The two male athletes in Portugal’s acro team preparing for the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 have expressed excitement about their new project.

Athletes from Portugal, Turkiye and Bulgaria are continuing to make progress within the European Aquatics Artistic Swimming Support Program launched earlier this year to boost team entries at Paris 2026.

EA is providing each country with 10,000 euros to prepare teams who will be in action at the Olympic Aquatic Centre Greater Paris Metropolisthis summer and all three have held training camps focused on the artistic swimming competition which will run in the French capital from July 31 to August 5.

While individual male artistic swimmers are starting to appear in international teams, Portugal – featured in the video clip above and guided by head coach Maura Xavier – are unusual in the fact that they are featuring two.

Rodrigo Carvalho, who is 16, has been practising artistic swimming for six years and is part of the junior mixed duet for Portugal. He has already participated in team competitions.

Daniel Ascenso, who is 22, has been practising artistic swimming for four years.

He is part of the Portuguese national senior mixed duet team and will also be participating in the Paris 2026 competition in the free and technical mixed duet events. This is his first time competing as part of a team.

“Since I started out in the team routine getting used to the acrobatic stuff wasn’t really a big deal,” Carvalho told European Aquatics.

“Joining the group was super smooth also because everyone is so welcoming – they honestly made me feel like part of the family right from day one.

“Even though we haven’t had that many meet-ups the team is working really well together and we’re going all out for the Europeans.”

Ascenco added: “I think I’m fitting well in the team even though I’m the oldest member. Sometimes I feel like I’m the newest because it is my first team routine!

“And because it’s an acrobatic I have a lot of new things that I need to learn about like positioning in acros, formations and a bunch of new movements outside of my comfort zone I would say.

“I guess besides those there aren’t any more unexpected challenges, mostly because I’m taking this very ‘light’ on myself.

“In my mind being in this position requires a lot of responsibility of course.

“But I choose not to think a lot about that and focus more on my learning process and trying the best I can to correspond to the team and the coach overall.

“It’s been fun! See you in Paris!”

Bulgaria meanwhile held a training camp from May 16 to 26 to “further refine” routines in team events.

In an update to European Aquatics the Bulgarian federation spokesperson added: “During the camp, we focused on fine-tuning technical elements with higher DD values and making the necessary adjustments to the team routines.

“A major part of the work was dedicated to standardizing the style and execution of the technical skills incorporated into the routines.

“Several changes were made to the programmes to create a cleaner overall presentation of the combinations, both in the transitions and the hybrids, with the aim of improving the overall quality of the performances.

“We also modified some of the acrobatic elements that had originally been included and performed prior to this camp. By the end of the training camp, both team routines had been fully completed.”

Turkiye has held its first dedicated acrobatics camp in Istanbul from June 18 to 21

“This was a training camp that our athletes and coaching staff had been looking forward to for a long time, and it was truly a great success,”  said Lacin Kokcay, head coach of the Turkish artistic swimming team and a member of the European Aquatics Technical Artistic Swimming Committee (TASC).

“During this period we introduced new acrobatic skills to the team that they had never performed before, while also feeling that we are gradually moving closer to our goals in line with the upcoming European Aquatics competition calendar.

“This process is not only important for this season but also gives us hope for all future competitions with this new team.

“One of the most valuable outcomes of this camp was the opportunity to establish a common acrobatic foundation for our newly formed team.

“Beyond learning new skills the athletes developed greater confidence in performing acrobatic elements and improved their understanding of teamwork, timing, and trust – key components of successful artistic swimming performances.

“The camp also provided an excellent opportunity for our coaching staff to exchange knowledge and gain new perspectives on athlete development. The expertise shared throughout the project will continue to influence our daily training environment long after the camp has ended.

“From a performance perspective, we believe this camp represents an important milestone in our preparation for upcoming European Aquatics events.

“However, its impact extends far beyond the current season. The skills, methodologies, and confidence gained during these four days will contribute to the long-term development of our athletes and support our strategic objectives for future European and world-level competitions.

“Most importantly, this project has shown our athletes that they are capable of reaching a higher technical level than they previously believed. As a result, the camp has created a strong sense of motivation and optimism for the future of our national programme.”

This EA initiative was prompted by the fact that, while many federations had athletes involved in solo or duet competition, the number of countries taking part in the team free, team technical and team acrobatic events was relatively limited.

The intention is to encourage the establishment of teams involving athletes who will be able to maintain their involvement, thus creating a new competitive legacy and encouraging new generations of talent to follow them.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics