Alberta's Paige Hopper makes a splash on the first day of 2015 Canada Games

Prince George, February 24, 2015 – Calgary’s Paige Hopper started off the 2015 Canada Games synchronized swimming competition with an impressive performance today in front of a packed house at the Prince George Aquatic Centre. Hopper, one of the youngest athletes in the field at only 13 years old, came in first in both the figures and solo preliminaries events.

In solo, Hopper leads the competition after the preliminaries with 75.562 points. Quebec’s Audrey Joly is second with 74.186 points followed by Alberta’s Gwendolyn McGuire at 73.521. Finals will be the last event of the competition on Saturday morning.

In the Canada Games synchronized swimming event, the two representatives from each province compete in two distinct finals. The top placing athlete competes in the A final, which is the only medal round.

The battle to reach the A final was particularly bittersweet for Ontario’s Amy and Emily Armstrong, sisters who were both performing in solo.

“It’s very hard to compete against your sister”, they both stated, “but being here together has been an amazing experience.”

Earlier this morning, 92 athletes took part in the figures event.

Hopper from Alberta took first place with a score of 73.2240.

“My goal was to place in the top 10. I felt good in the water during my figures but I was still shocked – and very proud – when I heard the result!”

The top 3 was rounded out by Brianna Wodehouse from Ontario in second position with 72.660 points and Maria Gheta from Quebec in third with 72.274.

One after another, each swimmer executed four figures before a panel of judges. Although medals are not awarded for this event, it is very important for the rest of the competition as 50% of the figures score is combined with 50% of the score awarded for the routines to determine a cumulative ranking score.

No one province pulled away from the competition after the figures event and Quebec, Alberta and Ontario are leading the way before team preliminaries.

Competitions continues tomorrow with the duet and team preliminary events.

Schedule for Wednesday, February 25

10:00am – 12:30am Duet preliminaries

6:45pm – 8:15pm Team preliminaries

About Synchro Canada

Synchro Canada is the national organization governing synchronized swimming in Canada. It represents 10 provincial associations, a territorial association, as well as some 150 clubs and 12,000 members across Canada. A member of FINA, the world’s governing aquatic sports organization, Synchro Canada promotes the quest for excellence by developing the athletes, citizens and ambassadors of the sport of synchronized swimming at every level.

Synchro Canada would like to thank its sponsors:

Program partners: Sport Canada, Own The Podium, the Institut national du sport du Québec

Official Aquatic Supplier: Speedo Canada

Official make up: MAKE UP FOR EVER

Official suppliers: Knox Gelatine, AdUp, National Car Rental

Official hotel: Hilton Hotels Canada

For further information, visit Synchro Canada’s Website at www.synchro.ca or follow Synchro Canada on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

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For information:

Stéphane Côté

Synchro Canada

Communications Coordinator