Alba Bautista closes her debut in the Rhythmic World Championships with a 17th place in the complete final

Italian Sofia Raffaeli hangs on to the gold, ahead of German Darja Varfolomeev and Bulgarian Stiliana Nikolova

MADRID, 17 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Spanish gymnast Alba Bautista has completed her participation in her first Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, which are held in Sofia (Bulgaria), with seventeenth place in the final of the general competition, a test that the Italian Sofia Raffaeli won.

Thus, the 18-year-old Italian closes a dream World Cup with her fifth metal, fourth gold, after becoming champion in hoop, ball and ribbon, and bronze in clubs. She is the first Italian to become world champion and the first non-Bulgarian or ex-Soviet world champion since 1975.

Raffaeli achieved a total score of 133,250 points, ahead of the German Darja Varfolomeev (132,450), who was silver, and the bronze of the Bulgarian Stiliana Nikolova (128,800).

For her part, the Spanish Alba Bautista finished the final seventeenth with a total score of 114.80 points, with the ball as the best exercise (30,400). It was her third final in her first World Cups after the ball (5th) and ribbon (7th).