Darja Varfolomeev

Darja Varfolomeev (Да́рья Дми́триевна Варфоломе́ева; born 4 November 2006) is a German rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2023 World all-around gold medalist and the 2022 World all-around silver medalist. In 2024 she became the 2024 European all-around bronze medalist. At the national level, she is a two-time national All-Around champion (in 2022 and 2023) as well 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 originally from Germany. She started rhythmic gymnastics at a young age thanks to her mother, a former rhythmic gymnast. Varfolomeev moved from Russia to Germany in 2019 without her parents, who would follow three years later, to be coached by Olympic silver medalist Yulia Raskina.

Varfolomeev 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.

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.

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 as well as two silver medals in the ball and ribbon finals, and she placed 4th with clubs. On May 20–22, she competed at World Challenge Cup 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 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 only rhythmic gymnast to do so after Evgeniya 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
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 and 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 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 also 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.

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.

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