Svetlana Romashina continued Russia’s clean sweep of the synchronised swimming medals to take Solo Technical gold on day four of the London 2016 European Aquatics Championships.
Romashina had already topped the podium once in London, winning the Duet Free title alongside Natalia Ishchenko with their new ‘Mermaids’ routine they hope will help them defend their Olympic title this summer.
But the Russian had plenty left in the tank for this morning’s Solo Tech performance, scoring 93.8865 to claim top spot from Ukraine’s Anna Voloshyna and Italy’s Linda Cerruti with Great Britain’s Olivia Federici finishing 10th.
Romashina has won the Solo Tech title at the past two World Championships, as well as the overall European Solo crown in Berlin two years ago.
And with separate medals being awarded for the Technical and Free routines for the first time at this year’s European Championships, the 26-year old was always favourite in the Tech event, ultimately claiming the title by more than three points.
“There’s no way it was an easy win,” said Romashina. “In synchro, no win is easy! We train for hours, really hard, so every performance is really tough to present.
“Of course, I’m more than happy to win my first European gold in Solo Technical – I love my routine, love the choreography and love the elements it consists of.”
Tireless Voloshyna lands fourth silver in four days
To her credit, Voloshyna was the only other swimmer to score more than 90 points, upgrading from her fourth place at last year’s World Championships to land her fourth silver of London 2016 on 90.7289.
Despite competing in her seventh routine in four days, the 24-year old maintained plenty of energy and height throughout her elegant routine to Yasmin Levy’s ‘Triste Vals’.
Cerruti has also been a regular on the podium in London, starring with bronze medals in the Solo Free and Duet Free.
And the 22-year old, who will make her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 later this year, continued to underline her exciting talent with a third bronze, scoring 87.1493 to snatch the final place on the podium from Greece’s Evangelia Platanioti on 86.0587.
“I’m getting tired as we go on and today my performance didn’t go as well as expected,” said Cerruti.
“But when I received the first medal here, which was the first in solo in international championships, that freed my mind and now I have confidence in the venue, in the judging, so it’s easier to perform routines good enough for the podium.”
Top 10 finish for Britain’s Federici
Competing Solo for the first time at an international competition, Britain’s Federici was also impressive, adding three points to her tally from last month’s English national championships to score 79.2639.
And the 26-year old, who finished eighth with partner Katie Clark in yesterday’s Duet Free competition, admitted she had her sights set on surpassing 80 points.
“Technical is a tough event,” said Federici. “You have so much to fit in in a really short space of time.
“The elements are really important so I was really trying to focus on my execution. It was another really good experience but I really hope I can improve upon that in the future.”
- Click here for full results from the Solo Tech Final.
Tickets for the European Aquatics Championships – the biggest event to be held at the London Aquatics Centre since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games – are still available either online HERE or on the door for the first five days.
Swimming news courtesy of LEN 2016.
Considering what has been going on lately, are the Russians being tested?