Huge congratulations to Team Phoenix, CGA and Cosmo Dolphins coaches and athletes Vicky, Tanya, Jess, Laura and Skye who have just competed in the World Aquatics World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
This was the most successful SA Artistic Swimming Team ever to compete at the World Championships.
This World Championships was the first major competition where the new Artistic rules were being implemented. The rules reward performance and execution with high risk attracting high reward but equally high penalties if it doesn't quite work. The Technical Controllers were rightly very strict when applying the new regulations and Base Mark (BM) penalties were prevalent throughout the events. In Free Duet for example of the 36 entries only 4 did not have a BM, 5 had 1 BM (incl our duet) and 27 had 2 or more, 12 had 3 or more.
This competition was certainly a good learning experience for all the countries and we look forward to improving in Doha next year.
In Free Solo Skye recorded the highest placing ever by an SA Free Soloist.
In Tech Solo Skye recorded the 2nd highest ever placing after Laura's highest placing in Budapest last year.
In Free Duet Laura and Jess recorded the highest placing ever by an SA Free Duet in the past 29 years.
Remarkable results given the less than ideal circumstances the team had to negotiate in pre-competition preparation.
When Team Phoenix started offering High Performance Training opportunities a year and a half ago - our mission was to improve the standard of the sport in SA.
We are pleased to see that our efforts in improving the standard of our athletes is starting to gain momentum. We know there is a long way to go - and much more work to be done, but as all our competition athletes have showed this year the journey is well underway.
Team Phoenix is really proud of our coaches and athletes and look forward to even greater things to come.
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