With two morning finals to excite those who spent their morning at the Athens Olympic Aquatics Centre, the trend continued on day four of the European Aquatics Junior Artistic Swimming Championships, with the Spanish and neutral athletes once again taking the plaudits.
As was the case the previous day, there were two finals in the morning heat as the temperatures in the Greek capital soared, with the Duet Technical and Men’s Solo Free events to get the penultimate day of competition going.
With a huge 19 teams lining up for the duet, there was a blockbuster programme that kept those in attendance enthused with the breadth of theming and choreography throughout the 2+ minute routines.
The first handful of countries all got the crowd going with eye-catching performances, before Anastasiia Sidorina and Veronika Sokolova – who are the top seeds for tomorrow’s Duet Free final – took the lead with an impressive front-loaded performance; scoring particularly highly on their transitions.
Their score of 263.0476 saw them at the summit for two rounds, before Spain’s Naia Alvarez Vincente and Rocio Calle Garcia put in one of the performances of their careers. They nailed their technical required elements to take a huge 155 points for that section of their performance, with a total score of 267.0092.
A handful of other countries then also took to the outdoor pool to stake their claim, with Ukraine’s Mariia and Uliana Hrynishyna coming the closest with a score of 255.6551.
Although in the end the Spanish and neutral athletes’ lead was insurmountable, as they took the gold and silver medals respectively, France’s Romane Sarah Temessek and Lou Elisabeth Thuillier still found time to take an emotional bronze medal for the country – with a strong elements segment and a final score of 257.8334, making a podium full of smiles for the group.
The first exclusive men’s event of the five-day programme rounded off the morning, as the in-form Ranjuo Tomblin was edged out by neutral athlete Zakhar Trofimov in a thrilling Men’s Solo Technical final.
The Brit, fresh off the back of a string of medal-winning performances in the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup, was the first of the seven athletes to take to the pool, and his artistic impression element was particularly impressive – scoring 90.3500, as well as a solid elements stage which saw him finish on an impressive score of 219.9766.
As the competition reached the halfway stage, Trofimov’s performance was enough to see him take his third gold medal of the week so far. Although behind Tomblin on artistic impression, his elements – particularly 2A and 3 – were especially impressive, with them both carrying a score of 25. All-in-all, that was enough to see his final score just half a point ahead for the gold on 220.4467.
Italy’s Gabriele Minak took the bronze medal. Going in the penultimate slot, his artistic impression score of 91.9500 was the highest of the field, but he wasn’t able to replicate the feat in his elements, which saw him just behind the leaders with a total of 217.9583.
As tends to be the case at artistic swimming events, it was the Acrobatic Routine final that provided one of the biggest spectacles of the week, with the crowd being in full voice to match.
Spain, who have been in great form throughout, combined with their eight-strong team to light up the venue as the sun was setting, and clock a score of 187.0513. With a solid performance across the board, their opening and second-third segments received the highest praise from the judges, with a handful of 9’s appearing across their performance.
Their closest competition came from Italy – who came off the plinth fighting – recording straight 9’s for their opening segment, and also going strongly in their penultimate effort. Their elements segment was slightly higher than Spain’s 98.7, as they received 98.8, but their artistic impression was slightly further behind, which contributed to a still-impressive silver medal on a total of 185.9227.
France had one of the most difficult performances by score, but they made it look easy as they moved through the routines. A solid showing throughout, with noteworthy choreos for the second and penultimate segments, their score of 170.8389 was enough to fend off Ukraine for the bronze.
The artistic swimming programme wraps up tomorrow with the Duet Free, Men’s Solo Free and Team Free finals.
Click here for the full results
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Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
