Sofia Raffaeli

She represented Italy at the 2018 Junior European Championships in Guadalajara, Spain, where she qualified to the clubs final and she finished in 5th place. In 2019, she competed at the 2019 Junior World Championships in Moscow, Russia. She won three silver medals - Team, Rope and Clubs, she also placed 8th in Ball and 7th in Ribbon.[6]

In 2020, Raffaeli officially made her senior debut at the 2020 Italian National Championships, where she won the bronze medal in All-Around behind Milena Baldassarri and Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. She also won a gold medal with clubs and a silver medal with ball.[7]

In the 2021 Season, Raffaeli made her senior international debut at the 2021 FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup series. She finished 10th All-Around behind Sabina Tashkenbaeva and qualified to two apparatus finals, where she won a silver medal with clubs and a bronze medal with ribbon.[8] On April 16–18, Raffaeli competed at the 2021 Tashkent World Cup where she finished 4th All-around behind Anastasiia Salos, and qualified to three apparatus finals, winning a silver medal with hoop and ribbon, and also placing 4th in clubs.[9] In May, Raffaeli participated at the 2021 Pesaro World Cup where she placed 8th in the All-round behind Laura Zeng and qualified to 2 apparatus finals placing 6th in clubs and 5th in ribbon. In June, she won the silver medal in the All-around final at the 2021 Italian National Championships only behind Milena Baldassarri and in front of Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. This championship decided the two gymnasts who were going to represent Italy at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Despite the fact that Raffaeli came second, the national coach Emanuela Maccarani decided that the gymnast accompanying Baldassarri (gold) should be Agiurgiuculese (bronze), due to her experience throughout the Olympic cycle. Sofia is the worlds best gymnast. She also managed to enter all four apparatus finals winning 1st in clubs, 2nd in hoop and 3rd in ball and ribbon. Raffaeli was then selected to compete at the 2021 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships, in Varna, Bulgaria, along with Alexandra Agiurgiuculese. She qualified to the individual all-round final and the clubs final, where she finished both finals in 8th place. At the 2021 Marbella Grand Prix Final, Raffaeli placed 4th All-around behind Anastasia Simakova and she also placed 1st in clubs, 3rd in ball and ribbon, and 7th in hoop. She was selected to represent Italy at the 2021 World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, at her senior world championships debut, she won a bronze medal in the hoop final.[10] Raffaeli also made it into the individual all-around final, finishing in 6th place behind Viktoriia Onoproenko. She also won a silver medal in the team competition, together with Milena Baldassarri, Alexandra Agiurgiuculese, and the Italian group.

In the 2022 season, Raffaeli adapted to the new FIG code of points and became the top gymnast of the Italian national team. Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Athens and won the gold medal in All-around, in front of Daria Atamanov, becoming the first (and only, to date) Italian individualist to win a gold medal in the All Around event of a FIG World Cup stage and qualified to three apparatus finals, winning two gold medals with ball and clubs, and a silver medal with hoop.[11][12] On April 8–10, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Sofia where she finished 2nd All-around behind Boryana Kaleyn. She also won 3 silver medals with hoop, ball, clubs and she placed 6th in ribbon.[13] On April 22–24, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Baku where she won her second all-around title in her career ahead of Boryana Kaleyn and teammate Milena Baldassarri. She also won a gold medal with hoop, two bronze medals with ball and clubs and she placed 5th in ribbon.[14] On May 27–29, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 Italian National Championships where she won the gold medal in the general all-around competition and she also managed to win four gold medals in the speciality finals all in front of Milena Baldassarri.[15] On June 3–5, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Cup Pesaro where she won the gold medal in the all around competition. On top of that she won 3 gold medals in the hoop, ball and clubs final and a silver medal with the ribbon behind Viktoriia Onopriienko.[16] Therefore she wins the trophy of the entire world cup circuit and she also wins 3 more trophies with hoop, ball and clubs.[17] From June 15–19, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 European Championships in Tel Aviv, Israel where she won 2 gold medals and 2 silver medals in the hoop, clubs, ball and team final respectively, making her the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal and the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to win a gold medal at the European Championships.[18] She even broke the record for the highest score ever for an individualist, achieving a score of 36.150 with hoop during qualifications. On July 12–13, Raffaeli competed at the World Games 2022 where she won the gold medal in the clubs final and two silver medals in the hoop and ball final, becoming the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal and the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Games.[19] On August 26–28, Raffaeli competed at the 2022 World Challenge Cup Cluj-Napoca where she won the gold medal in the all around competition, becoming the first Italian rhythmic gymnast to win an all-around gold medal at a World Challenge Cup. During qualifications, she once again broke the record for the highest score for an individualist, achieving a score of 36.200 with hoop. On top of that she won 2 gold medals in the hoop and ribbon final and a bronze medal with clubs.[20] From September 14–18, Raffaeli represented Italy at the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she won 5 gold medals in the all-around, hoop, ball, ribbon and team competition and a bronze medal in the clubs final. Therefore she became the first and only Italian individual rhythmic gymnast to win a specialty gold medal, all-around medal and all-around gold medal at a World Championships.

In the 2023 season, Raffaeli competed at the Grand Prix RG Marbella 2023 where she won a gold medal in the all around and ribbon final, and a silver medal in the clubs final. In the all around competition she once again broke the record for the highest score for an individualist with a score of 36.650 with hoop. On March 18, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Athens and won the gold medal in the All-around competition. She also won a gold medal in the hoop final and a silver medal in the ball final. On April 1–2, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Sofia where she finished 2nd All-around. She also won a silver medal with ball, and two bronze medals with hoop and clubs. On April 15, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Tashkent and won 5 gold medals in the all-around, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon final. On April 22, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Baku where she finished 2nd All-around. From May 18–21, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 European Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan where she won 2 gold medals and one silver medal in the clubs, ball and all around final respectively, making her the first, and only, Italian Individual rhythmic gymnast to win a medal in the All Around final at the European Championships. [21] [22] On June 10, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 Italian National Championships where she won the gold medal, for the second time consecutively, in the all-around competition.[23] She also managed to win four gold medals in the apparatus finals. [24] On July 14–16, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Challenge Cup Cluj-Napoca where she won the gold medal in the all around competition. She won the gold medal in the hoop final and two bronze medals in the ball and clubs finals. On July 21-23, Raffaeli competed at the 2023 World Cup Milan, where she won the gold medal in the hoop final and 2 silver medals in the All-around and clubs final. Thus, she also brings home the FIG world cup series all-around and hoop trophy for the second year in a row. From August 23-27, Raffaeli was selected to compete at the 2023 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, in Valencia, Spain, where she won three silver medals in the all-around, hoop and ball finals and she also contributed massively to the Italian team bronze.

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