Article by David Istrate – Published on Sunday, 31 May 2026, 22:55 / Updated on Sunday, 31 May 2026 22:57
Alexia Blănaru (16 years old) won the gold medal in the beam final of the World Challenge Cup Koper. Daria Tanasă placed 4th, while Ariana Cotu finished 4th in the parallel bars.
Between May 28-31, the Romanian delegation was present in Koper, in Slovenia, at the third stage of the World Challenge Cup series, an international gymnastics competition ratified by the International Gymnastics Federation.
Alexia Blănaru brought the only medal of the Romanian delegation at the World Cup Challenge Koper
Alexia Blănaru qualified in two individual finals, beam and vault, Daria Tanasă qualified in the beam final, and Ariana Cotu competed in parallel bars.
After the 4 performances in the World Challenge Cup Kober finals, Romania got a gold medal, through Alexia Blănaru, who had a score of 13.330 on beam. On vault, she had 12.550 points, placing her in 8th place.
Tanasă (12,400 points) placed 4th on beam, and Cotu, with 12,133 points, was 4th on parallel bars.
In the beam final, Blănaru was followed by the Croatian Tina Zelcic (13.233 points) and the British Alia Neve Leat (13.100 points). So, an extremely balanced race.
The jumping final was won by Teja Belak (Slovenia), the parallel bars final was won by the Hungarian Zsofia Kovacs, and the Jewish Lihie Raz triumphed on the floor.
In addition to the 3 previously mentioned gymnasts, the Romanian team also included Iris Iordache. They were accompanied in Slovenia by coach Nicolae Forminte.
The next stage of the World Challenge Cup will be in September 18-20in Szombathely, Hungary. Then the competition will end in September 26-27in Paris.
In May, two more stages of the World Challenge Cup series were held: on May 7-10, in Varna, and on May 21-24, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
