Most of the world’s top artistic swimmers have converged on Paris to compete at the second World Cup of the season scheduled, starting on May 3. This World Cup also doubles as a test event in the newly built Olympic Aquatic Centre. With just about three months remaining until the start of the artistic swimming competition at the 2024 Olympic Games, anticipation is running high. 

35 countries will participate in this competition, each eager to fine-tune their routines ahead of the remaining major meets of the year. Those include, besides the Olympic Games, the European Championships in June, the World Cup Super Final in July, and the World Junior Championships in September.

The majority of teams and duets that have secured their spots for this summer’s Olympics will be in Paris this weekend, ready to give the French audience a sneak peek at what’s to come. A multitude of World and European medalists will also compete in the flurry of non-Olympic events, like World Champions Cheng Wentao and Shi Haoyu of China in mixed duet, and Jacqueline Simoneau of Canada in the women’s solo.

 

After forgoing the Doha World Championships, France will make its season debut in this World Cup. Automatically qualified to the Games as the host, the French team has been able to prepare and train “normally” for this season, without needing to peak nor fight for an Olympic quota back in February. 

The country is set to only appear in the technical and acrobatic team events. The squad will debut its new “Art” choreography in the latter, inspired by the free team choreography shown during the 2022 season. The junior national team will also compete in the technical team event.

Reigning European bronze medalist Quentin Rakotomalala will represent the country in both men’s solo events, testing his routines ahead of the Belgrade European Championships.

The duet of Austria, reigning European Champions and 2023 World Champions in the free event, will also make its first appearance of the Olympic year. Anna-Maria and Eirini Alexandri were forced to withdraw from the Doha World Championships just two days before the start of competition because of a recurrence of Anna-Maria’s shoulder issues that first flared up in 2023. The two, along with triplet sister Vasiliki Alexandri who did compete in Doha, will undoubtedly be ones to watch this weekend.

Another country to keep an eye on is the United States. The country is entered in eight events, and seemingly using this competition as its internal test event in duet and team. The Americans had not competed in the former in Doha, but are clearly trying out different combinations here to see which could work best in August. 

Two-time Olympian Anita Alvarez will return in this event, swimming alongside Megumi Field in the technical duet and Ruby Remati in the free duet. Teammate Jaime Czarkowski has also been added to the duet squad and should debut in these routines in Paris. She will swim with Remati in the technical event and Field in the free event. 

Anita Alvarez will also return to the free solo event for the first time since 2022, in a choreography centered on artistry and bound to challenge the perceptions and expectations of a solo routine under the new system.

Finally, all three American team routines will feature various combinations of athletes, with Bill May notably bound to swim in all three for the first time. He will be the sole male athlete to swim in any team routines at this competition. 

This competition will be the first outing for team Canada under the guidance of new head coach Anna Voloshyna. Voloshyna, who took over after the Doha World Championships, has previously teased on social media that the Canadians have been “preparing something new and exciting.” The country is entered across all Olympic events, as well as both women’s solos.

Amongst the countries qualified to the Olympics with full teams, Australia, Canada, Egypt and the USA will all compete in the three team events in Paris. Like France, the teams of China, Japan, Mexico and Spain will only appear in select events. As previously covered, Japan should unveil a new “Alligator”-themed acrobatic team routine.

Italy is the most notable absentee and only missing Olympic squad. The nation has opted to send the same three junior athletes who previously competed in Beijing in the solo, duet and mixed duet events.

Finally, Peru is the only other nation set to appear in all three team events, likely gearing up for the World Junior Championships hosted in Lima later this year.

 

The vast majority of the duets qualified to the 2024 Olympics will also compete in Paris this weekend. Like the USA, Japan had skipped over the event for the Doha World Championships, but will return here as well. Higa Moe and Yasunaga Mashiro should unveil a new “Pegasus” free duet.

The duet field will also feature two-time world medalists Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe of Great Britain, as well as world bronze medalists Alisa Ozhogina and Iris Tio of Spain. Reigning World Champions Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi of China will only compete in the team events this weekend.

As expected, Ukraine is sending two duets to this Paris World Cup. Twins Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva, who clinched one of the last duet Olympic spots last February, will compete alongside the younger duet of Darya Moshinska and Anastasiia Shmonina. 

Moshinska, 16, and Shmonina, who will turn 19 on Sunday, have been two rising stars and part of the senior squad for the last two years, winning World and European titles along the way. They also became two-time European Junior Champions together in duet back in 2022, and the two are still eligible for junior competitions this season. Most notably, they recently won both technical and free duet events at the Ukrainian National Championships, ahead of the Aleksiiva twins. 

Switzerland will return to senior international competitions this weekend for the first time in nearly a year, and after missing the last two World Championships. The country is sending its top, up-and-coming junior athletes to compete in the solo and duet events here, including national champions Anna-Sophia Aeschbacher, Melody Halbeisen, Aimée Michel and Svea Ursprung.

Finally, Croatia will be represented in the mixed duet event for the first time, with Matea Butorac pairing up with Adrian Gavelle. Gavelle, 23, has actually trained and competed in France for most of his artistic swimming career, notably for the clubs of CN St-Cyprien and then Pays D’Aix Natation through multiple national championships. 

He already made an appearance in mixed duet at the 2019 Spanish Open representing the French region of “Occitanie”. Benefitting from dual citizenship through his mom, who is also an artistic swimming coach, Gavelle will finally make his proper international debut here under the Croatian flag.

The other nations represented in this second World Cup leg are Aruba, Belarus (Neutral Individual Athlete), Belgium, Bulgaria, Colombia, Czechia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, and South Korea.

All the info you need to follow this meet along is available at this page, which will be frequently updated throughout the weekend.

ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET

Cover photo: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia

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