Zhou Xin, FINA Media Committee Member from China

China dominated the Free Combination and Russian world champion pair Mikhaela Kalancha/Aleksander Maltsev ruled the mixed duet on the second day of the 11th FINA Synchronized Swimming World Trophy in Yangzhou (CHN) on Sunday.

China repeated the feat of last year as the host team, consisting of the Jiangsu provincial team, and claimed four titles out of five up for grabs this weekend. The competition of the mixed duet was the world top level as the top two finishers were world champions and runner-ups from Kazan 2015 World Championships.

mixed duet podium

Mikhaela Kalancha/Aleksander Maltsev of Russia, World champions in mixed duet free routine, performed the newly-composed Swan Lake and won the title in 92.6000 points.

"I am satisfied with their performance because they showed emotional part in the routine, just like the actor and actress, not only competitive swimmers. Maybe they were not perfect technically today, but perfect in art expression. We made some changes to this routine that they performed at the Kazan World’s" said Gana Maksimova, long-time coach of the mixed pair. "We train about 8 or 9 hours every day and just the same way like all the other national team members. I think the best way to promote the mixed duet and men synchro swimmers is to add the men's solo event to the World Championships. It is not a good idea to have more mixed duet competitions since we need enough time to prepare the routines according to the limited men synchro swimmers," Maksimova said.

World silver medallists Giorgio Minisini/Manila Flamini came second in the mixed duet in 91.2000 and Atsushi Abe/Yumi Adach of Japan finished third. Meng Xinyue/Deng Zeyang of China ranked fourth.

Over the theme of the "Nutcracker", China performed joyful and flexible dancing elements in the Free Combination routine and brought the local fans into the fairy tale world. China earned a total of 92.4667. Italy choose "Swan Lake" to clinch the silver medal in 91.0667 while Russia finished third (89.6000).

"We made some changes to the Nutcrackers which was the routine we showed in our National Championships two months ago. We performed our best and improved after each competition. It is a great honour and opportunity to learn from the other strong teams of the world and to represent China in the World Trophy," said Wang Fang, coach of Jiangsu team.

About 80 synchro swimmers from 7 countries competed in the two-day World Trophy which came to an end on Sunday November 27.

FINAL RANKING