The 26th European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships took place in Bremen, Germany, from 16 to 18 April 2010. The programme combined a senior individual all-around with senior group events and a junior team and apparatus competition.
A Russian sweep
Bremen 2010 is remembered for the extent of Russia’s dominance. Evgenia Kanaeva won the senior individual all-around. Russia won the group all-around and both group apparatus finals, 5 hoops and 3 ribbons + 2 ropes.
The junior titles followed the same pattern. Russia won the junior team event, and the four apparatus finals were shared by two Russian juniors: Alexandra Merkulova on rope and ball, and Valeria Tkachenko on hoop and clubs.
Kanaeva’s era
Kanaeva was in the middle of one of the most successful runs in the history of the discipline. Between the Beijing and London Olympics she won almost every all-around title available, and Bremen was one more stop on that route.
Points worth noting
– A clean sweep is rare even for the strongest nation; it needs depth in individual, group and junior programmes at once. – Junior groups and individuals are separate pipelines, and in 2010 both were working at full capacity in Russia. – Germany had hosted the rhythmic Europeans before, in Riesa in 2003.
Related
The previous edition was in Baku in 2009, and the next one in Minsk in 2011.
