On April 5, FINA decided to forego the remainder of the 2020 Artistic Swimming World Series events, which means the Super Final for the Series has also been cancelled. Canada Artistic Swimming, along with its partners Aquatics Canada and Ontario Artistic Swimming, was to host the event June 18-20, 2020 at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre.
“With the impact of COVID-19 being felt around the world, this is absolutely the right decision for FINA to have made,” said Judi Enns Bradette, President, Canada Artistic Swimming (CAS). “We certainly support the cancellation of the series as none of the remaining events could have been held safely. As well, the resources to combat and contain the spread of COVID-19 need to be directed to the health and well-being of our society at large.”
While disappointed, Enns Bradette and the CAS team look forward to working with FINA once future plans can be considered.
“FINA is the rights holder of this event, and we know that when it is appropriate, we will be able to work with them on future events when it is completely safe to do so.”
The first event of the 2020 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series was held in early March in France. The subsequent events were planned for Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Russia, China, Spain, USA and then the Super Final in Canada.
CAS would like to thank the team at the City of Windsor, Tourism Windsor Essex and the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre for their support in the planning of the 2020 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series Super Final.
“We appreciate the hard work of Ontario Artistic Swimming as it was bringing together a very knowledgeable volunteer team from our Ontario clubs to help us stage the competition. It is certainly our hope to bring this or an equivalent event back to Canada, and to Windsor at a future date, to allow us to stimulate interest in artistic swimming locally,” said Enns Bradette.
The FINA Artistic Swimming World Series was integral to the competitive preparation leading to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Summer Games. Canada had previously qualified the team and duet for Tokyo 2020, now postponed to 2021. Their place as a qualified team remains assured for the Games in 2021. Team Canada athletes are all continuing their preparation on an individual basis, until it is safe to once again train together.