MILAN From mistake to triumph. The disappointment of the penultimate place in the hoop was immediately canceled out by the gold in the ribbon. And interspersed with two other silver medals, for ribbon and clubs. The last day of the World Cup in Milan, the final act of the rhythmic gymnastics season, saw Sofia Raffaeli, standard-bearer of Fabriano Gymnastics, among the protagonists, who achieved a magical trio of medals after the all-around silver won on Saturday. An excellent business card in view of the appointment at the Paris Olympics where the twenty-year-old from Chiaravalle will once again have to compete with the athletes who competed with her for the podium during the days in Milan.
The affection
Every single test of Raffaeli was accompanied by the incessant support of the Unipol Forum, ready to cheer her up after the two errors in the initial test on the hoop and then embrace her in a blaze of chants, flags and banners at the moment of the award ceremony of the individual test on the ribbon where Raffaeli, supported on the platform by her friend and colleague Milena Baldassarri, won gold and managed to keep all the competitors at a distance. Including the German Darja Varfolomeev (gold in the all-around) who challenged the gymnast from the Marche for the final victory in every single event, managing to place the decisive reach on the clubs and the ball. While the hoop gold went to the Chinese Wang Zilu. The circle itself had opened the poker of the specialty finals. A tool that betrayed Raffaeli, who suffered a loss on a risk and another inaccuracy later in the exercise. However, it concluded with a great experience, acclaimed by the public at the Unipol Forum in Milan. Time to reset and Raffaeli began a completely different journey. On the platform she presented herself focused and determined, performing an exciting exercise on the ball, to the tune of Bella ci slept, practically perfect from start to finish. She was beaten by just 0.300 in the final score by Germany’s Varfolomeev. Which was also repeated at the clubs where however another masterful interpretation came from the gymnast from Fabriano who kept the audience in suspense. A new silver that didn’t become gold by another .250 margin in the final score. But no one managed to do better than Raffaeli in the final test on the tape. A fantastic performance underlined by the ovation of the ecstatic audience and ended in the emotional embrace of her coach Claudia Mancinelli. Sofia Raffaeli obtained 33.950 from the jury, trailing her German rival by more than one point. And now? «There are the Olympics – the 20-year-old Chiaravalle had underlined in recent days – the most important competition, which comes after these three years which seemed very long, but which went by very quickly».
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