The third day of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series in Tokyo, Japan, started with the Mixed Duet Free Routine. The Italian pair, Manila Flamini and Giorgio Minisini, won the gold with 89.6333 points although they predicted a score higher than 90 points.
"We are happy with the outcome because we could do what we wanted to, although these scores were a bit lower than those in Budapest 2017. If we intend to go over 90 points, we will need clear movements and more impressive theme.
"The theme shall be easier to understand for everyone and it would also be important to make a first impact to get higher scores.
"As we will probably participate in the other legs of World Series, we definitely want to improve ourselves to reach the top. Next summer's European Championship in Glasgow will be more competitive. Now we are working towards it," Minisini said.
Japan's Atsushi Abe and Yumi Adachi claimed the second place with 87.7667 points. They showed the splendid jump that could be done as a mixed duet. Spain's Pau Ribes and Berta Ferreras improved the difficulty from the first leg in France to score 82.8135 point and secure the third.
"We were very disappointed with our performance yesterday. As for today's Free Routine, we are used to performing it. We also put what we could do in our mind and then were trying to do our best. Comparing to the previous day, it went better. If we do not improve all the skill levels of acting, we will not be able to get in the 9 points from each judge, nor can we beat our opponents. Therefore, we are going to brush up on all our skills and levels," Japan's Adachi said.
In the Team Free Routine, as the theme of "Happy feelings Life celebration", Japan team won gold with their performance that made the audience excited and pleased, with points of 92.2000.
"Today was a very good experience for us because it was under high tension. I think that artistic swimmers can grow by being seen from the audience. So, acting and performing in the competition will surely play an important role for us to grow," Inui said.
Team France, which won the title of the Highlight Routine in the previous day, got on the podium in second position with 85.7000 points. Team Uzbekistan claimed bronze with 80.3000 points.
"We did really good and progressed. Our theme was to expressed emotion. We were trying to express the anger, the fear, then the happiness and the love. We are happy if the audience was able to understand that. We have other two legs of the Series in Canada and in Greece then in Glasgow for the European Championship. Accumulating good experiences in the coming two series, of course, we want to make the best performance in Glasgow," France's Maureen Jenkins said.
In the preliminary round of the Duet Free Routine, Japanese pair Yukiko Inui and Kanami Nakamaki led with 93.1000 points. Italian pair of Linda Cerruti and Costanza Ferro ranked second with 90.6667 points, Japan's Juka Fukumura and Megumu Yoshida were third and the Greek duo, Evangelia Platanioti and Evangelia Papazoglou, were fourth. They all head to the final tomorrow.
This leg in Tokyo will come to an end tomorrow April 30. The fourth day will be highlighted by the Athletes Parade, then three finals: the Free combination, Solo Free Routine and the Duet Free Routine.