ARTISTIC SWIMMING: Five Russian wins, but Inui also stars in Tokyo World Series

Japan's Yukiko Inui (Photo: FINA/Hiroyuki Nakamura)

The FINA Artistic Swimming World Series has had a lot of trouble attracting deep fields for its competitions, usually combining the event with an existing national competition. But with the Olympic Games on the horizon in Tokyo in 2020, there was much more interest than usual in the Tokyo leg of the 2019 schedule.

Heading the list were the Russian entries, including World Champion Svetlana Kolesnichenko, who won the Solo Technical with a brilliant performance that scored 94.0252. She and new Duet partner Svetlana Romashina – also a former World Champion – dominated the Technical and Free events, winning with scores of 95.7896 and 96.9333.

But there were plenty of other top competitors, with Japan’s Yukiko Inui – fourth in both Technical and Free in the 2017 Worlds – showing she is ready to compete for medals next year. She was runner-up in the Solo Tech at 92.0159, ahead of 2017 silver medalist Ona Carbonnell (ESP: 90.5317.). She went on to win the Solo Free at 93.4667, ahead of Italy’s Linda Cerutti (91.1000).

Inui and Megumu Yoshida were strong seconds to Romashina and Kolesnichenko in both Duet events as well, in highly impressive performances.

The Russian Mixed Duet pair of Aleksandr Maltsev and Mayya Gurbanberdieva showed that they will be leading contenders for honors at the World Championships this year with wins in the Technical and Free events. Summaries:

FINA World Series no. 4
Tokyo (JPN) ~ 27-29 April 2019
(Full results here)

Solo Technical: 1. Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS), 94.0252; 2. Yukiko Inui (JPN), 92.0159; 3. Ona Carbonell (ESP), 90.5317.

Solo Free: 1. Inui (JPN), 93.4667; 2. Linda Cerutti (ITA), 91.1000; 3. Jacqueline Simoneau (CAN), 90.2000.

Duet Technical: 1. Svetlana Romashina/Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS), 95.7896; 2. Yukiko Inui/Megumu Yoshida (JPN), 91.3775; 3. Linda Cerutti/Constanca Ferro (ITA), 89.5706.

Duet Free: 1. Romashina/Kolesnichenko (RUS), 96.9333; 2. Inui/Yoshida (JPN), 94.2000; 3. Wenwen Jiang/TingTing Jiang (CHN), 93.7667.

Team Technical: 1. Japan, 91.3871; 2. Canada, 87.5982; 3. France, 85.9191.

Team Free: 1. Japan, 93.0333; 2. Spain, 89.2667; 3. Canada, 88.2000.

Team Free Combination: 1. Japan, 92.3000; 2. China, 88.6333; 3. Korea, 79.0667.

Team Highlight: 1. Japan, 92.0000; 2. Spain, 91.6333; 3. Canada, 88.4333.

Mixed Duet Technical: 1. Aleksandr Maltsev/Mayya Gurbanberdieva (RUS), 90.2902; 2. Atsushi Abe/Yumi Adachi (JPN), 88.0718; 3. Emma Garcia/Pau Ribes (ESP), 84.5511.

Mixed Duet Free: 1. Maltsev/Gurbanberdieva (RUS), 93.5333; 2. Giorigo Minisini/Manila Flamini (ITA), 91.9000; 3. Abe/Adachi (JPN), 89.8333.