When synchronized swimmers take to the pool at this year’s Canadian Open Championships, the event will have a brand new element added. It will be one of the seven events that make up the new FINA Synchronised Swimming World Series.

This series has been in development for a long time, as Lisa Schott, President of Aquatics Canada, and member of the FINA Technical Synchronised Swimming Committee said, “It was really quite an innovative concept, as the FINA Member Federations worked together with our Technical Committee to create this series. We integrated existing smaller synchro events from all over the world, already organized by National Federations on all continents. Each of the seven stops on the series will be held in conjunction with existing national Opens and competitions.”

The events run from March through to August in France, China, Japan, Canada, Spain, USA and Uzbekistan. Competitors will vie for both prize money and series ranking points. Countries must participate in at least four of the seven meets to be eligible for the final ranking and prize money.  Four categories of competition will be held:  solo; duet; mixed duet; and team.

“This opens up so many opportunities for our athletes,” said Jackie Buckingham, CEO, Synchro Canada. “It raises the level of competition and profile for our sport to equal the many other sports that have an international series. There is a larger impact as well, as the events will be televised or streamed worldwide, providing much broader coverage, and making synchronized swimming even more attractive as a sponsorship property.”

Synchro Canada will hold the Canadian Open Championships from May 2-7, 2017 at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. Close to 250 athletes will compete at the event, with up to 30 international competitors expected from Colombia, New Zealand and Ukraine. At the junior level, events will include Solo, Duet, and Team. The senior competitions will feature Solo Technical, Solo Free, Duet Technical, Duet Free, Mixed Duet Technical and Free, Team Technical, Team Free, Free Combination, and Team Highlight (international only).

Canada’s National Team will reveal its new Technical Routine – in preparation for the upcoming FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The top two duets in Canada will also challenge each other for the one entry to this year’s world championships.

The event will be live streamed to viewers around the world here.

Schedule, start lists and results can be found on the event page.

You can also vist FINA’s website for more information on the FINA Synchronized Swimming World Series  .