals in the ball and ribbon finals, and she placed 4th with clubs. On May 20–22, she competed at the World Challenge Cup in Pamplona, where she took 4th place in the all-around. She also won two gold medals in the ball and ribbon finals and was 4th place in the clubs final. Varfolomeev continued collecting medals at World Challenge Cup Portimão, where she won silver in the all-around behind Israeli Adi Asya Katz. She took three more medals in the apparatus finals - two gold with ball and clubs and one silver with hoop.

In June she competed at the European Championships in Tel Aviv, along with Margarita Kolosov, the senior group, and the two juniors Lada Pusch and Anna-Maria Shatokhin; she won two bronze medals in the ball and clubs finals. In late August she took part in the World Cup in Cluj-Napoca, where she was 6th in the all-around, 4th with ball and 4th with clubs.

Varfolomeev was also selected for the World Championships in Sofia along with Kolosov and the senior group. There she won gold in the clubs final, silver in the all-around, team category, and ball, as well as bronze with hoop.

2023 season: World all-around gold sweep

In 2023 she showed her clubs routine in the Italian clubs championship' first stage, where she competed for Motto Viareggio. Due to a foot operation in December 2022, Varfolomeev competed with only two apparatuses in the Fellbach-Schmiden Tournament, where she won gold in both the ball and clubs finals. She won one medal at the 2023 European Championships, the gold in ribbon.

At the 2023 World Championships, Varfolomeev won every gold medal available in the all-around and the four apparatus finals, making her the first rhythmic gymnast to do so since Evgeniya Kanaeva in 2009 and 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 nearly 50 years, after Carmen Rischer won the 1975 World Championships.

Afterward, she was a co-winner of the Piotr Nurowski Prize awarded by the European Olympic Committees to athletes under 18, along with Turkish swimmer Kuzey Tunçelli. During the off-season, she traveled to give master classes in Spain and Poland.

2024 season: Olympic champion

In March, Varfolomeev competed at the Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix stage in Marbella, where she won the all-around bronze medal and qualified for the hoop, clubs, and ribbon finals. In the hoop final, she won gold.

The next month, she competed at the World Cup in Baku. She won the all-around gold ahead of Elvira Krasnobaeva and Sofia Raffaeli, and she then went on to win three of the four event final golds as well in the hoop, ball, and ribbon finals. In the clubs final, she dropped her apparatus and came in third behind Raffaeli and Taisiia Onofriichuk. The week after, she competed at the next World Cup in Tashkent, where she once again won the all-around, this time ahead of Takhmina Ikromova and Boryana Kaleyn. In the apparatus finals, she won two more golds in clubs and ribbon, and silver in the other two finals, hoop and ball.

In May, she represented Germany at the 2024 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary. She won the bronze medal in the all-around final behind Stiliana Nikolova and Sofia Raffaeli. She also placed fourth in the team competition with fellow Germans Anastasia Simakova, Margarita Kolosov, and the German senior group. In the apparatus finals, Varfolomeev won a gold medal in ribbon and placed fourth in the ball final. She did not advance into the clubs final after finishing 10th in qualifications.

On June 6–7, she competed at the German national championships and won the silver medal in the all-around behind Margarita Kolosov. She had a drop during her hoop routine when the hoop hit a bar on the ceiling and at the end of the all-around, she was 0.3 point away from her teammate. The next day, during the event finals, she adjusted her routines for the ceiling of the venue and rebounded to win three of the four gold medals (hoop, clubs, and ribbon). She also won silver in the ball final behind Kolosov. Later in June, she competed at the World Cup in Milan. She won the all-around ahead of Sofia Raffaeli and Viktoriia Onopriienko and won three medals in the apparatus finals: gold with ball and clubs and silver with ribbon. In the hoop final, she dropped her apparatus and ended in fourth.

In August, she competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics. After dropping her hoop, she qualified for the final in second place behind Sofia Raffaeli. In the final, she was the only competitor with multiple scores above 36, and she won the competition, making her 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 won a bronze at the 1984 Summer Olympics. She said of her result, "It's difficult to say something right now. I'm really happy and I'm still not really believing it."

On November 4, her 18th birthday, she was awarded the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf), the highest sports award in Germany, by president Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Later in November, she competed in the final of the rhythmic gymnastics Bundesliga; she and Anna-Maria Shatokhin contributed the most points for their club, TSV Schmieden, which won the competition. Varfolomeev noted the size of the audience at the competition and said, "In most cases, we don't have such a full hall, which makes me even happier that so many are now interested in our sport".

2025 season

Varfolomeev spent the first part of the season balancing training, finishing her secondary education, and working to attain her driver's license, which she described as a stressful workload, though she also said, "I try to solve every problem with a smile."

She began her season in late February by competing for the Italian club Motto Viareggio during the first stage of the Italian Serie A1 club championship. She performed her clubs routine and received the highest score of the day, and Motto Viareggio won the competition. On April 18-20, she competed at Baku World Cup and took 4th place in the all-around. She failed to qualify for the hoop final, but she finished fifth in the ball final and took home gold medals in the clubs and ribbon finals. The week after, she competed at her next World Cup in Tashkent, where she won the all-around silver medal behind Takhmina Ikromova after a tiebreak; they both scored 112.25 points, but Ikromova had the higher execution score. Although she had issues with her apparatus during her qualifying hoop routine, she qualified to the ball, clubs, and ribbon apparatus finals and won gold in all three.

Ahead of the European Championships in June, Varfolomeev noted that she was still becoming used to her new routines and said that she was "maybe at 40 percent" in feeling confident with them. She won the bronze medal in the all-around final and took 4th place in the team competition with the German senior group, Anastasia Simakova and Lada Pusch. Of her performance, she noted that, "Not everything went according to plan today," but said she was happy to have won the bronze medal. In the apparatus finals, she placed fifth with hoop and won gold with her ribbon routine; she said that she was confident in the routine and that she was happy to have performed it as she did in training.

Achievements

* First German rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in an individual apparatus final at European Championships since 1980, making her the first German rhythmic gymnast to medal in an individual apparatus final at European Championships after the reunification of Germany.
* First German rhythmic gymnast to win two medals in individual apparatus finals at European Championships.
* First German rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in an individual apparatus final at World Championships since 1977, making her the first German rhythmic gymnast to medal at World Championships after the reunification of Germany.
* First German rhythmic gymnast to win a gold medal in an individual apparatus final at World Championships since 1975, making her the first German rhythmic gymnast to become a World Champion after the reunification of Germany.
* First German rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in an all-around final at World Championships since 1975, making her the first German rhythmic gymnast to achieve this after the reunification of Germany.
* First German rhythmic gymnast to win an Olympic gold medal.

Awards

* Piotr Nurowski Prize (2023)
* Runner-up in German Sportswoman of the Year (2023)
* Athlete of the Month (2023)
* German Sportswoman of the Year (2024)
* German Sportswoman of the Year of the state capital of Stuttgart (2024)
* Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (2024)
* Sport Bild-Award: Star of the Year (2024)
*Flatow Medaille (2025)

Detailed Olympic results

Routine music information

Competitive highlights

''(Team competitions in seniors are held only at the World Championships, Europeans and other Continental Games.)''

See also

* List of medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships

References

External links

*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varfolomeev, Darja
2006 births
Living people
German rhythmic gymnasts
People from Barnaul
Russian emigrants to Germany
Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships
Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships
21st-century German sportswomen
German people of Russian descent
Volga German people
Russian people of German descent
Sportspeople from Altai Krai
Gymnasts at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Olympic gymnasts for Germany
Olympic gold medalists for Germany
Olympic medalists in gymnastics
Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics