The Spanish ‘syncro’, in Paris with a previous stop at the European Championship in Belgrade

There are fifty-one days until the Paris Olympic Games begin. In artistic swimmingIn particular, there are exactly two months left before the next August 5 The Paris Aquatic Center becomes a pool of dreams. Among them, the sa a spanish team who is rushing to the last stage of his preparation and therefore, will experience in the coming days the last big test before the Olympic event.

Sant Cugat-Belgrade-Paris. The oversaturated calendar in which the aquatic world lives now 2024 leaves as the last great touchstone a Belgrade European Championship which will start next Monday and where the Spanish team will come with the desire to test its sensations. Less than four months have passed since the Doha World Cup left a generally good impression on the national team, but our sights are set on the last big test before the Olympic event.

Cristina Arámbula, Meritxell Ferré, Berta Ferreras, Marina García Polo, Lilou Lluis, Meritxell Mas, Alisa Ozhogina, Paula Ramírez, Sara Saldaña, Iris Tió and Blanca Toledano They are the eleven selected to face the continental event in team modalities. Of course, the list must be reduced to eight swimmers, waiting to see if a ninth reserve is allowed, before the Games in just one month. For this reason, the latest test bed offered by the European Championship is important.

But the competition doesn’t stop there. The continental event is the last major competition of the season for the national team’s mixed block, with Dennis González, Mireia Hernández and Emma Garcíarecovered from his injury, ready to put an end to a campaign in which, yes, they will have a Superfinal of the World Cup in the main competitions.

Therefore, there will be no lack of incentives in a continental event where Spain, re-established on the front line in recent years, wants to continue its development. “This European will see that every country thinks differently”explained the national coach Mayuko Fujiki. “Italy will go with the B team, Ukraine is doing something else, France will go with the team for Paris… We are thinking about the Games,” the Japanese coach explained the strategy of the Spanish team. “We want to use this competition as the last part of the preparation”he pointed out.

The preparations indicate that the focus will be especially on the five tasks that will decide the medals at the Games: the technical team, the free team, the acrobatic team, the technical duo and the free duo. “We need to improve so that the risk of ‘base-marks’ is lower,” said the Japanese technician. “There is an artistic part of the free team that we also promoted. We want to get more points in that part and we want to increase the difficulty of the stunts.that forced us to work more on speed and strength,” he described.

A very mental group

The entire selection focuses on getting the most out of each of the tasks. The girls from the Olympic bloc, focused on Paris, but also among the members of the mixed group who are aware that a European Championship is another good opportunity to try to fight to be at the top.

In determining the team, Doha became a championship that strengthened the national line of work. “We finished with a very good feeling at the World Cup because the choreographies had positive feedback,” he said. Berta Ferreras. “We want to continue to improve”he said, convinced that the Spanish team can continue to raise its level to fight big goals.

match Blanca Toledano, which puts focus. “Our strong point is the technical team, as we saw in Fukuoka,” he said referring to Spain’s historic world title in 2023. “So it is clear to us that we have to improve the acrobatics and I think we on a very good path in the future. of the Games,” says about one of the points where the Spanish team has worked the most. “We believe this is our weakness and we have changed it”warning

But the selection for this European Championship is not only focused on Olympic routines. The male solos with Dennis González and the mixed duets that Dennis will team up with Emma García, back after her injury, and with Mireia Hernandez They are another great attraction of the continental event. “After Doha, we have to keep the artistic sidewhich ultimately defines us, but also changes some things,” Mireia explains about what can be seen in Serbian lands.

Details what. “For example, on the technical side, we tried to make the arm part as artistic as possible. We also increased the difficulty that separated us from China,” he continues. There was more. “On the technical work, we fixed the things from numbers to regulations and we made an improvement in acrobatics, where we reached the highest difficulty“, he completed.

Because, while the girls in the team face the event in Belgrade focused on the Paris Games, the mixed duo continues to think long-term with their sights set on a possible integration of their work at the Los Angeles Olympic Games . Awaiting the decision, the entire Spanish artistic swimming team continues to work overtime as the clock counts down the days to the great dream of Paris. But first, a very difficult challenge awaits: The European Championship will serve to measure the sensations and to try to keep the Spanish ‘synchro’ on the front line.