Fanni Pigniczki

Fanni Pigniczki (born 23 January 2000) is a Hungarian rhythmic gymnast.

Personal life
Pigniczki was born on 23 January 2000 in Budapest. Her mother is a psychologist and her father was a table tennis player who represented Hungary at international competitions. Her grandfather is László Pigniczki, a World silver medalist in table tennis. She began rhythmic gymnastics when she was five years old. She graduated with a master's degree in rhythmic gymnastics coaching from the Hungarian University of Sports Science in 2023 and has been studying for a psychology degree at Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary since 2022. She resides in Budapest.

Career
Pigniczki joined the Hungarian national team when she was twelve.

Pigniczki competed at the 2017 World Championships, where she finished 32nd in the qualification round with a total score of 55.950.

In 2018, she finished 16th in the all-around at the European Championships with a score of 64.220. She also competed at the 2018 World Championships and finished 58th in the qualification round.

She competed for Hungary at the 2019 European Games and came in 12th in the all-around final. At the 2019 World Championships, she competed alongside Blanka Boldizsar, Anna Juhasz, and Emma Juhasz, and they finished 20th as a team. Pigniczki qualified for the all-around final, where she finished 23rd with a score of 75.500.

She competed at the 2020 European Championships and ended in 11th place in the all-around.

At the 2021 European Championships, Pigniczki qualified to the 2020 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Hungarian rhythmic gymnast to qualify to an Olympic Games since Viktória Fráter in 2000. At the Olympics, she finished twentieth in the qualification round for the individual all-around.

In early 2022, she broke her leg when she stepped on her ball during training and had to take six weeks off from training. In June, she competed at the European Championships in Tel Aviv despite not having much time to train beforehand due to her injury. In the qualifying round, she was 19th, and she rose to 14th in the all-around final, which she said was due to being much less nervous during the final. On August 28, 2022, Picniczki became the first Hungarian gymnast to win a World Cup medal by winning bronze with ribbon in Cluj-Napoca.

The next month, at the World Championships, she qualified to the all-around final and ended in 9th place. With this placement, she tied for best placement by a Hungarian gymnast at the World Championships; Andrea Sinkó had previously also placed 9th at the 1987 World Championships. She also qualified for the ribbon final, making her the first Hungarian gymnast to qualify for an apparatus final in 25 years after Viktória Fráter did so in 1997. However, she came in 8th place in the final after she had a knot in her ribbon and had to take the spare apparatus. The 2023 European Championships were Picniczki's tenth. She came in 16th in the all-around final. In the apparatus finals, she was 5th with ball and 7th with hoop. She was also awarded the Shooting Star award for her continuous improvement over her years of competing.

In August, she competed at the Summer Universiade in Chengdu. She won gold in the all-around and with hoop, making her the first rhythmic gymnast from her country to win gold at that competition. In August of the same year she won bronze with hoop at the World Championships in Valencia, the first medal for Hungary since Maria Patocska in 1973. Pignickzi also placed high enough in the qualification round to win a berth for Hungary at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

In 2024, Pigniczki competed at the World Cup in Sofia, where she placed 20th. She next competed at the World Cup in Tashkent. There she was 5th in the all-around and qualified to three event finals: ball and ribbon, both of which she placed 6th in, and hoop, where she was 4th. At the European Championships, she placed 8th, her best-ever placement at that competition. In the ball final, she won a silver medal with a personal best score. It was the first time a gymnast representing Hungary had won an individual medal at the European Championships.

Achievements

 * First Hungarian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in an individual apparatus final at the FIG World Cup series.
 * First Hungarian rhythmic gymnast to win a silver medal in an individual apparatus final at the FIG World Cup series.
 * First Hungarian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in an individual apparatus final at the World Games.
 * First Hungarian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in an individual apparatus final at the Summer University Games.
 * First Hungarian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the World Championships since 1973.
 * First Hungarian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the European Championships.