Russian synchronised swimming championship 2018: day 1
The Russian Synchronised Swimming Championship started in Kazan on April 25. During three days the participants of the tournament will compete for the major awards of the competitions. Day 1 brought no sensation: three gold medals out of three sets went to Team Moscow.
During the opening press conference of the national championship, three-time Olympic champion Olga Brusnikina named candidates for the medals: “Traditionally, Teams Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Moscow region and Tatarstan are favourites of the tournament and other synchro swimming competitions. Probably, these are the four best teams who constantly share the podium and compete for it.”
The words of the first Vice-President of the Russian Synchro Swimming Federation turned out to be fateful. The teams from these regions fought for the medals of Competition Day 1.
The Russian Championship kicked off with the combination routine, which is considered one of the most spectacular in synchronised swimming. The whole medal set in this discipline will go to the capital city. Team Moscow became the national champion with a three-point gap, the synchro swimmers from the Moscow region took the second place, and Moscow Team Three became third. It should be noted that six teams represent Moscow in this championship, so their names come with digital notations. Apart from the Moscow synchro swimmers, Tatarstan, Rostov Oblast and Saint Petersburg have brought more than one team each to perform in the tournament.
The host of the competitions and guests from the northern capital city joined the representatives from Moscow on the podium in the next discipline of Day 1, i.e. technical solo. Olesya Arkhipova of Tatarstan Team One took bronze, Karina Shaydullina of Saint Petersburg Team One snatched the second ranking. Moscow Team is again on top of the final results protocol. Ekaterina Ignatyeva got the better of all the others, but did it less confidently than her teammate. There was a one-point margin between Ignatyeva and her closest pursuer.
The final event of the competition programme for Day 1 was a free team routine. It was up to the teams to choose technical elements to create a single composition. The first three positions were occupied again by the capital city. Leadership of Team Moscow in this discipline was undeniable: an excellently performed routine, 94,2333 points from the judges and third gold for the day. The Moscow region became a silver medallist, Moscow Team Two finished third.