The world’s twelve best synchronised swimming teams battled it out today for the world title in Varosliget City Park in Budapest, where the spectacular team free final was staged in the shadow of the Vajdahunyad Castle.
Russia, title holder of this event since 2007 and clear powerhouse in synchronised swimming for many years now, kept on shining at today’s first session when the team grabbed the nation’s sixth gold medal of the World Championships’ synchro events.
The Russian girls (Anastasia Bayandina, Daria Bayandina, Vlada Chigireva, Maryna Goliadkina, Veronika Kalinina, Polina Komar, Maria Shurochkina, Darina, Valitova) scored 97.3000 points (96.8000 in the prelims) for their near-to-perfect and dazzling routine which was a delight to the eyes.
Team Russia, gold
China, second in the preliminary round (94.3667 points), kept its rank by getting 95.2333 points for a stunningly precise routine and secured silver. Team China was also the silver medallist in Kazan 2015.
Team China, silver, formed of CHANG Hao, FENG Yu, GUO Li, LIANG Xinping, TANG Mengni, XIAO Yanning, YIN Chengxin, YU Lele
And newcomer Ukraine repeated their 2013 World Championships’ result to complete the podium in 93.9333 points. This was Ukraine’s fifth bronze medal of the Championships after ranking third in the solo tech / free and the duet tech / free.
Today's team free routine podium
The final ranking of this event is as follows: 1.RUS, 2. CHN, 3. UKR, 4. JPN, 5. ITA, 6. ESP, 7. CAN, 8. MEX, 9. GRE, 10. FRA, 11. PRK, 12. USA
The competition resumes tomorrow morning (July 22) at 11am with the final the free combination and the mixed duet free final at 7pm.
Follow all the synchronised swimming action at FINAtv and check out the detailed results here.
The Ukrainans Maryna ALEKSIIVA, Vladyslava ALEKSIIVA, Valeriia APRIELIEVA, Oleksandra KASHUBA, Anastasiya SAVCHUK, Kseniya SYDORENKO, Anna VOLOSHYNA, Yelyzaveta YAKHNO
QUOTES
Vlada Chigireva (RUS), gold
"Maria Shurochkina and I, as the most experienced athletes part of the Russian team today, worried about the result. But our newcomers managed to execute a high level performance. We got pretty high marks from the judges. No "tens" in comparison with Olympics, but we will move forward step by step to achieve something more. There is no limit to reach excellence."