The 4th leg of the 2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series hosted virtually by Australia concluded today as the audience traveled around the world covering all five continents while visiting the participating athletes representing twenty-two different countries in their home pools. Donelle Freeman, Australian’s first Artistic Swimming Olympian is joined by two other Australian Artistic Swimming experts Emmanuelle Mah in Perth and Jo-Ann Lim in Sidney, to provide the audience with technical details of the choreographies as well as fun facts about the participants and their routines throughout the broadcasts. The second day of the final leg of the 2022 Artistic Swimming World Series contested all the Free routine events and concluded with the fun, relaxing, creative Gala event. The virtual format of this leg has allowed the athletes to be exceptionally creative and spontaneous with their submissions for the Gala.
The first event, Free Male Solo, was a battle between two male athletes from the Americas, Colombian Gustavo Sanchez and Puerto Rican Javier Enrique Ruisanchez. Sanchez, exhibiting strength and control, received 77.4667 points for his dynamic routine “The Joker”, and earned his second gold medal in Free Solo during this 2022 World Series season. Ruisanchez swam his choreography Sam Smith’s “Fire on Fire” for which he received 62.5333 points and a silver medal.
In the Female Free Solo, the gold medal was awarded to Canadian Audrey Lamothe who scored 84.6000 points for her “Hungarian Spirit” routine. This is the fourth medal, but first gold, for Lamothe, just seventeen years old, as a soloist in the Artistic Swimming World Series. Itsuki Hirota performed the very fittingly themed routine “Aqua” wearing a bathing suit which she designed herself to receive 83.9000 points for the silver medal. Added to the bronze medal Hiroto won in the Technical Solo, she can look back on a great debut representing Japan on the World stage. Polina Prikazchikova, who has only been representing Israel for the past two years, performed a choreography which highlighted her flexibility and strength. Prikazchikova received 83.0667 and her first ASWS medal as a soloist.
The top three pairs in the Free Duet event were the same as the winners of the gold and silver medals from the first and second legs of the 2022 World Series. USA’s Megumi Field and Natalia Vega remained undefeated by scoring 84.8000 with their “Electronic Dance Music” routine. Silver medalists from the Paris leg, Israel’s Shelly Bobritsky and Nikol Nahshonov, scored 84.2667 to claim another silver medal. The bronze medal, with a score of 82.7333, was awarded to the routine “Birds”, performed by the Korean pair Yoonseo Hur and Riyoung Lee, who won the silver medal during the first stop of the ASWS.
Next on the program was the Free Mixed Duet event where Japanese siblings Yotaro & Tomoka Sato swam a very fast paced energetic choreography to Japanese music to claim the gold medal with 83.2667 points. USA’s Claudia Coletti and Kenneth Gaudet won the silver medal with 82.1000 points for the powerful choreography “Attack on Titan” filled with many risky components which were beautifully executed. Spain’s Judith Calvo Requena and Fernando Diaz del Rio Soto claimed the bronze medal with 81.7333 points for their “Cats” routine.
In the Free Team event, the team from Canada occupied the top of the podium, followed by Israel in second and Kazakhstan in third. Canada’s “Triumph” routine swum to a music production by “Two Steps from Hell” scored 84.8000 for the gold medal. The team representing Israel claimed the silver medal with 83.9333 points for their routine “The Planet”. Kazakhstan was awarded 79.6000 points and the bronze medal for their performance of the routine “Vaiana”, based upon the Disney movie “Moana”.
The last set of medals up for grabs at this fourth leg of the 2022 ASWS were awarded in the Free Combo event. In the Combination routines the choreographies incorporate elements from all the other events such as the solo, duet, trio, and team while telling a story. The event is fun to watch with very quick changes in formations and often time multiple things happening simultaneously. Israel executed their intense routine with great energy from start to finish to receive 84.0667 points for the gold medal. Kazakhstan’s “Spanish Dance” swam to “Malaguena” by Brian Setzer earned them the silver medal with 79.4667 points.
The Artistic Swimming World Series legs have concluded, and the 2022 Artistic Swimming World Series moves to the Super Final which is scheduled for May 20-22 in Athens Greece. ASWS provides opportunity for the athletes to gain competition experience throughout the season and with the money prices extending to more than just the podium, the countries can continue investing in the development of the athletes and the sport. The fact that during this leg of the ASWS there were 10 different countries on the podium supports that growth and development is happening and that the virtual format is successful for Artistic Swimming.
Full Results can be found here