USA Artistic Swimming Ends Competitive Season with Double Bronze & Silver at 2026 World Cup Super Final

USA Artistic Swimming wrapped up its 2026 international season with an exciting weekend at the World Aquatics World Cup Super Final in Toronto, competing in all 11 events for the first time in program history while bringing home one silver and two bronze medals. 

The Super Final also marked the first competition featuring the team's full Olympic Training Squad under Head Coach Megan Abarca. Since the team's last full international competition at the Paris World Cup stop in late March, Abarca's goal was for the athletes to finish the season swimming with confidence, cohesion, and artistry—and to show just how much the team has grown over the past three months. 

Three-time Olympian Anita Alvarez kicked off the weekend in the Women's Solo Technical Final, showcasing tremendous improvement since the first World Cup stop in Medellín. Alvarez increased her score by 130.305 points to finish fourth overall while earning the third-highest Artistic Impression score of the competition. 

She returned the following day for the Women's Solo Free, competing the routine internationally for just the second time. Alvarez once again captivated both fans and judges with her artistry, finishing fourth in Artistic Impression and seventh overall. Social media was filled with comments praising her unmatched presence in the water—something that continues to separate her as one of the sport's most artistic performers. 

From Medellín to Toronto, Alvarez made remarkable improvements in her return to the solo stage. After several years away from solo competition, it has been exciting to watch one of the sport's most artistic athletes continue finding her rhythm again. 

Junior National Team athlete David Llorente had one of the busiest weekends of anyone on Team USA. 

Recently selected to join the Senior National Team training in Los Angeles while continuing to prepare for the Junior World Championships in August, Llorente competed in four events, gaining valuable experience against some of the world's best athletes. 

Although his Men's Solo Technical routine received zero base marks, Llorente still finished eighth overall. He bounced back the following day with a clean Men's Solo Free performance, placing seventh with a score of 201.6338. 

Llorente also competed in both Mixed Duet events with two different partners. Alongside Yilian Yuan, the pair improved upon their Mixed Duet Technical performance from its debut in Pontevedra, finishing seventh with a score of 185.7642. 

Later in the weekend, Llorente teamed up with Chloe Kim for the first time internationally in the Mixed Duet Free competition. The newly formed duo finished sixth with a score of 178.6358. 

With Junior World Championships just around the corner, the Super Final provided another valuable opportunity for Team USA's young athletes to continue developing on the international stage. 

Olympic silver medalists Jaime Czarkowski and Anita Alvarez continued building on their historic first season together. 

After winning the United States' first World Cup duet medal in seven years earlier this season in Pontevedra, the pair followed it up with another podium finish, capturing bronze in the Women's Duet Technical competition. 

"This is one of my favorite routines of the season," said Abarca. "It is truly the perfect music for Anita and Jaime—their pick—and it was a fantastic swim: energetic, commanding and powerful. Ending up on the podium with this duet after only one season of competition together was an amazing result." 

The duo narrowly missed another medal in the Women's Duet Free competition, but still delivered another powerful swim while increasing their score by an impressive 151.9276 points since the first World Cup stop of the season. 

Team USA opened the team events with a silver medal in the Team Technical competition. 

"I love this routine, but to have executed a clean, high-energy swim was extremely rewarding," Abarca said. 

For the first time this season, Team USA reintroduced its fan-favorite 2025 "Body" routine in the Team Free competition. While the routine looked polished in Toronto, the team had only been working on the revised choreography for about a month before deciding to debut it on one of the biggest stages of the season. 

The coaching staff believed in the routine's potential but intentionally kept expectations modest because of the limited preparation time. That made the bronze-medal finish one of the biggest highlights of the weekend. 

"I am beyond proud of this group for trusting the process and working with a fury to be prepared for the Super Final after only working on the new choreography for one month," Abarca said. "It was such a team effort, and I think it showed what we are capable of when we aren't afraid of a challenge." 

Assistant coach Marivi Escalona echoed those sentiments. 

"It was not a perfect swim, but that doesn't take away from the feeling of fighting until the end, trusting the work and accepting a challenge," Escalona said. 

The final day of competition saw Team USA finish fifth in the Team Acrobatic event after receiving base marks on several acrobatic elements that impacted the final score. 

While the Super Final marked the end of the Senior National Team's competitive season, it also showcased just how much progress the group has made in only six months together under a new coaching staff. 

"I am beyond proud of the way the team performed at the Super Final, and it makes me so excited to see what they are capable of next year," Abarca said. "These were their best performances of the season, and that is a great way to round out our final competition of the year." 

Abarca believes the team's growth extends beyond the scores. 

"We will continue to grow together in all ways," she said. "With only six months together, I feel like I am really starting to understand what it takes to motivate and continue pushing this team. We see the strengths as well as areas of opportunity, and we are excited to see how we can develop together over the next two years leading up to the LA Games." 

The head coach also reflected on the unique challenges the team faced throughout the season. 

"We have made a lot of progress this season, and we still have a lot of work to do," Abarca said. "This was a unique season in that we started with a new staff, we started later in the season, and we held our Olympic Trials mid-year. I'm proud of the team and our coaching staff for the work we put into these swims together, and I know we are going to keep working even harder to prove that we are as competitive as ever." 

The World Cup Super Final concludes the Senior National Team's 2026 competitive season and marks another important building block on the road to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The squad will continue training full-time in Los Angeles as preparations begin for the 2027 season.