Israel’s Ashram sets world record in rhythmic gymnastics, grabs gold
The gymnast also won two medals at the 2017 World Games, taking a silver in the clubs and a bronze in the hoop.
By JERUSALEM POST SPORTS STAFFUpdated: AUGUST 20, 2018 04:35ISRAELI RHYTMIC GYMNAST Linoy Ashram has been piling up medals in 2018(photo credit: AMIT SHIESEL / COURTESY OLYMPIC COMMITTEE OF ISRAEL)
Israeli rhythmic gymnast Linoy Ashram captured her second and third medals of the weekend on Sunday at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup Championship in Minsk, Belarus.Her final-round score of 20.650 in the clubs event was good enough for first place, while earlier in the day she took the bronze medal in the ball discipline and finished sixth in the hoops competition.On Saturday, the 19-year-old Israeli set a new world record with a score of 20.65 points in the clubs even, the best recorded result since the rules were changed two years ago.Ashram also won the gold medal in the all-round phase of the competition, in which gymnasts perform routines using a hoop, clubs, ball and ribbon. The Israeli team finished in fifth place overall.In May, Ashram won Israel’s first-ever gold medal in World Challenge Cup competition, and now with her latest accomplishments she is the first athlete in the history of the Challenge Cup to win two allaround gold medals in one season.With the World Championships set to take place next month in Sofia, Bulgaria, Ashram has her sights set on more hardware, following up third-place finishes in 2017 in the all-around and ribbon competitions.The gymnast also won two medals at the 2017 World Games, taking a silver in the clubs and a bronze in the hoop. Ashram also took two medals at the 2017 European Championships in Budapest, finishing third in the hoop and clubs finals.She dominated the 2016 Maccabiah’s rhythmic gymnastics competitions, sweeping all five gold medals.With her ultimate goal of competing and medaling for Israel at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Ashram has been in scorching form in 2018, with 16 overall medals in various preliminary rounds for the worlds.www.israel21c.org contributed to this report.
