Eight teams, Brazil, Russia, Egypt, Australia, Italy, Ukraine, China and Japan (in this order) took part in the Teams Technical preliminarily round today at the Maria Lenk outdoor swimming pool.

The competition started with the host country team performing to Brazilian classics Batucada Brasileira and Aquarela do Brasil under the theme “Carnaval”, the same one presented in Kazan last summer on the occasion of the FINA World Championships. The crowd’s favourites scored 84.7985 points.

The Brazilian girls were seconded by the current Olympic title holders and World champions Russia. The team, composed of - but not only - the duet Ishchenko/Romashina who took gold on Tuesday August 16, executed a perfectly controlled routine and managed to get 97.0106 points, allowing them to take the lead right from the beginning of the event.


Team RUS ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia

The Russians haven’t been beaten in the Team event since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. They then reconfirmed in Athens, Beijing and London.

China offered a fantastic routine and managed to jump to the second place of the preliminary round, with 95.6174 points. The Chinese took silver in London 2012, while Spain (not qualified for Rio) pocketed the bronze.

Japan, with a routine over Down-star of a New Glory Toward the Sun from Amaterasu, followed the two leaders with 93.7723 points. Japan is hoping to make its come back to the podium after claiming two silvers at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, and one bronze in Atlanta in 1996. In fourth, Ukraine collected 93.4413 – the fight for the bronze medal will certainly be the most interesting duel of the decisive routine.


Team ITA ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia

The final of the Team event will be held tomorrow August 19 at 12:00 local time.