On Friday’s competition at the 2017 Canadian Open, the Ukrainian pair of Anna Voloshyna / Yelyzaveta Yakhno won the gold medal in the Senior Duet Free Final event with a score of 91.9667. The fourth competition of the FINA Synchronised Swimming World Series is taking place at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. This result kept them ahead of the top Canadian duo of Jacqueline Simoneau / Karine Thomas who were 1.5667 points behind with a score of 90.4000. Sitting in third place was the second Canadian duet of Gabriella (Gabe) Brisson / Claudia Holzner who scored 87.5667. Since only one entry per country is eligible to medal in the event, the bronze medal went to New Zealand’s Eva Morris / Jazz Thomas who scored 68.9667.
Voloshyna said the routine had just been created three weeks ago. “This is a new duet for us, and this is the first time we have performed it in competition. So we will have to look back (on video) and see how it went.”
Mixed Duet Free Final
The Canadian Mixed Duet of Isabelle Blanchet-Rampling / Robert Prévost completed their international debut with their free routine. The two admitted that this is still a routine in progress, but were pleased to receive 80.4000 points. “We were very nervous before swimming the free,” said Prévost. “But the free is our ‘baby’ and we are confident that we can get strong marks with this routine, especially due to the excellent choreography of our coach Denise (Sauvé).”
Working with the two in Montréal, Coach Sauvé, was ecstatic with their showing in Toronto. “Today was an excellent performance with very few synchronisation errors. They showed good energy and the judges liked it. They also appreciated the complexity and the difficulty of the routine.”
She is confident in her team’s future, “The Canadian mixed duet has the potential and the talent to win a medal at the world championships.”
The only entry in the event, the duo took home the gold medal.
The mixed duet from Canada - Photo by Dan Robichaud Photography
Free Combination Prelims
Team Ukraine was again in evidence by taking first place in the Free Combination Prelims with a score of 93.0667. According to Anna Voloshyna, they really enjoy swimming the combo. “We like this programme so we do it like a party a little bit. It’s not a hard job for us. We wanted to show ballet (in our routine).”
Canada’s top team in the event was the Calgary Aquabelles, coached by Jenn Tregale and Jessica Best. Swimming to a Backstreet Boys themed routine, the team scored 82.3667. Coach Tregale was really pleased with the energy level they carried throughout the programme. “They swam really well as a team, and had successful highlights,” she said. “I think we do a really good job of the connections of our routine between solos, duets, team, everything and they like to engage the audience.”