BUDAPEST, July 20 -- Russian team claimed victory in the Women Team Technical at the FINA World Junior Artistic Swimming Championships here on Friday, followed by Ukraine and Japan, while the Chinese team finished fourth.
The Russian's gold was worth 92.7347 points, while the Ukrainian had 90.3331 points. The bronze medal went to the Japanese team with 89.0176 points, closely followed by the Chinese team who managed 88.7030 points.
20 nations, representing all continents of the globe, were a part of the team technical competition.
For the defending champions Russia, the tasks were high, to match their sound ambitions. The eight-athlete squad was fully armed to vie for gold. The draw placed them to exhibit in the last, which gave them favor and uneasiness at the same time.
It was no way easy for eventual champions to pull together, but they did that job well. Highly spirited and properly emotional, they gave a tremendous "Samurai" portion.
Russian squad included Antonina Bazlova, Milena Maretich, Kira Snisarenko, Sofia Titova, Kristina Tagankina, Arina Zhavoronkova, Kseniia Ladnaia and Elizaveta Minaeva as they have everything to prove rising stars of tomorrow.
"We did everything as we planned, it felt all good, and we won," Russian senior coach Natalia Mendygalieva explained what the simple winning formula had been.
Ukraine and Japan were yet again the other two medal winning nations. Ukraine obtained the silver on their season's best of 90.3331 points, so the junior swimmers and their coach could not contain their tears, realizing their overall score was that high.
Japan won another Asian rivalry for bronze, leaving China again at fourth place. In fact, the difference between the bronze medal holder and the closest challengers was not evident. China and Spain ended on 88.7030 and 87.1724 points to rank fourth and fifth respectively, followed by Italy, Canada, USA and Greece, which was the same composition, though in different order in the top nine, compared to the previous edition in Kazan.
After three competition days in Budapest, the team medals overall sees Russia on top with an impressive five gold pieces, chased by another artistic swimming power of Ukraine resting on five silver pillars. Japan and China are so far the only two other medal awarded nations at the championships.