Pigniczki was born on 23 January 2000 in Budapest. Her mother is a psychologist and her father was a table tennis player who represented Hungary at international competitions.[2] Her grandfather is László Pigniczki, a World silver medalist in table tennis.[3] She began rhythmic gymnastics when she was five years old.[4] She graduated with a master's degree in rhythmic gymnastics coaching from the Hungarian University of Sports Science in 2023 and has been studying for a psychology degree at Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary since 2022.[5] She resides in Budapest.
Career
Pigniczki joined the Hungarian national team when she was twelve.[6]
Pigniczki competed at the 2017 World Championships, where she finished 32nd in the qualification round with a total score of 55.950.[7]
In early 2022, she broke her leg when she stepped on her ball during training and had to take six weeks off from training.[17] In June, she competed at the European Championships in Tel Aviv despite not having much time to train beforehand due to her injury. In the qualifying round, she was 19th, and she rose to 14th in the all-around final, which she said was due to being much less nervous during the final.[18] On August 28, 2022, Picniczki became the first Hungarian gymnast to win a World Cup medal by winning bronze with ribbon in Cluj-Napoca.[19]
The next month, at the World Championships, she qualified to the all-around final and ended in 9th place. With this placement, she tied for best placement by a Hungarian gymnast at the World Championships; Andrea Sinkó had previously also placed 9th at the 1987 World Championships.[20] She also qualified for the ribbon final, making her the first Hungarian gymnast to qualify for an apparatus final in 25 years after Viktória Fráter did so in 1997. However, she came in 8th place in the final after she had a knot in her ribbon and had to take the spare apparatus.[21]
Pigniczki performing a turn at the 2024 Sofia World Cup
The 2023 European Championships were Picniczki's tenth.[6] She came in 16th in the all-around final.[22] In the apparatus finals, she was 5th with ball and 7th with hoop.[23] She was also awarded the Shooting Star award for her continuous improvement over her years of competing.[6]
In August, she competed at the Summer Universiade in Chengdu. She won gold in the all-around and with hoop, making her the first rhythmic gymnast from her country to win gold at that competition.[24] In August of the same year she won bronze with hoop at the World Championships in Valencia, the first medal for Hungary since Maria Patocska in 1973.[25][26] Pignickzi also placed high enough in the qualification round to win a berth for Hungary at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[27]
In 2024, Pigniczki competed at the World Cup in Sofia, where she placed 20th.[28] She next competed at the World Cup in Tashkent. There she was 5th in the all-around and qualified to three event finals: ball and ribbon, both of which she placed 6th in, and hoop, where she was 4th.[29] At the European Championships, she placed 8th, her best-ever placement at that competition.[30] In the ball final, she won a silver medal with a personal best score. It was the first time a gymnast representing Hungary had won an individual medal at the European Championships.[31]
In August, she competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics. In the qualification round, she came in twelfth and did not advance to the final. It was the best result for a Hungarian rhythmic gymnast since the 1988 Summer Olympics. She said that she was overall satisfied with her performance and that she was glad to have qualified for two Olympics.[32]
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coordinated. Rhythmic gymnastics is governed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), which first recognized it as a sport in 1963. It became an Olympic sport in 1984 with an individual all-around event. The group all-around competition was added to the Olympics in 1996. At the international level, rhythmic gymnastics is a women-only sport. The most prestigious competitions, besides the Olympic Games, are the World Championships, World Games, European Championships, European Games, the World Cup Series and the Grand Prix Series. Gymnasts are judged on their artistry, execution of skills, and difficulty of skills, for which they gain points. They perform leaps, balances, and rotations along with handling the apparatus.
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