2012 Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships

The 12th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Sofia, Bulgaria 1 to 3 June 2012. It was held in conjunction with the 2012 Aerobic Gymnastics World Age Group Competitions, which finished on 31 May.^[1]

It was the second time the World Championships had been hosted in Sofia after the 2004 World Championships, and it was also the first time that the step aerobics and dance aerobics events were held at the World Championships.^[1] There were a total of 323 competitors from 37 countries.^[2]

Romania won the most medals overall (7), while China won the most gold medals (4). The individual women's event was won by Sara Moreno.^[2] In the individual men's event, Iván Parejo, who had won the title previously at the 2008 World Championships, regained his title, and Mircea Zamfir won silver for a second consecutive year.^[3]

There were several ties in the results. The previous year's champions in the mixed pairs event, Moreno and Vincente Lli from Spain,^[1] won a second consecutive World title, Moreno's second medal of the event; they tied with Andreea Bogati and Tudorel-Valentin Mavrodineanu from Romania.^[4] In the trio event, gold was shared between the Chinese trio and the South Korean trio; with the exception of the Vietnamese team, all eight teams in the Trios final were made up of all men.^[5] The first Aerobic Steps title was shared by the Chinese and Russian groups, while the Mongolian team in the bronze position, consisting of students from the Mongolian University of Science and Technology,^[6] won their country's first World medal.^[7] The first Aerobic Dance final was also won by the Chinese group, as was the Group final.^[2]

The closing ceremony featured a performance by Valya Balkanska as well as by local rhythmic and acrobatic gymnasts.^[4]