Boryana Kaleyn Faces New Challenges Following Her Amazing European Championship Performance

The new leader of the Bulgarian team, Boryana Kaleyn, took two bronze medals with ball and ribbon at the EC in Baku. In her interviews for Bulgarian TV, she shared that the week following the championship will be very challenging for her because her "matura," exams, which take place during the last year of high school, are coming up.

She has been studying for these exams while also preparing for a very strong performance at the EC. A high school senior, Boryana placed ahead of gymnasts who are 6-7 years older and much more experienced than her, including her teammate,  the Olympian Vladinova, who is 25.

Boryana truly is one of the most hard-working and determined athletes in Bulgaria and I am sure she will shine in everything she does, from school to sports, to her personal hobbies and aspirations.

We are fortunate to have her on a team that really needs new ideas and originality in order to defend a proud and beautiful gymnastics tradition. Go Boryana!

Boryana Kaleyn's Modern Style 2017 Routines

Boryana Kaleyn has already built a reputation as one of the most promising young Bulgarian gymnasts. As a junior, Boryana won the bronze with ball at the Junior European Championship in 2014. Needless to say, Boryana's dream is to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Last year Boryana already showed 3 new routines. She has worked on mastering new skills as she is now in action with the senior gymnasts. Her coaches have decided to use music with lyrics for 2 routines, which is a  bold choice. But the changes to her style and the distinct music with lyrics may be happening too fast. I agree with some of the Spanish fans comments in YouTube which say that sometimes music with lyrics may feel more appropriate for a gala, rather than a competition routine.

Sometimes the unusual music will somewhat distract the judges from the difficulty and the purity of the elements performed and, may, in some sense, take away from the gymnast's personal presence.

Still, the routines are interesting and "catchy" because of more than just the catches! So I am posting them below for more fans to see and hope Boryana will shine in 2017.


ball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVodn1gHsxw
hoop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzV8BuMyi3Q
ribbon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCkuu-rOXWA