In the junior solo finals at the 2015 Shiseido Canadian Open Synchronized Swimming Championships, Halle Pratt of the Calgary Aquabelles won her third national title in a row, her first as a junior after 2 consecutive titles in the 13-15 age group. Her medusa-themed routine earned her a score of 82.5667 for a combined final score of 80.6974 points.
Andrée-Anne Côté of SynchroÉlite in Québec City was second at 78.8131, while Wenjing Deng of Toronto’s Aretaic Synchronized Swimming Alliance was a close third at 78.5575.
Jacqueline Simoneau takes first spot in international solo tech event rankings, Kali Wong wins national rankings
In the international rankings of the solo tech event, Simoneau won first place with a clean technical routine that earned her 89.2391 points. “I’ve been training extremely hard in the past few weeks and I felt very prepared for this challenging routine,” said a smiling Simoneau after the event. “My goal was to offer a stronger performance than my previous outings this season and I definitely did.” Etel Sanchez from Argentina was second with 81.341.
In the national rankings of the same event, Dollard Synchro’s Kali Wong, fresh off a 5 gold-medal performance at the National Qualifier last month, captured her first gold of these Championships with a score of 77.0609. Breanne Law from the Calgary Aquabelles was second with 73.9317 and Brooke Brimo from Montreal Synchro third with 73.0446.
Thomas and Simoneau win international Technical Duet event
National team members Karine Thomas and Jacqueline Simoneau took the gold medal in the international ranking of the senior technical duet event with an impressive score of 90.5079, ahead of Mexico and Argentina. “We were a little apprehensive before diving in because it was our first time performing this new routine in front of a crowd,” said Thomas. “We’re very happy with how it was received by the crowd. We still have a lot of work to perfect our routine technically, but we can’t wait to be back in this pool in a few months for Pan Ams to show off what we can do.”
In the national ranking of the senior technical duet event, Cossette Leblanc and Kali Wong from Dollard Synchro earned a score of 76.0379 to take first spot.
The medals for the duet technical events were presented by two members of the 1955 Canadian Pan American synchronized swimming team, Beverly McKnight (Holden) and Diane Baker (Ferguson).
Junior Duet preliminaries
In the junior duet preliminaries, Dylan Harding and Wenjing Deng, from Toronto’s Aretaic Synchronized Swimming Alliance, posted the top score ahead of Andrée-Anne Côté and Camille Fiola-Dion of SynchroÉlite in Québec City and sisters Ioana and Maria Gheta of Synchro Laval. The finals, featuring the top ten pairs from the preliminary round, will take place Saturday.
Combo preliminaries
In the combo preliminaries, the Calgary Aquabelles took the lead with 82.1333 points. Montréal Synchro was second (78.6667) and SynchroÉlite, third (75.9333). The finals will take place Friday at 1:50pm.
In international rankings, Mexico wowed the crowd with an energetic Beatles-themed routine, earning them a score of 86.4333.