Svetlana Romashina, Svetlana Kolesnichenko and Aleksandr Maltsev were all recognized by FINA for their performances in 2019.

Romashina and Kolesnichenko shared the award in the category of Best Female Artistic Swimmer of the Year. Both won the technical duet and free duet events at the world championships this past season, while Romashina grabbed gold in free solo and Kolesnichenko defended her title in the technical solo event.

2019 marked Romashina’s big return to the international stage after a hiatus of over two years. In addition to her three gold medals at the 2019 FINA World Championships, she also won the technical and free duet events with Kolesnichenko at the European Cup in St. Petersburg and helped Russia qualify to the 2020 Olympics.

Romashina has already won this award four times (2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016), while Kolesnichenko had earned it once in 2017.

Maltsev was given the Best Male Artistic Swimmer of the Year Award after winning both technical and free mixed duet events at the world championships for the first time. Maltsev was also excellent on the world series circuit, winning every mixed duet event in Kazan, Tokyo, Beijing, Barcelona and the Super Final in Budapest. This is his third time winning this award after 2015 and 2017. 

Article by Christina Marmet

Cover photo by Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia