Happy New Year! As we wait for competitions to start up again, here are some updates and changes you may have missed in the artistic swimming community over the last few weeks.

Calendar Updates

• The 2023 World Cup calendar was released, with events in Canada, Egypt and France at this time.
• The 2023 World Youth Championships will be held in Athens, Greece, from August 30 – September 3. This should put us back on schedule, with World Youth held on odd years, alternating with World Juniors held on even years.
• The 2023 European Junior Championships will be in Portugal in August.

New Duets and Choreographies

• Switzerland’s federation announced that the duet of Emma Grosvenor and Margaux Varesio was selected as the official Swiss pair for the 2024 Olympic project. Grosvenor and Varesio will aim to qualify the nation back to the Games after it missed the Tokyo Olympics. The two last competed at the World Championships, where they ranked 13th in technical duet.
• Hungary’s duet traveled to Canada to work with Kasia Kulesza on its new choreography. After serving as assistant coach on the Canadian senior squad, Kulesza was recently named Next Gen Head Coach.
• Denmark has a new senior duet made of Karoline Christensen and Mathea Sending. Christensen competed alongside Mia Heide at the 2022 European Championships in Rome,  bringing the country back to that event for the first time since 1995. Sending, 15, placed 14th in solo at the World Youth Championships.

 

Retirements

• Baek Seoyeon, who represented South Korea internationally, has retired from artistic swimming. Baek competed at the 2017 and 2019 FINA World Championships in duet and team, and throughout the World Series circuit since 2018. Last season, she served as reserve to the senior duet.

Babies on The Way

• In true twin fashion, Kazakhstan‘s Alexandra Nemich and Yekaterina Nemich are both pregnant. The two-time Olympians last competed internationally at the Tokyo Games and finished 16th in duet.

In Case You Missed It

• Men will be allowed to compete at the Olympic Games in the team events starting in 2024.
• The Acrobatic team routine is added to the Olympic programme. The team medal will now be awarded based on the added scores of the technical team, free team, and acrobatic team.

ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET

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