Team Italy dominated the technical solo and duet routines at the first competition day of the fourth leg of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2018 taking place in Samorin (SVK).
Belarus won gold in tech team event. Linda Cerruti (ITA), the most experienced and decorated athlete among the participants and the main star of the meet, emerged victorious in tech solo earning 84,7075 points. Vasiliki Alexandri from Austria placed second (82,0336). Belarus Vasilina Khandoshka completed the podium with 80,0172.
On her high rate, Cerruti commented:
“I compete in the senor national team of Italy since 2010. Sometimes I think I don’t have to worry about the competition. But every time I step on the pool deck I’m nervous. I understand that I have to confirm my leadership, to show to everybody that I’m improving”.
Vasiliki Alexandri (AUT)
Therefore, Linda, who performed an emotional routine on the theme of a one-way love story, was not completely satisfied with the programme:
“I would say it was “so-so”, because the feeling in the open water is different. We always train in the indoor pool in Italy. I felt like I was out of breath. This was the only thing that bothered me. In general, the solo was nice. I think, I could be higher in the vertical. But for this reason I had to breathe more I had some problems with the muscles. So that was the best I could do”.
Cerruti also remarked that the scores for all participants were lower than they could be.
“I saw the Belarus girl and to my mind she was better than 80 points”, - Linda admitted. Actually, Vasilina Khandoshka (BLR) was also disappointed with the marks.
“I don’t understand why the scores are so low. It seems to me my performance was quite good. At the third leg in Japan I got 83 points, now – only 80. Well, I will try to improve. We compete in the World Series to have practice, to show our programmes in order to get ready for the major competitions of the season. For me it will be two junior events and the European Championships in Glasgow”.
The local star Nada Daabousova, who claimed gold and silver in solo for Slovakia at the previous stages, came fourth. Nevertheless she was happy with her performance.
“It’s a great pleasure for me to compete in Samorin because of the audience. My mom, my boyfriend, my friends are here and cheer me up”.
In technical duet Linda Cerruti and her long-term partner Constanza Ferro won the second gold medal of the day well ahead of the opponents. The Italian pair scored 84,6770 points. Irina Limanouskaya and Veronica Yesipovich (BLR) took silver (80,3430). Bronze went to Slovak duet Nada Daabousova and Diana Miskechova (76,1035).
Nada Daabousova (SVK)
Once again, the score was an unpleasant surprise for the Italian girls.
“We are satisfied with the performance. The coach was also pleased. But we don’t understand the low score. Two weeks ago we did another competition in Japan and got 89 points for this routine. So we will ask the judges what was wrong to be better in the free duet here”, - Constanza Ferro said.
Actually, all the medallists are aiming to improve their results. Irina Limanouskaya of Belarus considered they didn’t perform at their best.
“We are not used to train and compete in an outdoor pool with the sun shining brightly in the face. However, we tried our hardest. As for the scores, we got almost the same points as at the previous legs – 80-something. But we want to get 84, like we earned for our free routine in Japan. We don’t want the results to stand still. We want to improve, to get better”.
The local duet had more confidence in the tech programme, because it is an old one.
“Our coach said it was a good routine. We improved quite a lot from France and China. So we are happy and we keep going. And we want to be better and better until Glasgow”.
Finally, Belarus squad took the lead in technical team, earning 82,4633 points. Ukraine finished second (82,0977). Austria came third (74,1889), leaving team Slovakia at fourth place (73,5204).
Irina Limanouskaya of Belarus was delighted with the result, saying:
“We have some newcomers in the team. We need more time to get used to each other. Nevertheless it seems to me we executed all elements on a good level”.
Anastasia Kulyk and Oleksandra Budrova of Ukraine highlighted, that they went all-out in this programme.
“We were focused on the elements, on the technical side, but also tried to be emotional. We will keep training for the European championships in Glasgow”.