Artistic swimming European championships: Five takeaways from the week that was
Russian dominance, three bests for British, Darwin's theories and a youth movement -- it was all happening at the artistic swimming competition at the European Aquatics Championships in Hungary.
Artistic Swimming
The artistic swimming competition, which concluded its competitive part today (14 May) was part of the 14-day European Aquatics Championships currently taking place behind closed doors in Budapest, Hungary, until 23 May.
The championships do not serve as Olympic qualifiers (the actual qualification tournament is scheduled for 10-13 June in Barcelona). However, the event showcased the form of Europe’s best artistic swimmers after the usually biennial event was postponed from last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Comprising athletes from a record 50 nations, the event was held under strict COVID-19 protocols in the Danube Arena in the Hungarian capital.
Russia dominated, as expected, having won all gold medals bar one at the previous European championships in Scotland in 2018. Ukraine claimed the combination routine title that year but this time out Russia won six out of six golds available to them, although they didn't compete in all events.
Here are five things to know about the championships.
Russian mermaids
Iconic Russian duet Svetlana Romashina (31) and Svetlana Kolesnichenko (27) dominated their events, including the free routine in which they even scored a perfect 10 from one of the judges, giving them a total score of 97.900. "It was such a happy moment when we saw the 10 because it is not so usual you can see that mark," said Kolesnichenko afterwards.
The duo also won the technical final with a score of 96.2904, finishing more than three points clear of Ukraine's Marta Fiedina and Anastasiya Savchuk (92.6862).
It was such a happy moment when we saw the 10 because it is not so usual you can see that mark.
Five-time Olympic gold medallist Romashina has also won 21 world championship titles, and now, 12 European titles. Kolesnichenko, meanwhile, has one Olympic gold from Rio 2016, 16 world championship golds and 10 European titles. Neither swimmer has ever won anything other than gold in major international tournaments.
The Russians conquered the team technical event but were noticeably absent from the showcase free event, the final competition of the artistic swimming championships. Always a highlight of any artistic swimming event, in Olympic years the routine is kept top-secret by the Russian mermaids in order to save it for the showpiece occasion.
Mixed duet
The mixed duet event was introduced by the world governing body, FINA, at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships so it's a relatively new addition to the artistic swimming programme. However, Russia cemented their dominance of the championships with the pairing of Mayya Gurbanberdieva and Aleksandr Maltsev proving convincing winners, especially since their Italian arch-rivals could not attend the event due to COVID-19 infections. With their score of 91.7963, the duo were almost seven points ahead of their nearest rivals.
Next generation
Upcoming star Varvara Subbotina showed her outstanding talent at the pool where she became junior world champion in 2018, claiming her first senior title in the solo technical routine. Subbotina replaced Russia’s current top swimmer, Svetlana Kolesnichenko in this competition as the 16-time world gold medallist is suffering from a minor knee problem.
Seventeen-year-old Subbotina would no doubt have charmed a crowd, had there been one. As it was, her contemporaries were clearly impressed with her outstanding skills and all-round performance. Unfortunately the teenager will miss the Tokyo Olympic Games as she will now undergo surgery on a burst eardrum and will be out of the water for up to two months.
Young Italians, Isotta Sportelli and Nicolo Ogliari did extraordinarily well to claim third place in the mixed duet technical final, with a score of 77.4281, having only trained together for 10 days. “We were working really hard and intensively day and night, weekends included,” they said. “We were catapulted suddenly onto the big scene so we weren’t expecting this… We are happy and thrilled.”
Personal bests for Brits
Britain’s Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe scored three personal bests during the championships including a score of 85.8000 in the duet free, finishing seventh. Their performances this week stand them in good stead ahead of the Tokyo 2020 (in 2021) qualification event in Barcelona next month, where they hope to claim one of the remaining eight Olympic berths.
The young British team who took part in the team free event, the last event of the championships bar tomorrow's non-competitive gala, finished in fifth place.
Unusual inspiration
Back to Russian icons, the two Svetas – Kolesnichenko and Romashina – showcased a routine they had originally debuted at the Kazan World Series a few weeks ago. Prior to the postponement of the Olympic Games last year, the twosome had created a Tokyo-themed routine, which they performed throughout 2019. Taking advantage of the postponement of the Games, however, they decided to change the routine to a more patriotic version, swimming to: ‘With Russia From Love’ by punk group Little Big.
The always innovative Spanish team managed to take on Darwin's Theory of Evolution while the British team showcased an NBA-themed routine in the technical team final, with swimming caps styled like basketballs. Cue amusing pun from the British Swimming's Twitter account (see below).