Dancers back at their best in competition in Poland

Worldwide stars and newcomers brought all the moves and dazzle to start off the 2022 international season in Lomianki, Poland. 

Singles and couple events were contested at the 2022 Para Dance Sport Polish Open over the weekend with Israel topping the medals table.

Donning her Wonder Woman costume and dancing to Sia's hit "Unstoppable", Israeli dancer Tomer Margalit helped her country rise to the top by winning the women’s single 1 event and the combi freestyle 1 event with dance partner Orel Halaf. The medals continued Margalit's success streak in Poland - she also won a gold medal in the women’s single 1 event at the 2021 Para Dance Sport Polish Open.

With four gold medals and one bronze, Israel took the lead ahead of host Poland (two golds, one silver and one bronze) and Turkey (one gold, two silver and one bronze). 

Slovenia also impressed with six medals, four silver and two bronze. Slovenian dancer Lara Nedeljkovic won three medals in Lomianki, including bronze in the women’s single. She also grabbed two silver medals, in the combi freestyle 2 and the combi standard 2, With dance partner Klemen Dremelj.

Estonia debuts with bronze

The Ukrainian team finished in fourth place, with one gold and one silver. 

Snizhana Kernychna was the force behind both of these medals. Dancing in a bright pink dress with partner Ihor Bozhenko, she finished second in the combi freestyle 1 event. She also won a gold medal with dance partner Volodymyr Kernychnyi in the duo event.

The Estonian team finished the weekend with one bronze medal in its first participation in a major international competition. One of the youngest athletes of the competition, 15-year-old Matvey Serednitskiy secured the milestone medal for his country. 

This Polish Open 2022 was also an occasion for World Para Dance Sport to start implementing paperless classification. This new online system facilitates the process of notation, with the use of less paper in the process. 

Next Para Dance sport stop will be in Germany, for the 2022 Para Dance Sport Mainhatten Cup, between 20 and 21 August. Next European Championships will be held in Czech Republic for 28 to 30 October. 

Full results from the Polish Open 2022 are available here.