News
USA to Compete Virtually Again This Weekend
by Alyssa Jacobs, USA Artistic Swimming
The senior national team will participate in the last leg of the FINA World Series virtually before heading to Greece for the Super Final. This weekend, Australia will play host to the second virtual World Series of the year and the United States will compete in free duet, highlight, mixed duet free, mixed duet technical and team technical categories.
Duet free will be the largest category of the competition for USA with 15 registered routines. The biggest competition will likely come from Korea, who won the first virtual World Series this year, and Israel who performed extremely well at the Paris stop in April. The electronic dance routine will once again be swam by Megumi Field and Natalia Vega who took gold at both competitions so far this year, most recently scoring an 85.7667. In Paris, Israel was about two points behind and in the virtual leg, Korea followed in second closely with just a .7 separation.
In highlight, USA will face a now familiar opponent in Canada and compete against Australia and Kazakhstan for the first time this season. USA topped the standings at both competitions this year and will showcase their cave-people highlight routine with improved synchronization and refined choreography.
After much excitement in Paris, both mixed duet pairs will compete in a larger field of routines. In free, Claudia Coletti and Kenny Gaudet will swim last out of eight routines. They faced Colombia, Spain and Puerto Rico already earlier this year and will test their talents against Japan, Belgium and Kazakhstan for the first time. Spain will be represented by a different pair than the one that outscored Coletti and Gaudet for gold in Paris. Ivy Davis will pair with Gaudet for the technical portion of the mixed duet competition against the same mixed pairs. They secured a silver medal in Paris behind Emma Garcia and Pau Ribes of Spain.
Yujin Chang, Jaime Czarkowski, Elizabeth Davidson, Emily Ding, Keana Hunter, Megumi Field, Dani Ramirez and Natalia Vega will showcase the Michael Jackson technical routine for the second time this season. France, Israel, Kazakhstan and Canada will also compete in the categories. Most notably, USA beat Canada at the last competition in this category for the first time since 2007. Team USA is energized to keep the momentum going and continue to make history.
With the premiere of the event happening in Australia, the live viewing means some early mornings for fans in the USA. Replays will be available on FINA’s YouTube after the event, but if you’re a passionate fan who is looking to set an alarm and watch the action premiere live or you live on the east coast, the times are included below.
Saturday May 7th beginning at 3:00 a.m. PT
Mixed Duet Technical: 5:15 a.m. PT (Draw 6 of 7)
Women’s Team Technical: 5:45 a.m. PT (Draw 3 of 5)
Mixed Team Highlight: 7:05 a.m. PT (Draw 2 of 4)
Sunday, May 8th beginning at 3:00 a.m. PT
Women’s Duet Free: 4:20 a.m. PT (Draw 13 of 15)
Mixed Duet Free: 5:15 a.m. PT (Draw 8 of 8)
Duet free will be the largest category of the competition for USA with 15 registered routines. The biggest competition will likely come from Korea, who won the first virtual World Series this year, and Israel who performed extremely well at the Paris stop in April. The electronic dance routine will once again be swam by Megumi Field and Natalia Vega who took gold at both competitions so far this year, most recently scoring an 85.7667. In Paris, Israel was about two points behind and in the virtual leg, Korea followed in second closely with just a .7 separation.
In highlight, USA will face a now familiar opponent in Canada and compete against Australia and Kazakhstan for the first time this season. USA topped the standings at both competitions this year and will showcase their cave-people highlight routine with improved synchronization and refined choreography.
After much excitement in Paris, both mixed duet pairs will compete in a larger field of routines. In free, Claudia Coletti and Kenny Gaudet will swim last out of eight routines. They faced Colombia, Spain and Puerto Rico already earlier this year and will test their talents against Japan, Belgium and Kazakhstan for the first time. Spain will be represented by a different pair than the one that outscored Coletti and Gaudet for gold in Paris. Ivy Davis will pair with Gaudet for the technical portion of the mixed duet competition against the same mixed pairs. They secured a silver medal in Paris behind Emma Garcia and Pau Ribes of Spain.
Yujin Chang, Jaime Czarkowski, Elizabeth Davidson, Emily Ding, Keana Hunter, Megumi Field, Dani Ramirez and Natalia Vega will showcase the Michael Jackson technical routine for the second time this season. France, Israel, Kazakhstan and Canada will also compete in the categories. Most notably, USA beat Canada at the last competition in this category for the first time since 2007. Team USA is energized to keep the momentum going and continue to make history.
With the premiere of the event happening in Australia, the live viewing means some early mornings for fans in the USA. Replays will be available on FINA’s YouTube after the event, but if you’re a passionate fan who is looking to set an alarm and watch the action premiere live or you live on the east coast, the times are included below.
Saturday May 7th beginning at 3:00 a.m. PT
Mixed Duet Technical: 5:15 a.m. PT (Draw 6 of 7)
Women’s Team Technical: 5:45 a.m. PT (Draw 3 of 5)
Mixed Team Highlight: 7:05 a.m. PT (Draw 2 of 4)
Sunday, May 8th beginning at 3:00 a.m. PT
Women’s Duet Free: 4:20 a.m. PT (Draw 13 of 15)
Mixed Duet Free: 5:15 a.m. PT (Draw 8 of 8)