As we await the release of the international schedules (*paging FINA and LEN*), let’s dive into some of the artistic swimming news of the last two months. Since we skipped last month’ edition, this Sync Up covers anything from mid-September until now.

Retirements…

• Lara Mechnig and Marluce Schierscher are both retiring. They represented Liechtenstein in duet at the Tokyo Olympics. They explain their decision on Instagram with great transparency and honesty.
• Olympic bronze medalist and 2019 World Champion Alina Shynkarenko is also done. She was the main flier on the Ukrainian senior team.
• Amaya Velazquez, a member of the Mexican senior team from 2015-2020 and three-time gold medalist at the Central and Caribbean Games, has confirmed her retirement.

 

… And Continuations

• On the other hand, other athletes confirmed they would continue swimming for this new Olympic cycle. That is the case of Germany‘s duet of Marlene Bojer and Michelle Zimmer. The pair finished 0.1866 points away from an Olympic ticket back in June. They had subsequently taken some time to contemplate the next steps. In early November, they announced their return: “We’re back. After some time of reflection and thinking about our future, we realized this can’t end like that. See you next season.”
• We can also expect to see the Olympic duet of Israel next season, with Eden Blecher and Shelly Bobritsky. Isabelle Thorpe and Kate Shortman, Great Britain‘s Olympians in Tokyo, are aiming for the Paris 2024 Games too.
• Portugal‘s pair of Beatriz Goncalves and Cheila Vieira is expected to continue throughout this new cycle as well.
• The Dutch federation KNZB has renewed Esther Jaumà‘s contract through the 2024 Olympic Games. Jaumà is responsible for the top artistic swimming program with 25 athletes, and obviously will continue working with Olympians Bregje and Noortje de Brouwer.

Injury Report

• French Olympian Laura Tremble underwent knee surgery a few weeks ago. While she is currently focused on her rehab and recovery, she confirmed she is not done and intends to compete at the Paris Olympics in three years.

Training Camps & Convocations

• Italy‘s senior squad has already had a few training camps this fall. The next one starts tomorrow in Savona. The athletes listed on the convocation are (Olympic team members bolded: Veronica Benedetti, Chiara Bollani, Domiziana Cavanna, Linda Cerruti, Costanza Di Camillo, Costanza Ferro, Gemma Galli, Veronica Gallo, Marta Iacoacci, Sofia Mastroianni, Giorgio Minisini, Marta Murru, Nicolo Ogliari, Enrica Piccoli, Elena Picozzi, Carmen Rocchino, Lucrezia Ruggiero, Federica Sala, Aurora Savi, Alice Tavio, and Francesca Zunino.
  Notably missing from the 2020 Olympic squad are Beatrice Callegari and Francesca Deidda. The latter has hinted at retirement on her Instagram page.
• Greece recently underwent trials for its national team. The athletes selected to the senior squad are (Olympic team members bolded): Maria Alzigkouzi, Eleni Deligianni, Eleni Fragkaki, Eleni Frangou, Krystalenia Gialama, Pinelopi Karamesiou, Zoi Karangelou, Maria Karapanagiotou, Dimitra Karatzoglou, Danai Kariori, Ifigeneia Krommydaki, Andriana Misikevych, Garyfaliana Nikou, Eleni Papadopoulou, Lydia Papanastasiou, Georgia Vasilopoulou, and Violeta Zouzouni.
  All but one Olympic and European team member are back, as Evangelia Papazoglou also returned to training in Athens.
• Mexico is back in the pool, albeit in a new training center at the Alberca Olimpica Francisco Marquez in Mexico City. The entire 2020 squad has returned except for Nuria Diosdado and Amaya Velazquez. The Mexican team has not competed internationally since 2019, as it decided to withdraw from the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament last season due to difficult training conditions.

Over in Catalonia…

• The trailer for Ona Carbonell‘s documentary on Rakuten TV is online. “Ona Carbonell: Empezar de nuevo” follows Carbonell as she returned to artistic swimming after giving birth to her son. The full movie will be released in January, and subtitles in numerous languages will be available.
• The Catalan sports channel broadcasted a short piece on Iris Tio, who competed for Spain in duet and team at the Tokyo Games. Tio is working on the solo event ahead of the 2022 FINA World Championships. She last competed in the free solo at the 2018 European Championships at the age of 15, where she placed fourth.

ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET

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