Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix Series

The Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix Series is an annual competition of tournaments in rhythmic gymnastics open to athletes from all over the globe. The series consists of a number of stages, culminating in the final event, usually referred to as Grand Prix Final. The Grand Prix circuit usually hosts some of the most watched yearly events in rhythmic gymnastics, frequently gathering some of the best gymnasts in the world.^[1] The Grand Prix Series should not be confused with the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series, which is a competition officially organized by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG).^[2]

Grand Prix Series

The Grand Prix Series was established in 1994. The then vice-president of the International Gymnastics Federation, Hans-Jürgen Zacharias, came up with the idea of a series of events held in different cities, and the rules were drafted in the course of many meetings with the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG).^[3] The first Grand Prix Series was organised in the Netherlands, Ukraine, France, Germany and Austria, with the Grand Prix Final event being held in Innsbruck.^[4] The Grand Prix Series focuses on individual rhythmic gymnastics; winners of the overall series were crowned for their all-around performances from 1994 to 1997, and later in four apparatus, each year, since 1998 up to the present edition, in 2017. Grand Prix stages have also hosted a number of rhythmic gymnastics group events, being considered part of the official Grand Prix Series. However, even some Grand Prix Final events had had group events, these were not officially considered part of the Grand Prix Final event, since this event crowns only the overall winners of the individual events. As of 2016, gymnasts from countries in Europe and Asia, including Russia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, have won medals at the Grand Prix Final tournament. Gymnasts from countries in the Americas, such as Brazil and the United States, have won medals at the Grand Prix stages.^[5][6]

Grand Prix Final

The final stage of the event, also commonly referred to as Grand Prix Final, is considered a prestigious event in which usually only the best ranked gymnasts from previous stages are allowed to compete. Except for the 1994 edition, in which only the all-around event was staged, in all the other Grand Prix Final tournaments the all-around competitions served as qualifications for the finals by apparatus.^[7]

Year	Event	Location
1994	Vienna Grand Prix	Vienna [8]
1995	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [9]
1996	Vienna Grand Prix	Vienna [10]
1997	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [11]
1998	Grand Prix Linz	Linz [12]
1999	Grand Prix Korneuburg	Korneuburg [13]
2000	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [7]
2001	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [14]
2002	Grand Prix Innsbruck	Innsbruck [15]
2003	Grand Prix Innsbruck	Innsbruck [16]
2004	Alfred Vogel Grand Prix	Deventer [17]
2005	Berlin Masters	Berlin [18]
2006	Berlin Masters	Berlin [19]
2007	Grand Prix Innsbruck	Innsbruck [20]
2008	Grand Prix Slovakia	Bratislava [21]
2009	Berlin Masters	Berlin [22]
2010	Berlin Masters	Berlin [23]
2011	Brno Grand Prix	Brno [24]
2012	Brno Grand Prix	Brno [25]
2013	Berlin Masters	Berlin [26]
2014	Grand Prix Innsbruck	Innsbruck [27]
2015	Brno Grand Prix	Brno [28]
2016	Grand Prix Eilat	Eilat [29]
2017	Grand Prix Eilat	Eilat [30]
2018	Grand Prix Eilat	Eilat [31]

Grand Prix Final medalists

Individual all-around

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1994[32]	Vienna, Austria	Kateryna Serebrianska	Olena Vitrychenko	Amina Zaripova
1995[33]	Deventer, Netherlands	Kateryna Serebrianska	Olena Vitrychenko	Yana Batyrshina Olga Gontar
1996[34]	Vienna, Austria	Yana Batyrshina Kateryna Serebrianska	N/A	Tatiana Ogrizko
1997[35]	Deventer, Netherlands	Natalia Lipkovskaya	Valeria Vatkina	Edita Schaufler
1998[36]	Linz, Austria	Alina Kabaeva	Olena Vitrychenko	Yulia Raskina
1999	Korneuburg, Austria	Yulia Raskina	Alina Kabaeva	Yulia Barsukova
2000	Deventer, Netherlands	Yulia Barsukova	Irina Tchachina	Tamara Yerofeeva
2001 [37]	Deventer, Netherlands	Alina Kabaeva	Laysan Utiasheva	Elena Tkachenko
2002	Innsbruck, Austria	Tamara Yerofeeva	Anna Bessonova	Laysan Utiasheva
2003	Innsbruck, Austria	Anna Bessonova	Vera Sessina	Natalia Godunko
2004 [38]	Deventer, Netherlands	Natalia Godunko	Olga Kapranova	Anna Bessonova
2005 [39]	Berlin, Germany	Vera Sessina	Olga Kapranova	Natalia Godunko
2006	Berlin, Germany	Vera Sessina	Olga Kapranova	Inna Zhukova
2007	Innsbruck, Austria	Olga Kapranova	Vera Sessina	Aliya Garayeva
2008	Bratislava, Slovakia	Olga Kapranova	Vera Sessina	Irina Risenzon
2009	Berlin, Germany	Evgenia Kanaeva	Daria Kondakova	Melitina Staniouta
2010	Berlin, Germany	Evgenia Kanaeva	Daria Kondakova	Daria Dmitrieva
2011	Brno, Czech Republic	Evgenia Kanaeva	Daria Dmitrieva	Aliya Garayeva
2012	Brno, Czech Republic	Daria Dmitrieva	Arina Charopa	Monika Mickova
2013	Berlin, Germany	Margarita Mamun	Maria Titova	Sylvia Miteva
2014	Innsbruck, Austria	Margarita Mamun	Neta Rivkin	Neviana Vladinova
2015	Brno, Czech Republic	Margarita Mamun	Linoy Ashram	Elena Bolotina
2016	Eilat, Israel	Aleksandra Soldatova	Dina Averina	Arina Averina
2017	Eilat, Israel	Yulia Bravikova	Julia Evchik	Kateryna Lutsenko

All-time medal table

Note

Though group events have been competed at Grand Prix Final events, only medals earned by individual rhythmic gymnasts are officially considered Grand Prix medals.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia (RUS)	89	52	19	160
2	Ukraine (UKR)	20	19	25	64
3	Belarus (BLR)	3	20	27	50
4	Bulgaria (BUL)	2	3	6	11
5	Israel (ISR)	1	7	11	19
6	Uzbekistan (UZB)	1	2	2	5
7	Azerbaijan (AZE)	0	2	9	11
8	Czech Republic (CZE)	0	1	2	3
9	Georgia (GEO)	0	1	1	2
10	Austria (AUT)	0	0	3	3
11	Germany (GER)	0	0	1	1
	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	0	1	1
	Poland (POL)	0	0	1	1
Totals (13 nations)		116	107	108	331

See also

• FIG World Cup Final
• Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup

References