Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Instant Recaps and Athlete Insights Day 2 from the Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Finals


 

Written by:World Aquatics Communication Department

Image Source: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

The Day 2 morning session did not disappoint as Japan's Yukiko Inui shows her skill to sweep the women's soloist events here at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Finals in Oviedo, Spain. On the men's solo free side, Italy's up-and-coming Filippo Pelati took the men's title. Spain took top honours in the Women Duet Technical and Israel put on a show-stopping (gold medal performance to end the night at the Piscinas Parque del Oeste competition venue.

Mixed Team Free

Israel – Gold Medallist Team – 256 points

Shelly Bobritsky – Yes, we’re overwhelmed with excitement with how this went. Since the last competition we’ve increased the difficulty significantly. We are very happy that we could swim without any base marks. Now, whatever happens is in the judges hands. But we’re happy we could display our power, our choreography were felt.

Spain – Silver Medallist Team –247 points

Rocio Calle Garcia – At the beginning, it was a shock of energy. I think our whole team enjoyed this. I feel we did this with an out-of-body experience because we’ve only trained this new routine for four days here in Oviedo. Of course, it can always be better, but we did it well. It’s a decision of our trainers if we keep this routine for the worlds, but I really hope so.

Canada – Bronze Medallist Team –217 points

Sydney Carroll – We really love our team. We really like to show our fight.

I’m really proud of our team. We really went in with the spirit of giving it our all and fighting for it, just like the theme of our routine. We’re really proud of the fight that we gave. We’re a team that really wants to go for it – and boxing was the best way to portray that.

 

Women Duet Technical

Spain Gold Medallists (Iris Tio Casas and Alisa Ozhogina)

Alisa Ozhogina – We’re so happy. We’re new to this, starting to swim together just before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Now, to win gold medals is like a dream that has come true.

On their choice for a baseball-inspired routine: It’s true that baseball is really an American sport, but it's also hugely popular in Japan. With the World Championships being in Fukuoka this year, we decided to do a mix of the American power routine with Tina Turner while also representing the most popular sport in Japan – baseball!

Ukraine Silver Medallists (Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva)

Vladyslava Aleksiiva on being twins with her teammates – Everybody thinks it helps, but we are so different. We have different movements and areas where we make mistakes.

France Bronze Medallists (Eve Planeix and Anastasia Bayandina)

Anastasia Bayandina: We always want to bring the best out of ourselves. We want to be better than yesterday, each day. All the hard work we’ve done before will be present today. And tomorrow we will be even better. We look forward to great execution and to hear the feedback from our coaches.

And the feedback from the coach is? For their performance now, I am very happy. They were starting with a lower coach card, and they beat some teams with higher cards. I’m always looking from the angle to find the mistakes for us to fix and today I didn’t see many. I’m really happy.

 

Women Solo Free

Yukiko Inui – Japan – Gold Medallist

Yukiko Inui - the reigning World Aquatics Champion in the Women Solo Free and Technical events from 2022 -  made it a perfect two-for-two here at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Finals by winning Saturday's Women Solo Free with her 252-point performance.

"I felt the pressure to not get any base marks, so I didn't swim so comfortably today. But I'm still happy with my performance and the win."

Iris Tio Casas – Spain – Silver Medallist

I tried to put in Beyonce’s flavour. Not just her, but a strong woman with character that’s having fun. This is a routine that I really enjoy.

I felt this was a super fun and expressive swim. With the new rules and the seven hybrids, this is very difficult. So I really enjoy the parts where I’m out of the water, using my arms and looking at the faces of the judges, convincing them to give good scores.

What’s the inspiration behind the music selection and the choreography? Maybe you don’t see it when I’m competing, but I’m a shy person. For me, this routine is to grow as a person, be more expressive and get me out of my zone of comfort and be better.

You’re stringing together some consistently strong results throughout the season. How does this bode for the upcoming Europeans and World Aquatic Championships? Last year was my first year competing solo for the national team. Now in my second year, I feel like I keep on improving and I’ll look to keep improving a lot through to the World Championships. In Fukuoka, I’ll try and do even better. This was my first swim with this choreography, so I’ll keep gaining more time and experience with it at the World Championships. I can swim even better.

Tio Casas’s Coach, Mayuko Fujiki

The goal here was to break her comfort zone. We wanted to do something that’s completely different from her character. We picked this music to do just this – break her comfort zone and be a little bit more expressive. She’s studied a lot; she’s watching videos and really looking into Beyonce’s way to dance, then bringing that into the pool for her two-and-a-half-minute performance.

Audrey Lamothe – Canada – Bronze Medallist

I’m very happy to be able to compete again today in the women’s free solo.

I’m excited to show my routine with the heightened difficulty that we added since the last competition. As I am getting better, its normal for me to just keep increasing the degree of difficulty at each competition. This allows me to present the new skills that I work on in between the competitions.

How do you decide on the music and choreography? The Mermaid in the Water and the spirit of our team, it’s something that I can express in my routines. That’s why I chose this specific theme. I can show this to the judges and the fans. I can move in my routine like a mermaid in the water.

Lamothe’s Coach, Yelyzaveta Yakhno

I’m very happy to be working with Audrey Lamothe. Creating this routine, every competition this season we’ve increased the difficulty. She did her best performance today, I’m very proud for her.

 

Men Solo Free

Filippo Pelati – Italy – Gold Medallist - 178 points

I thought only to enjoy myself in today’s competition. I wanted to give all of myself, not holding anything back but giving everything I have to everyone watching. I wanted to show all the work I’ve put myself through.

I’m very happy to be here representing Italy. This competition is the proof that artistic swimming is about equality.

Pelati trains with Giorgio Minisini – He’s an inspiration. He works all-day, nearly non-stop, from Monday through to Sunday. To watch him not only compete but to train is an inspiration.

Gustavo Sanchez Acero - Colombia - Silver Medallist - 152 points

Dennis Gonzalez Boneu – Spain – Bronze Medallist - 145 points

I enjoyed today’s performance so much. I’ve been thinking about all the elements, over and over.

Dennis Gonzalez Boneu’s coach, Gemma Mengual

Today, Dennis has been a bit under the weather. Going into this, we were like, ‘We will see.’ After seeing him swim, I’m happy, we’re all happy. Even without having yet seen the results, his performance has been strong, very, very passionate and professional.

 

Full Results

Get all of the results live and demand here.

https://www.worldaquatics.com/competitions/3295/world-aquatics-artistic-swimming-world-cup-2023-super-final/results

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