Markham, Ontario, will play host to the newly-renamed FINA Artistic Swimming World Cup, welcoming the world’s best to Canada on March 16-18, 2023.
Canada, the only nation that has hosted an edition of the World Series/World Cup every year since its inception in 2017 (including 2 innovative virtual versions in 2021 and 2022), will be the first event in the 4-stop World Cup series. The 2023 competition schedule, released earlier today by FINA, will also feature stops in Cairo, Egypt and Montpellier, France, before concluding with its Super Final at a location still to be confirmed.
As the first stop in the series, the event will mark the first time the new judging system, which was recently approved, will be used internationally in a FINA-sanctioned event. Completely revamped to ensure routine difficulties are accurately captured through pre-determined degrees of difficulty, the new scoring system is designed to capture the increasing complexity of the sport as it continues to evolve.
Canada, who has played a major part in the redesign of the system, is particularly proud of being the first to use it internationally and is looking forward to the challenge.
“Canada has always been a pioneer in our sport,” stated National Team Head Coach Gábor Szauder,” and the active role it took in the creation of the new rules is a perfect example of this continued leadership. We’re very proud to host the first ever official international competition with the new rules at home in Markham.”
Team Canada, who has been hard at work preparing its new routines since last summer’s World Championships in Budapest, will be in Markham to open up its competition season that will culminate next fall with the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
Team Captain Kenzie Priddell relishes the opportunity: “ I’m very excited to start off our competition season at the first World Cup event here in Canada! It will be so special to perform in front of our family and friends and have the support of the home crowd cheering us on.”
The event will be held at the Markham Pan Am Centre, which was built in 2015 for the Toronto Pan Am Games where it hosted the badminton, table tennis and water polo events. A world-class sport complex ideal for hosting large sporting events, the Markham Pan Am Centre features a 10-lane 50-metre pool, with capacity for 2000 spectators, that is ideal for artistic swimming.
Tickets will be available online and at the door.