The athletes sit 7th in duet tech after finals and Canada’s Tech Team qualifies for finals with a 7th place in prelims.
Ottawa, ON – Montreal’s Jacqueline Simoneau, 20, with new partner, Calgary’s Claudia Holzner, 23, finished a strong seventh in their first world championship final. The duet scored 87.6523 in the Duet Technical Final today in Budapest, after qualifying through the Prelims. Russia’s Svetlana Kolesnichenko / Alexandra Patskevich took the gold medal, the Chinese duet Jiang Tingting / Jiang Wenwen won the silver and Ukraine’s Anna Voloshyna / Yelyzaveta Yakhno came third for the bronze medal.
Simoneau and Holzner will compete again in the Duet Free Prelims of the 2017 FINA World Championships on Tuesday, July 18.
Canada’s National Team swam to a 7th place finish in today’s Team Technical Prelims. Only 12 of the 24 competing teams move on to the Technical Routine Final on the 18th of July. With a team comprised of both veterans and new additions to the national squad, Canada scored 86.4407. The Russian team qualified in first place, followed by China and Japan. Canada sits just behind the Spanish team in 6th and ahead of Mexico in 8th.
Jacqueline Simoneau (Montreal, QC) competes in solo, duet and is a member of the team. She enjoys competing in this event, “it is a little bit more comfortable, because there are eight people together and we give a lot of energy and motivate each other.” Commenting on today’s performance, she said, ” We moved very well together. Our routine was good, and we liked every second of it.”
Today’s swimmers were: Janelle Ball, 24 (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC); Andrée-Anne Côté, 19 (St-Georges, QC); Claudia Holzner, 23 (Calgary, AB); Gwendolyn McGuire, 19 (Sherwood Park, AB); Samantha Nealon, 23 (Morriston, ON); Elizabeth Savard, 21 (Laval, QC); Jacqueline Simoneau, 20 (Montréal, QC) and Kali Wong, 20 (Calgary, AB).
Photos Liz Corman
What’s happening in Budapest tomorrow, July 17, 2017
Following their great swim on Saturday’s prelims, Isabelle Blanchet-Rampling and Robert Prévost, Canada’s Mixed Duet, will be competing in the Mixed Duet Tech Finals. The event begins at 11:00 am local time (5:00 am HAE) and the pair will be the 5th duet on the 10 swimming in the finals. That event will be featured on CBC’s live stream coverage beginning at 4:50 am (EDT) on cbc.ca/sports.
At night, Jacqueline Simoneau will take part in the Free Solo Prelims event, where she will swim one of her favorite routines. In this routine, which she calls Wounds to Wisdom, she portrays a woman who has lost sight, who must struggle and fight through emotional challenges, although glimpsing hope and light along the way. By the finale of the routine, the struggle is over, she has achieved her goal, and regained her sight. It is performed to a compilation of contemporary classical/new age music from the album In a Time Lapse by Ludovico Einaudi. The prelims will start at 7:00 pm local time (1:00 pm EDT) and Canada’s soloist will be the 11th swimmer of 32.
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.