It’s the home stretch before the start of the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea! With the next Sync Up theoretically falling right in the midst of worlds, do not be surprised if the next edition is skipped until the end of July.
Team Announcements
- R-Sport has revealed the composition of the Russian national team for the 2019 FINA World Championships. Svetlana Kolesnichenko will swim the technical solo, while Svetlana Romashina will compete the free. Both will be in the duet events, while Aleksandr Maltsev and Maya Gurbanberdieva are set to compete in both mixed duets. Finally, the technical and free team routines will be swam by Anastasia Arkhipovskaia, Vlada Chigireva, Mayya Doroshko, Marina Golyadkina, Veronika Kalinina, Polina Komar, Maria Shurochkina, Alla Shishkina and Varvara Subbotina. And SURPRISE, R-Sport reports that Russia will swim a free combination routine, with the nine athletes listed above and Michaela Kalancha!
- Spain‘s roster was also made official in the press, where it was also revealed Ona Carbonell would swim in the technical duet with Sara Saldaña, for the first time ever, so there’s that. The rest of the team is Leyre Abadía, Abril Conesa, Berta Ferreras, Cecilia Jiménez, Carmen Juárez, Meritxell Mas, Elena Melián, Paula Ramírez, Sara Saldaña, Iris Tió and Blanca Toledano.
Training Camps Galore
With the FINA World Championships less than two weeks away, most teams are in their final preparations before heading to Gwangju.
- Russia‘s team has settled for Ulan-Ude, a city in east Siberia, Russia. Both duets are training in Irkutsk, another town in eastern Siberia.
- The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland are all in Japan, albeit in different cities. Austria’s Alexandri sisters just wrapped up a training camp in Slovakia, and are also now on the way to Osaka, Japan for the next one.
- Great Britain‘s duet of Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe is starting in Les Deux Alpes, France, for some altitude training before heading to Japan in a few days.
- Israel is training at the CAR in Barcelona, where the Spanish team practices year round.
- The Italian mixed duet of Giorgio Minisini and Manila Flamini is in Palm Spring, Calif. for a camp with Stephan Miermont.
- Alzbeta Dufkova and Vendula Mazankova from the Czech Republic are in Bulgaria.
- France‘s whole team is about to head to China for its ultimate training camp before Gwangju.
- Japan‘s senior team has been training in the sun in Guam.
Videos & Documentaries
- Chile‘s Isidora Letelier was featured on ESPN in a short documentary showing her daily routine and training regimen as she prepares for the summer’s competition in the duet.
- Australia‘s federation posted a video of its senior team as it prepares for the world championships at the Australian Institute of Sport.
Got Skills?
- Australia’s mixed duet of Ethan Calleja and Danielle Kettlewell showed off one of their lifts in slow-mo.
- Marina Golyadkina from Russia posted a few stretching exercises that we all can do at home (please don’t).