Day 1 of the Canadian edition of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series (ASWS), presented virtually, started off with the Solo Technical. It was Asaka Hosokawa’s first time competing as a soloist for Japan. She finished in first place from amongst the ten entries, earning gold with a score of 82.2329, depicting powerful women to music from the Promised Neverland series. Finishing a close second was Ruby Remati of the USA. She received a mark of 82.0855 for a routine she choreographed along with her coach to the song Valerie by Amy Winehouse. Rounding out the top three was Lara Mechnig from Liechtenstein, who scored 80.8713 to the music of You Rascal You by Hanni El Khatib.

Taking his first of two gold medals of the day was Aleksandr Maltsev of Russia, who scored 89.8282 in the Male Solo Technical event. Fernando Diaz Del Rio Soto from Spain swam a creative routine to finish second. He scored 75.9238 for the enigmatic routine that portrayed having a double from another part of the world.

Next to compete were the athletes in the Duet Technical routines. With 14 duets, the event had the most entries of the competition. Taking gold were Anita Alvarez and Lindi Schroeder from the USA. They scored 84.6649 for their routine to Beethoven’s Für Elise composition, which they were presenting here for the first time as they get ready for the Olympic Qualification tournament that will take place in Barcelona in two weeks. Earning silver were Uta Kobayashi and Ami Wada from Japan with a score of 83.5193 for a belly dance themed routine. In third place, Germany’s Marlene Bojer and Michele Zimmer earned bronze with a score of 80.7454 for their interpretation of amazon women.

While countries could submit more than one entry per event, only the top ranked entry counted towards World Series results and rankings. In the Duet Technical event, Japan, Netherlands and the USA had multiple entries who received scores, but only one duet from each country was ranked.

There were five entries in the Mixed Duet Technical event. Taking first place was the pair from Russia, Mayya Gurbanberdieva and Aleksandr Maltsev. Their incredibly powerful routine, highlighted by very strong elements and performed to Bring me to Life by Evanescence, was newly created in 2020 and it scored 89.8193. In second was the mixed duet from Spain, Emma Garcia and Pau Ribes, who received 83.9086 for their witch hunter program, swum to music from the Hansel and Gretel movie soundtrack. Puerto Rico’s Nicole Adriana Torrens Mercado and Javier Enrique Ruisanchez Torres Zayas finished third. The two studied Arabian dance and movements to perform their Arabian-themed routine.

The next event featured federations entered in the Team Technical competition. Belarus finished first with a routine that came from an idea the athletes developed to portray skeletons to music from Spooky Scary Skeletons 2K18 Remix. They scored 81.0866 to finish ahead of the Republic of Korea, who took second place with a score of 78.9421.

The final competitive event was the Free Combination, won by the team from Spain who scored 87.4333. They adapted a team free routine that had been used by the senior national team in 2019 to a free combination routine, using the music Machines by Salvador Niebla. Belarus took second place, scoring 81.1667 to the routine using the music Run and Dance by Kristofer Maddigan.

The live stream of Day two of the event will begin at 10:00 EDT on Sunday May 30. Competition will feature the following events:

  • Solo Free
  • Male Solo Free
  • Duet Free
  • Mixed Duet Free
  • Team Free
  • Highlight Team

The event will conclude with a fun-filled and exciting non-competitive Exhibition Gala.

Schedules, start lists and results are available on the event website and on the FINA website, and the event can be watched live here: artisticswimming.ca/ASWS2021

This event was made possible in part by the Government of Canada.