Golden weekend for Canada at British Gas Championships

Ottawa, April 23, 2014 – Jacqueline Simoneau of Montreal picked up 4 gold medals, including 2 with duet partner Karine Thomas of Gatineau, Que., at the British Gas Synchronised Swimming Championships held on April 11-13 at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England.

Simoneau started the competition with a win in the international junior figures event on Friday with an impressive score of 80.7418.

On Saturday, she took gold in the solo free with “a perfect mixture of elegance and power”, as was described by a local member of the media. Her score was 87.6667. Margot de Graaf of the Netherlands came in second with 81.6000 and Genevieve Randall of Great Britain was third with 77.6000.

“My choreography has changed a lot since the French open and it’s a huge improvement over the old one. I feel that I get stronger with every competition as I learn from my mistakes”, Simoneau said of her performance.

Simoneau and Thomas then went on to obtain first place finishes in both the technical (84.1726) and free duet (87.4667) events.

In free duet, Christina Maat and Margot de Graaf of the Netherlands were second with 81.1333 while Liza Foppen and Mirth Kuperus, also of the Netherlands, came in third with 77.9667.

“We learned a lot from the competitions in Germany and France”, said Simoneau. “Our duet free choreography has also changed since the French open and it makes us look stronger and more powerful in our movements. We received a lot of great feedback from the judges, so we are looking forward to showing our improvement at nationals next week.”

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

Email: stephane@synchro.ca