Helena Ripken
German rhythmic gymnast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Helena Ripken (born 18 July 2006) is a German rhythmic gymnast.[1] She represents Germany as part of the senior group.
| Helena Ripken | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 18 July 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Rhythmic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country represented |  Germany (2022-) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Berliner TSC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Head coach | Camilla Pfeffer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assistant coach | Camilla Patriarca | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former coach | Anzhelika Lepekha | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Choreographer | Gocha Budagashvili | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
In June 2018 Ripken won bronze among 12 years old gymnasts behind Hannah Vester and Anna Schenenko.[2] The following she won bronze, behind Darja Varfolomeev and Schenenko, at the German Championships in the 2006 botn juniors category.[3]
In November 2021 she participated in the Children's Gymnastics Day in Hamburg.[4] In December she helped Berlin TSC take silver in the first ever German club championship.[5]
Senior
In 2022 she took part in the qualifications for the European Championships, being 5th in the first and 3rd in the second competition.[6][7][8] In May Helena made her World Cup debut in Portimão, being 24th in the All-Around, 35th with hoop, 34th with ball, 23rd with clubs and 11th with ribbon.[9][10] In June she competed in the stage in Pesaro, finishing 23rd overall, 23rd with hoop, 25th with ball, 24th with clubs and 17th with ribbon.[11][12] She then was 4th in the All-Around, 4th with clubs, 5th with ribbon, and won bronze with hoop and ball at nationals.[13][14][15][16][17] In August she came in 6th place in the second stage of the qualification for the World Championships.[18]
Ripken moved to Fellbach in 2024 to join the national senior group.[19] In 2025 she became a starter in the group, debuting at the Gymnastik International, winning gold in the All-Around and with 5 ribbons.[20][21] Then she competed the World Cup in Baku where Germany was 10th in the All-Around, 12th with 5 ribbon and 7th with 3 balls & 2 hoops.[22][23][24] A week later, in Tashkent, they took 4th place overall, 5th with 5 ribbons and 7th in the mixed event.[25][26][27] She was then selected for the European Championships in Tallinn, there the group was 10th in the All-Around and won an historical bronze medal, the first ever in the competition for a German group, with 3 balls & 2 hoops.[28][29][30][31] In August, Ripken made her senior World Championships debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, alongside Melanie Dargel, Anja Kosan, Olivia Falk, Anna-Maria Shatokhin and Emilia Wickert, where they took 8th place in all-around. Together with Darja Varfolomeev and Anastasia Simakova, they won the gold medal in team competition.[32]
In 2026 the group started its season at the World Cup in Sofia, winning silver in the all-around. They were 5th in 5 balls and 4th in 3 hoops + 4 clubs final.[33] At the World Challenge Cup in Portimão she won silver in the All-Around and with 5 balls as well as gold with 3 hoops & 4 clubs.[34] In Cluj-Napoca they won silver in the All-Around.