Team Canada sits in 7th place after Free Finals and Canada’s Mixed Duet sits 6th after Free Prelims.
Ottawa, ON – A team comprised of returning veterans and relative rookies took 7th place in today’s Team Free Finals at the FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. With their best performance of the season, the team scored 88.8000 while Russia took the gold, China the silver and Ukraine the bronze.
Swimming in the Team Finals were : Gabrielle Boisvert, 23 (Cap-Rouge, QC); Claudia Holzner, 23 (Calgary, AB); Gwendolyn McGuire, 19 (Sherwood Park, AB); Marie-Lou Morin, 26 (Westmount, QC); Elizabeth Savard, 21 (Laval, QC); Jacqueline Simoneau, 20 (Montréal, QC); Laurence Vezina, 20 (L’Ancienne-Lorette, QC) and Kali Wong, 20 (Calgary, AB).
“This was a strong performance, the best we have done so far. It wasn’t perfect and we know we have more work to do, ” said Marie-Lou Morin, one of the veterans on the team. “We are excited about moving in a new direction to achieve our final goal of getting back onto the World podium.”
One of the younger members of the team, Elizabeth Savard agreed. “This competition means a lot for our future. Even though we are a young team, we know now that a team can always pull out a performance no matter what challenges we face if we work together. ”
Plans are already in place to change the approach to the National Team training. “The world can expect to see a completely different style and program coming from Team Canada next season”, said Jackie Buckingham, CEO, Synchro Canada. “We are working on a more efficient approach to training, applying the sport science research that has been done and creating a new environment for our team to be ready to take on the world !”
Canada’s Mixed Duet of Isabelle Blanchet-Rampling, 31, and Robert Prévost, 37 swam in the Free Duet Prelims. In their Free Program, the two weave the confrontation between a man and a woman into a routine to the Song of the Stars by Dead Can Dance. They finished in 6th place with a score of 83.0667. Russia was first, followed by Italy in second and the USA in third.
The pair felt very good about their swim today. Afterwards, Prévost commented that “the level of competition was much higher than in 2015 and challenged us to add difficulty to our free routine. We have some small improvements we can make for tomorrow but we are overall very pleased with our performance.”
Photos Liz Corman
Photo FINATV
What’s happening tomorrow, July 22, in Budapest
The FINA World Championships Synchronized Swimming competitions are ending tomorrow. The last event to take place will be the Mixed Duet Free finals at 11:00 am local time (5:00 am EDT) and will be featured on CBC’s live stream coverage beginning at 4:50 am (EDT) on cbc.ca/sports. Montreal-based mixed duet of Isabelle Blanchet-Rampling and Robert Prévost will be the 9th to swim on the 11 competing.
For all Canadian schedules, start lists, results and links to live stream, please visit the event page on synchro.ca.
For additional information about World Championships, visit FINA’s website.