In rhythmic gymnastics (RG) performance depends on multiple components such as the difficulty level of routines, execution scores of gymnasts. Recently, RG has a widespread popularity and in contrast with this, few data exist in the literature, especially determining the relationship between apparatus performance scores and overall position during RG competition. For this reason, purpose of present study was to identify the most important score in 37th RG World Championships (WCh), 2019. Moreover, it was aimed to identify the most effective difficulty (D), execution (E) scores on overall rankings in finals. Research group constituted of 24 gymnasts, total of 110 scores were analyzed. Correlation among total scores, total qualification score, total D, total E, total apparatus scores were determined by Pearson correlation analysis. Multiple regression analysis was applied. Model-fitting performance was assessed by coefficient of determination (R2). There were strong correlations between total qualification score and all of the apparatus scores (for all apparatus p<0.001). Total ball score explained 82.2% and total ball difficulty score explained 79.3% of the variability in standings and ball scores were the best predictors for overall ranking. With recent technical developments of gymnasts and changes in the rules, routines have started to include more difficulty elements than the artistic component of the sport. As seen from the results of the current study, each score does not have the same effect on ranking and difficulty scores seem to have a bigger effect. For this reason, coaches should focus on the difficulty level of gymnasts. But, to protect the beauty of RG, some changes in the rules shoul take place.
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