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After eight days of competition in Gwangju, South Korea, USA Synchro would like to congratulate all of its athletes for their success at the 18th FINA World Championships. The U.S. was fortunate enough to have qualified into finals in every event they entered.
Technical Routines
The Technical Duet was the first routine debuted by the U.S. on the World Championship stage. 2016 Olympian Anita Alvarez, and partner Ruby Remati, swam to "It's Oh So Quiet" by Bjork. The pair made it through to finals and finished in 12th place with a finals score of 84.0190.
Bill May and partner, Natalia Vega, were electric in the Mixed Duet Technical event. Their upbeat K-Pop routine to "I am the best" by 2NE1 was easily a crowd favorite of the day. The duo barely missed the podium in this event, placing 4th with a score of 86.9235.
The U.S. had some tricks up their sleeve when it came to the Team Technical event. They showed up to the World Championships with an entirely new technical routine, shying away from the warrior routine they competed at the previous FINA World Series meets. They decided to bring back "It's Raining Men," a routine they competed last year. The team finished 11th in the final with a score of 84.0566.
Free Routines
Anita Alvarez and Ruby Remati hit the pool again for the Free Duet event and finished in 12th place with a score of 83.6333. The pair swam to "Fragile" by R&B rapper Tech N9ne. This routine was a risk for the pair because this genre of music is rarely used in Synchronized Swimming. This was the first competition swim of this routine together for Alvarez and Remati. Previously, Alvarez swam the free routine with Lindi Schroeder, while Remati swam the tech duet.
Alvarez made her World Championship debut as a soloist for the U.S., performing an emotional free solo to Jessie J's "Rose Confessional." Since she was a little girl, Alvarez has dreamed about performing as a soloist on the world stage. She placed 12th with a score of 84.7333.
In a drastic change of pace, Bill May and Natalia Vega slowed it down for the Mixed Duet Free event. The pair debuted a routine detailing their loose interpretation of the Biblical story of Solomé, and placed 4th with a score of 88.3000.
The U.S. took to the pool one more time for the Team Free Final. It was the last chance for the team to show off their robot themed routine on the World Championship stage and they earned 11th place with a score of 84.4000.
Find the full list of preliminary and final results from the 18th FINA World Championships here.