Israeli gymnast breaks world record to win gold

Israeli gymnast Linoy Ashram has written her name into the history books by producing a record-breaking performance on her way to winning gold at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup in Minsk, Belarus.

The 19-year-old from Tel Aviv produced a best-ever score of 20.65 in the clubs event, beating the previous high of 20.05, which was set by 2018 European Championships winner Russian Dina Averina.

She followed that triumph up 24 hours later, by winning bronze in the ball discipline, to go along with the gold she also won in the all-round phase of the competition, which sees contestants perform in routines using a hoop, clubs, ball and ribbon.

The Israeli Olympic Committee later confirmed that as Ashram also won gold at the Challenge Cup competition in Spain in May, she becomes the first person in the history of the competition to win two gold medals in one season.

Something of a record breaker for her country, she became the first Israeli rhythmic gymnast to win an all-around medal at the World Championships in 2017, as well as the first to win gold at the Grand Prix Final, at a World Cup series apparatus final and the gold in the all-around in the World Cup series – the latter earlier this year at the 2018 Guadalajara World Cup.