In 2019 rhythmic gymnastics held its first Junior World Championships, in Moscow. Before then, junior gymnasts' biggest international stages were continental championships and invitational tournaments. The new event gave them a world title to aim for, and Russia's juniors made the most of competing at home.
Why a junior world championship?
The FIG introduced junior world championships in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics in 2019. The idea was to give the best juniors a high-level global competition without pushing them into senior events too early. For federations it also became a way to compare development programmes across continents.
Russia's strength at youth level
Russia had the deepest junior rhythmic system in the world at the time, with talent identification starting very early and a central training structure built around the national team. Competing in Moscow, the Russian juniors were expected to dominate, and they did.
Other nations to note
Junior world championships are valuable precisely because they reveal programmes outside the usual top group. Italy, Israel, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus and Japan all had juniors who went on to senior careers, and several of the gymnasts in Moscow later appeared at senior World Championships.
How junior rhythmic gymnastics differs from senior
- Juniors use a slightly different set of apparatus from seniors, with rope typically part of the junior programme. - Difficulty limits are adapted to the age group. - Group routines for juniors still involve five gymnasts and exchanges of apparatus.
Looking back
The first Junior Worlds have since become a regular part of the calendar. Looking back at 2019, the event marked a change in how the sport thinks about youth development: a global benchmark at junior level, rather than only a continental one.
See our rhythmic apparatus guide and the Rhythmic Gymnastics discipline page.
