Italian gymnast Sofia Raffaeli assessed her performance at the World Cup in her native country

Sofia Raffaeli, the winner of the hoop final and the silver medalist of the all-around, told how she managed to cope with the high temperature in the gym at the World Cup in Milan:

"We're used to these temperatures in Italy, especially in Fabriano. So we came here prepared for this climate."

She also assessed the competition at the World Cup stages after the return of gymnasts from Russia and Belarus:

"There are a lot of strong gymnasts now. The Russian gymnasts who just returned, the Belarusian ones. I think the level of competition has gone up significantly with their participation. I think they're all much younger than me, younger in age, and they're stronger than me, that's fine, I, being older, have more experience, but they're much stronger."

The gymnast told about the performance of her signature element:

"The fact that everyone does it is wonderful for me; it's an honor to see other gymnasts doing my element. I do it myself, if not worse than many... But in any case, not very well, that's true, I don't do it very well. But I watch others do it, and I see how they try to do it as best they can."