“The male solo has become more interesting to watch than the female solo.” Chigireva about synchronized swimming at the World Championships – with different rules and without Russians

For synchronized swimming, the Doha World Championships are over, but they have left even more questions about the development of the sport than the previous ones. Two-time Olympic champion Vlada Chigireva agreed to talk about the main trends based on the imperfections of the new rules system.

Here is his monologue on the state of synchronized swimming before Paris 2024.

This is the second world championship organized according to new rules,” explains Vlada. “And we were once again convinced that the system was fragile. What we paid attention to during the last World Championship is not appreciated today. I spoke with athletes from other countries and they told me that at the last World Championships they were severely punished for short turns; at these World Championships, with a less experienced team of referees, they were selectively punished: some received a zero, others not.

They gave me the example of a Canadian who became a world champion. The girls said she had many faults, but they turned a blind eye to it. There were also cases where the program ended after the music finished, and for some this was forgiven, for others not.

It has been said that this World Championship will value artistry more, but Vasilina Khondoshko’s solo showed that this is not the case.

WHAT PROBLEMS VASILINA’S SOLO REVEALED

The first thing I want to say is: I am very happy for Vasilina. Go there without a flag, without any support, with restrictions and generally without understanding how the whole world will welcome you! But she managed to climb the pedestal, and even do it with such noise. On the Inside Synchro website, where the results of the day are summarized, Vasilina became the main character.

In the semi-final she had a different difficulty, there were other movements, that is, in this short time she had to adapt to a new solo, while usually in our country composition is practiced until it becomes automatic. In addition, you had to fill out all the forms correctly and have time to do all these movements. She basically crossed all seven ligaments during the landing strike, barely bent her legs and had no opportunity to rest. And I think that was actually a great irony of the new rules – they were pushed to the point of absurdity. A brilliant move! I corresponded with Elena Voronova even before the final, and she told me: “You don’t have to watch it, you won’t like it.” I was just complaining to him that there was no movement or movement of interest. I said to him: “What, you made seven identical packages”? She: “Better. We have completed a movement. That is, we not only made seven identical ligaments, but we also made the same content in each ligament, the same movements, slightly changing the feet and the curvatures of the legs.

https://t.me/Elena_Voronova22/400

I told him it was great. And I won’t go back on my words. Now they write that Vasilina either wanted to understand how high she could rise with such content without receiving any punishment, or she simply did not care about the new rules. It seems to me that it’s two in one. I would like to take such a step myself. It’s really awesome. I am happy for Vasilina, for the director, for her coach. And I love that afterward, the world of synchronized swimming started to stir up. Maybe not at the next start, not at the Paris Olympics, but I think after these new rules they will undergo changes, hopefully for the better.

CALLS ARE LIVE

Thanks to this precedent, the world began to say that the rules are strange, that they do not aim for complexity and objectivity. When only our athletes and coaches talked about it, of course, no one heard us, and when I talked about it to girls from other teams, they responded: “What can we do about it, we respect the rules that exist. Of course, they play, because at the World Championships in Japan, according to these rules, any team could win.

They have already started to appeal and won their case. This is what happened with the Italian duo who, after considering the protest, gained two places in the final table. By the way, calls are paid. So you still need to think about whether you should submit or not. A young Austrian girl filed a complaint against the judicial commission; two hearings have already taken place; we follow the process.

CHINA TAKES ITS TAKE

Justice triumphed in the Olympic programs: the strongest team in these competitions, the Chinese team, won. Japan always executes its programs more or less cleanly, Spain executes them precisely, interestingly and under pressure, the USA, Italy, Greece and Israel do their best, but they are all far from the level of the Chinese national team.

It is noteworthy that the second place in the total of Olympic group programs is now the American team, which did not even reach the last Games.

SOLO MALE

In conclusion, I can say that I have always loved watching solo competitions. I admired the performances of Olga Brusnikina, Natalia Ishchenko, Virginie Didier, Hemma Mengual, Ona Carbonel. It was always a performance, charisma, a delicious, supernatural performance. Today, unfortunately, the solo has become a group exercise, there is no more artistic talent. It seems to me that it is not for nothing that in the current conditions they want to remove this program from the World Championship programs.

And this time, in my opinion, the solo was more interesting to watch not in the women’s competition, but in the men’s competition. The Spanish athlete demonstrated some artistic talent and beautiful, smooth legs. This is what surprised and upset me at the same time.