Russian rhythmic gymnast
Ekaterina Olegovna Vedeneeva (Russian: Екатерина Олеговна Веденеева; Slovene: Jekaterina Olegovna Vedenejeva; born 23 June 1994)[1] is a Slovenian individual rhythmic gymnast (competing for Slovenia since 2018 having previously competed for Russia).[2]
She made her debut for Slovenia in August 2018 at the World Cup event in Kazan, Russian Federation.[2] On national level, she is a three-time (2019, 2021, 2022) Slovenian National All-around champion. In 2021, she became the first Slovenian rhythmic gymnast to compete at Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She is the first Slovenian rhythmic gymnast to win a medal at the European and World Championships, and first Slovenian gymnast of any discipline to win a medal in the history of The World Games.
Career
Her mother, Julia Vedeneeva, has coached rhythmic gymnastics and encouraged her to take up the sport.[3] She started training rhythmic gymnastics in her Irkutsk in Russia.
In 2015, Vedeneeva was selected to represent Russia together with Maria Titova at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea. She finished on 5th place in All-around competition, tied with Elizaveta Nazarenkova.[4] She qualified to finals with two apparatuses, placing 5th in Ball final with score 17.550 and 7th in Clubs final with score 17.250.[5]
2017-2021 Olympic cycle
In 2018, she chose to represent Slovenia.[6] On July 31,[7] she officially received her Slovenian citizenship. This gave her the opportunity to start competing at international competitions. In August, she competed at World Cup Kazan in Russia. Vedeneeva placed 8th in All-around and qualified to two apparatus finals, where she placed 5th with Hoop (18.950) and 7th with Ball (17.800). In September 2018, she competed at her first World Championships. She helped Slovenia to achieve their best result in the Team competition, placing 11th together with teammates Aleksandra Podgoršek and Anja Tomazin. She also placed 17th in All-Around Qualifications and qualified to the All-Around Final where she placed 13th, which was also the best result at that time for Slovenia.
In April 2019 she became the first Slovenian to earn a medal at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup, achieving a bronze in the ribbon final at the Tashkent World Cup.[8] At the 2019 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, in Baku, Azerbaijan, she qualified for the club final finishing in 7th place. That same year she became the first Slovenian to win a medal at the Rhythmic Gymnastics Grand Prix, gaining a silver medal in the ball final at the Holon Grand Prix in Israel.[9] At the 2019 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan she qualified to the Individual All-Around Final, where she placed 17th with total score of 78.650, just missing out on an Olympic berth (by one place).[10]
In 2020, she started the season at Grand Prix in Moscow, where she placed 6th in All-Around competition. The next day, she competed in all of the Apparatus Finals and won bronze medal in ribbon final with a score of 19.900. She represented Slovenia at the 2020 European Championships in Kyiv, Ukraine and finished on 13th place in the All-around competition.
In 2021, she started the season at Grand Prix in Moscow, where she placed 8th in the All-Around competition, qualified to all the apparatus finals and won a bronze medal in the ribbon final with score 22.050. During the 2021 World Cup series, Vedeneeva qualified for an Olympic berth as the highest ranked eligible gymnast that had not already qualified for the Olympics, in front of Uzbekistan's Sabina Tashkenbaeva and Japan's Chisaki Oiwa.[11] At the Moscow World Challenge Cup she won a bronze medal in the All-around competition - the first World Cup all-around medal for Slovenia. The following day she added 3 more bronze medals in ball, clubs and ribbon in the apparatus finals.
At the 2020 Olympic Games (delayed and held in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic), Vedeneeva finished sixteenth in the qualification round for the individual all-around final.[12]
In October 2021, she competed at the 2021 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, qualifying to the all-around final and finishing in 12th place. She also qualified for the ribbon final, achieving 7th place. It was the first time that a Slovenian gymnast has managed to advance to a world championship apparatus final.[13]
2022-2024 Olympic cycle
In June 2022, she won her third Slovenian National All-around title, almost 22 points ahead of silver medalist Brigita Krašovec.
Vedeneeva was the first Slovenian rhythmic gymnast to compete at a World Games at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, USA. She placed 4th in the Hoop and Ribbon finals, and took a historic bronze medal in the Clubs final.
On 14-18 September 2022, Vedeneeva competed at her fourth World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, qualifying to the ball, clubs and ribbon finals, placing 6th, 8th and 3rd respectively, thus winning the Ribbon bronze and her first World Championships medal and also the first medal for Slovenia at an Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships.[14][15] In the Individual All-around Qualifications she took 6th place and advanced to the Individual All-around Final, where she finished on 7th place, her best result to that date.
Vedeneeva began her 2023 season on 17 March appearing at the World Cup in Athens (finishing 7th in the all around final, 1st in the ribbon final and gaining a gold meal, 6th in clubs and 4th in ball). She also competed at the World Cups in Sofia (31 March - 2 April, 9th in the all around and 6th in ball); Tashkent (14-16 April, 3rd in ball, and 4th in the all-around, clubs, ribbon and hoop); Baku (21-23 April, 12th in the all around, 8th in clubs and 4th in ribbon); and Milan (21-23 July, 9th in the all around competition, 4th in ribbon and 7th in clubs).[16]
At the European Championships in May 2023, Vedeeneva finished 6th in the all around final, 4th ribbon, and 3rd clubs, gaining her (and Slovenia's) first European Championships Medal.[17]
In addition, she appeared at the World Challenge Cup in Cluj Napoca (14-16 July, finishing 9th in the all around and 5th in clubs).[18]
At the World Championships in August 2023, Vedeeneva she scored 97.550 in qualification, earning herself an Olympic spot and All Around Final place, and qualifying for the ball and hoop apparatus finals (where she finished 8th and 6th respectively). At the competition she changed her ball routine from music performed by Russian and Putin-ally Filipp Kirkorov to a song by the Ukrainian Mariya Chaykowskaya.[19] Vedeeneva also qualified to the ribbon final, beating the score of Italy's Raffaeli by 0.05 in the battle for 3rd place and thus defended her 2022 World Championship bronze medal. She finished 9th in the All Around final.[20]
Gymnastics technique
Vedeneeva is known for her routines which demonstrate a strong grounding in classical ballet technique, in particular for her well-executed pirouettes which are distinctively often performed a la seconde.[21][circular reference][22] Her signature moves in this position include pivots completed in arabesque, attitude and ring style. Vedeneeva has also expressed the challenges of incorporating enough apparatus difficulty elements in a routine to both preserve the artistic integrity of the sport and to accumulate enough marks to be competitive and fair in the new open-ended marking system which, she believes, preferences the former.[23]
Slovenia
Russia