Wenjing Deng put a golden polish on her junior career on Saturday, helping Toronto’s Aretaic Synchronized Swimming Alliance to a golden day at the 2015 Shiseido Canadian Open Synchronized Swimming Championships.
In team competition, Aretaic totaled 77.8678 points for the win and is the second junior team national champion from Ontario in a row after a 20-year drought. They narrowly edged the Calgary Aquabelles who came in second at 77.5096 and SynchroElite from Quebec City, third at 75.1560.
In duet, Deng partnered with Dylan Harding to take the crown with 78.4447. Andrée-Anne Côté and Camille Fiola-Dion from SynchroElite were second at 76.7930 and sisters Ioana and Maria Gheta from Synchro Laval were third at 75.5189.
Canadian national team wins two senior events
The Shiseido Canadian Open also had an international flavour, featuring Canada’s national team.
In the duet free event, Jacqueline Simoneau and Karine Thomas finished well ahead of pairs from Argentina, Venezuela and China with an impressive 91.900 points, bringing the crowd to its feet with a powerful performance.
In the national rankings of the same event, Virgine Lévesque and Geneviève Peel from Montreal Synchro narrowly edged Dollard Synchro’s Cossette Leblanc and Kali Wong for the title, 77.9667 points to 77.6333. Gabrielle Cadotte and Emmanuelle Chachai, also from Montreal Synchro, won bronze with 72.6000.
In the senior team free event, Team Canada dominated Argentina and China in the international rankings with 91.3333 points.
In the national rankings, Kali Wong helped Dollard Synchro capture the national crown with 76.5667 points, earning her fifth medal of the competition – four of them gold. SynchroElite was second at 74.7000 and Team Saskatchewan third at 73.1333.
Over 250 synchronized swimmers from 33 clubs, 8 countries and all 10 Canadian provinces were in Toronto to compete in the 2015 Shiseido Canadian Open Championships, along with over 80 coaches and 30 officials.