Saturday, June 3, 2023

Instant Recap and Athlete Insights Spain starts strong at the Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Finals


 

Spain scores three golds and silver during the first day of competition at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup 2023 Super Final currently underway in Oviedo, Spain.

Emma Garcia:

Our whole team should be really proud and feel good about how we competed today. We had a lot of pressure, and a lot of expectations, coming into the Super Final in our home pool. It’s good to win and win and win again because we’ve been really training a lot and trying to improve. We’re super proud.

It’s amazing because we have all the people here. And it's home. It’s a really good feeling.

Time of hopeful expectations – how do you handle these emotions and pressure to have a top performance? Dennis and I, we’re really calm people. We train a lot and we’re focused on how to have a quiet readiness for these moments. We’re not ones to let all these expectations be the wrong energy for us. 

Last international competition before the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka: We’re trying to feel more secure. We’re feeling more and more confident throughout this year. We’re excited to improve a little bit more at next month’s European Championships and carry this momentum into the World Championships.  

 

Dennis Gonzalez Bonneu

I’m just so happy to be back competing after breaking my foot earlier this year. I’ve missed the two previous World Cups, and I’ve just been waiting to get back to competing again. I’m excited about this.

 

Paula Ramirez Ibanez – Spain – Gold Medallist Team Member

We’re just so proud of our swim. We’ve worked a lot and it's amazing for us to swim at home. The warmth of the public was just amazing. I think we did great. Yes, we know that we have to improve a lot of areas for the World Championships. That’s our first goal, but we’re really, really proud of what we accomplished tonight.

On whether Spain is on the upward performance trajectory for the World Aquatics Championships: Yes. Yes. Since our last World Cup in Montpellier, France we’ve added much more difficulty to our routine. It’s always a risk, but we knew what we wanted to change. We’re really proud of what we were able to display tonight with our new routine. And at the World Championships, we’ll look to refine our elements and keep increasing our difficulty. So, we’ll keep moving.

Will you keep your routine the same for the World Aquatics Championships and focus on better execution?  I think in artistic swimming that it's impossible to keep with the same choreography until the end. We are always trying to improve this part of our routine, make it better and add more artistry and difficulty into our performance. No, we’ll keep changing and keep pushing for more difficulty.

 

Yukiko Inui – Japan – Gold Medallist

I’m just so happy with how I performed. I did each part exactly how I’d planned, especially the hybrids. Now, I’m very much looking forward to Fukuoka and competing there.

 

Iris Tio Casas –  Spain - Silver Medallist

It was very special to compete here. You could feel the warmth of the crowd. This gave me great energy to perform

On her triple-digit artistic score: This is one of my best skills, artistic expression. I really tried to give my best.

My coach said I did an outstanding performance. So that adds to my happiness. Having the opportunity to compete here before the world championships is ideal. I’ll keep the same routine for Fukuoka, but maybe I will do it better. 

 

Audrey Lamothe – Canada – Bronze  Medallist

I’m super excited to qualify and compete in my first Super Final. Making it here was for sure one of my goals for the year. I think this medal is just a result of all the work and all my effort from the past years coming together. I think this came down to getting the maximum I can out of myself every day, getting better day by day.

 

Fernando Diaz del Rio Soto – Spain – Gold Medallist

I’m very satisfied with my performance; I felt excellent in the water. I definitely felt the nerves competing today, but I was able to handle this very well.

On seeing his 129-point execution score: Ah, I think that’s my best-ever score for execution. I don’t know what to say … I think competing at home helped me out a lot. I felt the crowd with me. This gave me some extra energy, some extra motivation and focus. I felt very powerful, too. All the people that came out to watch today’s competition, I really appreciated it.

I think I’m progressing very well to Fukuoka. I’ll be ready for a great routine at the world championships.

 

Gustavo Sanchez Acero – Colombia – Bronze Medallist

Really, I was so, so nervous. I had so many feelings competing today. It’s my first Super Final and we’ve made so many changes to my routine in such a short period of time. I had some penalties, but it's okay. To get where I want to go at the world championships, I needed to heighten the difficulty of my routine. We think for the world championships this change to my routine will play out well. Now, I need to train more and become more comfortable with the new, tougher routine.

 

Full Results

Find all of the results from the Super Final here https://www.worldaquatics.com/competitions/3295/world-aquatics-artistic-swimming-world-cup-2023-super-final/results

Written by:World Aquatics Communication Department

Image Source: Omar Rincón-Benzalá / Marilin García (RFEN / WORLD AQUATICS)

No comments: