Twenty-two years ago, the Fukuoka World Aquatics Championships kickstarted the remarkable international careers of some now household names in the sport.
With the return of the world’s premier aquatics event to this Japanese city, World Aquatics catches up with some of the teenage stars competing at these championships who may just become the next batch of Fukuoka breakout stars.
Theodora Garrido (16) & Nicolas Campos (15) | Artistic Swimming | Chile
With their country’s only indoor Artistic Swimming venue out of action due to renovations, the Chilean teenage pair of Theodora Garrido and Nicolas Campos have been on what they call their own ‘world tour’. Beginning in April the mixed duet have spent a month training in Peru, competed at the World Cup in France, bunkered down in Spain for some final pre-meet training, and have now landed in Japan ready to take on the best artistic swimmers in the world.
It’s been a whirlwind six months for the pair who still need to fit online school classes and homework around their six hours of daily training - wherever they might be in the world.
For the youngest of the two, fifteen-year-old Campos, the World Aquatics Championships are just another stop on the road on what will no doubt be a long career in the sport.
“Being so young and with not as much experience as the rest, being able to make it to the World Championships final feels really good,” Campos told World Aquatics.
Swimming through to the Mixed Duet Technical final on day three of competition, the Chileans were the youngest pair in the pool but seemed unphased by the pressure of the world’s premier aquatics competition.
Their ‘showtime’ smiles remained after the performance and speaking to World Aquatics sixteen-year-old Garrido was taking it all in.
“It's really crazy because we are the youngest in this competition and it's really crazy to be a part of this,” Garrido said.
“It was very good (the performance),” Campos added.
“It was the score we expected and our performance in the water was just right.”
For Campos, it has been a rapid rise to the senior ranks having only taken up the sport just under four years ago. Following his sister’s lead, who was a competent artistic swimmer in her own right, by 2021 Campos had already become a gold medallist at the South American Youth Championships which led to a berth at the World Junior Artistic Swimming Championships in Quebec City, Canada.
Here Campos teamed up with his current Mixed Duet partner Garrido as the pair finished 8th in the final behind some now world-class athletes including the sport’s new Mixed Duet world champion, Yotaro Sato.
Quebec became the catalyst for their emergence onto the senior circuit, with World Cup appearances then leading into their World Championships debut in Fukuoa where Campos and Garrido placed 8th in the final.
“I love the sport because of how free one can be,” Campos told World Aquatics.
“I can try new movements, do new things, and improve in so many different aspects. I think that was the first thing that called me to this sport.”
“You can really feel free in the water,” Garrido added.
“And I love being in the water, so I enjoy it a lot.”
After Fukuoka, the pair will wrap up their ‘world tour’ and return home to Santiago hoping the National Stadium’s Aquatic Centre will have completed their renovations as it’s the only indoor pool in the country with a depth suitable for Artistic Swimming training.
A home Pan-American Games then awaits the pair later this year before another tilt at a world title when the World Aquatics Championships heads to Doha in 2024.
In Fukuoka the pair are competing in the Mixed Duet Free, Mixed Duet Technical & Mixed Team Technical, with Garrido also competing in the Acrobatic & Mixed Team Free.