The finals of the solo competition on the last day of the 11th FINA World Junior Synchronised Swimming Championships 2008, which is taking place in Saint Petersburg (RUS) from July 9-13, will remain in the history of junior synchronised swimming not only for the brilliant performance of very talented Russian athlete Anna Udovik, but also due to a great Canadian comeback to the international podium.

Seventeen-year old Chloe Isaak made this dream true for her country by winning a silver medal. In preliminary competition the young Canadian took 5th position. She improved greatly in the Figures competition: Isaak finished that event in second place, which meant that she would start the final as one of the favourites. The last starting position, which Isaak was assigned through a draw, was quite dangerous: it is not easy to wait until the very end and keep a cool head. But she succeeded. The performance was very impressive.

According to the free program result, the Canadian swimmer was third – Isaak got 46.400 for the technical and 46.300 for the artistic impression. One of the strongest swimmers in the field, Ona Carbonell (ESP), scored 46.200 as a first mark and 46.600 for presentation. But her “figures” result was 0.908 less than Isaak’s.

The other rotation happened to Xiaojun Chen (CHN). This girl was third after the preliminary round, but ended the event in 7th.

In general at least 7 athletes among 12 finalists showed a very high level of performance. The difference between China (7th) and Ukraine (6th) for instance, was just 0.166. Between Japan (5th) and Greece (4th) – 0.117.

The gold medal of Anna Udovik made her 3-time Junior World Champion.

Russia made their last point in the Championships with a best performance in Combination. Elena Ternovskaya and Anna Udovik, the strongest athletes of the team – did not take part in this event. The group however, delivered a very balanced and complicated routine and finished far beyond all the others.

The Chinese, which combined group with a routine that was devoted to China’s heroic history, took silver. Greece came third but showed one of the most interesting programs of the day. The routine was full of original leg work and the whole performance left great impression.

One more remarkable composition was delivered by Spain. The routine “Cats” is not new in the world of synchronised swimming: this program was created for a senior team a couple of years ago, so the youngsters just copied it. The team of Spain was also good, with a number of acrobatic jumps: the influence of diving coaches was evident.

Ukraine’s “Swan Lake”, the routine that was already mentioned by Russia head coach Natalya Mendygalieva as one of most original ideas in “combo”, helped the team to establish itself in 4th position, just 0.100 behind Greece.

Canada, which grabbed two medals, didn’t take part in Combination at all. The five weeks that the athletes worked together before the Championships were not sufficient to prepare one routine more.