Leadership conflicts: Russia wins in synchronized swimming again

The synchronized swimming program at the European Aquatics Championships is nearing completion, and our team has accelerated in the end. After the victory of the groups in the free program, gold was won in the technical program. It was the second highest award for our entire national team in Paris. And by the end of the day, there were three of them — Nikita Schleicher and Ruslan Ternovoy won in synchronized jumping from a 10-meter tower. This allowed the Russians to rise to third place in the overall medal standings of the European Championship, lagging only behind Great Britain and Italy. And in synchronized swimming, we are in second place in terms of the number of medals.

The scandalous group

The special interest in the technical program of the groups was fueled by the free skate performances that took place the day before. On Monday, August 3, the Russians put the first gold in the piggy bank of our national team, which the rivals did not like very much. Svetlana Romashina's team, for whom this was the first big victory as head coach, complicated the program at the last moment, performing the same hybrid element as the Spanish national team at the end.

— We soaked up the bill, it can't help but rejoice, I want to say "the prank was a success," Romashina told TASS. — Because exactly what we planned, we managed to do, we managed to win, otherwise our reserve would not have been enough.

The "prank" angered the coach of the U.S. national youth team, Inga Grebenyuk-Giller, who spoke out on social media. Paying tribute to Russia as "one of the driving forces of synchronized swimming" and calling the program of our national team excellent, she further wrote: "For me, leadership in sports is more than just winning a gold medal. If you defeat your main competitor by using his innovations instead of creating your own, then you win the competition, but you lose the title of innovator. Winning a championship and leading a sport are not always the same thing."

Code errors: how our athletes started the World Aquatics Championships

Our synchronized swimmers have four medals, but so far not a single gold one.

Spanish synchronized swimmer Alisa Ozhogina expressed even more indignation, accusing the Russians of theft.

"I would really like to ask them what was going on in their heads when they made this decision. Is a gold medal really so valuable that it doesn't matter how it's won? Copy from a country that is usually lower than you? Is this the right way? Steal someone else's idea?" she wrote.

However, the former head coach of our national team, Tatiana Pokrovskaya, did not see any crime in the incident.

"What do you mean, stolen?" They were constantly trying to notice or copy something from our team," she stressed in an interview with Izvestia. — The Spanish women's program was incomprehensible, and the judges did not understand it either. As for us, our athletes acted within the rules, it is impossible to talk about some kind of theft here.

Class Confirmation

On Tuesday, the water in the synchronized swimming pool in Paris continued to boil. In the morning, the medals were awarded in a solo technical program, which also turned out to have a touch of scandal. This time we did not participate in it: Russian Valeria Plekhanova was far from the podium, taking seventh place.

However, many soloist competitions have raised questions about the judging. Belarusian Vasilina Khondoshko performed head and shoulders better than all competitors, showing a complex technical program and not making serious mistakes, but the jury lacked artistry. The profit from this was received by the Spaniard Iris Tio-Casas, who took the gold. Khondoshko lagged behind her by less than 25 hundredths of a point, winning silver.

The confrontation between Russia and Spain returned in the evening session — in the final of the technical program of the groups. Unlike the free skate, there are no preliminary stages, so you can't peek at the competitors. We were lucky with the draw: the Russians got the ninth starting number out of ten teams, and the Spaniards got the third.

Our main competitors came out in swimsuits with a large inscription "Hope", which means "hope" in English. And this hope lived with them right up to the assessment of the Russian national team. The Spanish women had a fairly simple program, there were minor out—of-sync events, but in general everything was clear and, most importantly, artistic. The Italians with the second most difficult program lost to them by almost 12 points.

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Maya Doroshko, captain of the Russian synchronized swimming team, talks about the mood for the 2026 World Cup, loads and coach Svetlana Romashina

The Russians got the most difficult program. The girls coped with it, showing a performance close to perfect. However, there was still anxiety. The last flag on the screen flashed yellow, which means that the judges could review and not count the element. The Russians waited for the assessment with visible tension, which was replaced by team glee. Yes, the Israeli national team also played after us, but it did not claim gold.

The victory lifted the Russian team from fourth place in the synchronized swimming competition to second. We beat Spain (1-4-2) and Greece (2-0-0) with two gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Unfortunately, we won't be able to reach the leaders. Briton Ranjo Tomblin secured the first team place for his compatriots with four gold medals (two in solo and two in mixed duet).

On Wednesday, August 5, the program of synchronized swimmers and synchronized swimmers at the current European Championships will end. The final discipline will be the acrobatic program of the groups.

And by the end, the Russian national team had another gold medal. Nikita Schleicher and Ruslan Ternovoy won the synchronized 10-meter diving. The athletes scored 443.82 points. The second place was taken by Italians Simone Conte and Raffaelle Pelligra with 416.46 points. Ukrainians Mark Hrytsenko and Alexey Sereda finished third with 406.05 points.