Quebec City, QC, will host world-class artistic swimmers next June at the 3rd Canada Open, a FINA Artistic Swimming World Series event. One of eight stops on the Series, the Canada Open will be held at the beautiful PEPS Aquatic Centre, May 30 to June 1, 2019.
The 2019 Canada Open will be the seventh stop on the FINA-sanctioned competition circuit. Canada joins France, Greece, Russia, Japan, China, USA and Spain as host countries.
“We are thrilled to welcome many of the world’s best artistic swimming athletes to the Canada Open in historic and beautiful Quebec City,” said Jackie Buckingham, CEO of Canada Artistic Swimming. “Quebec City will provide a spectacular cultural backdrop for our third FINA Artistic Swimming World Series event and we know our experienced hosts from Quebec Excellence Synchro and Synchro Québec will help us ensure our international guests are well taken care of”.
The 2018 edition of the Canada Open, held in Surrey, BC, welcomed more than 100 athletes, coaches, and officials from 8 countries, including current world medallists Ukraine and Japan.
Buckingham expects to once again see a strong international field in 2019. “As the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series continues to develop, again this year we are very pleased to be able to offer teams a back to back opportunity to compete twice in North America. Working closely with our friends and colleagues at USA Synchro, the Canada Open will be held immediately after the 2019 America Open, being held in Greensboro, NC. We hope to see many international competitors taking advantage of the proximity and timing to compete at both North American World Series events.”
Canada Artistic Swimming will join forces with Quebec Excellence Synchro, the local artistic swimming club from Quebec City, to host the event. “It’s with great pride that Québec Excellence Synchro will host this competition in Quebec City next May,” stated Organizing Committee member Mélanie Beaudoin. “Quebec City and PEPS have already shown in 2014 at the FINA World Cup that our world-class facilities provide an ideal environment for the world’s best artistic swimmers to shine. This is an exceptional opportunity for our young swimmers to see the elite athletes of their sport at work. In recent years, we have seen many of our club athletes make the jump with the Canadian team and participate in major events. It would be very exciting to see them compete at home, with the rest of the Canadian team.”
The Canadian Senior National Team, who will be training in Montreal full-time in 2019, will take part in the event as they prepare for the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru, which is the sport’s Olympic qualifying event.
World Series participants obtain points in each category (solo, duet, mixed duet, and team) for the events where they compete for a total of $257,000 USD available in prize money at the conclusion of the eight-event series. The World Series runs from March through June of 2019.
Canada Artistic Swimming will also be holding its 2019 Canadian Masters Championships in the same venue on June 1-2.
“The Quebec Excellence Synchro Club is very happy that the Canadian Masters Championships are back on the calendar after a few years of absence, and that this competition is held in our city,” added Beaudoin. The club has one of the largest contingents of Masters athletes in the country, and we believe that these women can inspire our young athletes to pursue their passion and maintain healthy lifestyles as adults. We are especially pleased that competitors will be able to enjoy the world-class facilities used by the international elite as part of the FINA World Series held in the days leading up to the Canadian Masters Championships. We hope to receive many athletes from across the country and foreign delegations for this competition, and we are sure that everyone will be charmed by the beauty of the city and the kindness of its people.”
More inf0rmation about the Canada Open and the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series can be found on the Canada Artistic Swimming website and the FINA website.