Here are some of the artistic swimming news from the last month or so!

Competition Updates

• The FIRST Junior Pan American Games are scheduled for September 9 -19, 2021, in Cali, Colombia and artistic swimming is on the list! 3,500 athletes across 27 sports are expected to take part in the event. What a fantastic continental opportunity to highlight the junior synchro athletes from the Americas.
• Artistic swimming is on the preliminary list of sports selected for the 2023 European Games in Krakow-Małopolska, Poland! Synchro was at the inaugural edition of the meet in 2015 in Baku, but was not included in 2019 in Minsk. The preliminary list is subject to final negotiations with each of the European and International Federations. The European Olympic Committee said a key part of the selection criteria was whether the sports will use the European Games as their continental championships and/or offer qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
• The 2021 Competition Calendar is filling up nicely! While I may not always send out a tweet or mention competitions in Sync Up, make sure to check it regularly as I will update it over the next few months as federations update their own schedules.

 

Road to Tokyo

• Hannah Burkhill has been selected to the Australian Olympic team. She had originally been named as the alternate, but she will now enter the eight-swimmers team following the retirement of Amber-Rose Stackpole a few weeks ago.

Coaching News

• Anastasia Goutseva has been named the new head coach of Singapore. Goutseva, who competed for Belarus in the 90s, coached in Canada from 2010-2016 and most notably alongside the late Julie Sauvé ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games. She also served as Greece’s head coach from 2005 to 2009.

Retirement

• Natalie Lubascher, member of Chile‘s national team duet alongside Isidora Letelier, has announced her retirement due to the lack of funding and support for the sport in the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said it was “the hardest decision of [her] life.”

Back in the Water

• After a short vacation break, the Spanish team had its annual training camp in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. The only newcomer is Fernando Diaz, who competed in the junior mixed duet in 2019. There are now three men training at the CAR in Barcelona.
• Colombia finally returned to the pool for the first time in nearly six months!

Maybe Never Back in the Water?

• The National Sports Council (NSC) in Malaysia has stated it will no longer fund the national synchronised swimming programme due to financial constraints, and because it will not be contested at the SEA Games in 2021 and 2023. Artistic swimming is not a compulsory sport and can be added at the discretion of the organizing nation. Synchro last appeared at the SEA Games in 2017 held in… Malaysia.

ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET

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