Canada added two more titles on the last day of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series, getting an overall six gold medals in the fifth leg of the circuit which concluded in Beijing (CHN) on May 6.
Claudia Holzner/Jacqueline Simoneau continued their winning streak in the duet free routine and topped the field with 89.8667 points. Charlotte Tremble/Laura Tremble of France and Oleksandra Burdova/Anna Nosova of Ukraine completed the podium in second and third, respectively.
Performing the “Mechanism of Time”, Team Canada excellently executed its routine in the team free final in 89.1333, beating France (88.2000) and Ukraine (85.9667).
"It is our last performance, since we have been competing for five weeks in a row. We were very pleased with our performance today and in general at the China Open, especially happy about all the hard work we have done. We had great competition here and the secret of our success is the constant improvement of details. We will try our best to qualify for the Olympic Games at the World Championships and also in the subsequent Pan American Games", Holzner said.
Canada swept victories in the two solo and two duet events, highlight routine and the team free routine.
In the mixed free duet final, Russian pair Mayya Gurbanberdieva/Aleksandr Maltsev wrapped up the victory with 92.9667, followed by Manila Flamini/Giorgio Minisini of Italy (90.3333). Atsushi Abe/Yumi Adachi of Japan took the bronze medal in 88.0000 and host swimmers Cheng Wentao/Shi Yaoy concluded fourth (85.7000).
"I wish the mixed events can be introduced into the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, so I can have a chance to compete at the Olympic Games. I hope all the male swimmers can push this issue and make it come true", Maltsev said.
Concerning the Italian duet, Minisini revealed they have changed their routines after the 2017 Budapest Worlds. "We are pretty happy about our performance but we need to cool down and find out where we need to improve. We will check our performance by watching the competition videos. We are very confident about our performance at this year’s World Championships in Gwangju. The Russians are very strong and are our biggest rivals of course. But artistic swimming is not a sport like boxing. We just need to do our best and leave the scores and points to the judges", Minisini confessed.
China bagged two gold in Beijing - in the free combination and team technical routine.
The three-day Beijing leg from May 4-6 came to an end while the sixth leg is to be held in Greensboro, United States on May 24, and Quebec City, Canada on May 30 and Barcelona, Spain on May 31. The Super Final is to kick off on June 14 in Budapest, Hungary.