There are two answers to the title question: a short one and a long one. The short one is that it is a big show, full of surprises. The long one is explained in this article.
Thanks to the new rules, no one can say exactly what to expect in the artistic swimming competition at the Aquatics Center in Paris from August 5 to 10. Will the dominance we saw in Doha from the People’s Republic of China continue -- where the country took nine World Championship medals in all, including seven gold? Will Japan return to the top of the world rankings and repeat their performance at the Fukuoka 2023 edition of the World Aquatics Championships?
The Spaniards have not shown their true potential so far, and in Doha they concentrated on making sure they got the quota, taking no risks. As Mayuko Fujiki told World Aquatics earlier: “As the leader of the team, we have to focus on what we can control and show our best version in Paris.”
Team USA: We Must Keep Our Feet on the Ground
Team USA is famous for their acrobatics and puts on a real show in the water. With a new, rejuvenated team, they are improving step by step, and we saw how focused they were at the Super Final in Budapest.
The USA has a great chance to win a medal in Paris, but their head coach Andrea Fuentes underlined that they are not focused on winning a medal, but on doing their best: "You always fight to be the best, as an athlete you always want to be the best, but it's a mistake to think about medals. You have to focus on your performance, to give your best. If you think about the result, you'll forget how. I always tell the team that you must be the best that you have ever been and then the goal can come. I try to keep them on the task, more than the result.”
Andrea Fuentes believes it's important to keep your head down and work hard because hard work pays off: "It's a new team, we've only been together for a year. It's important that they stay focused and keep their feet on the ground.
Team Mexico | It’s Only About You, About Your Performance
We've seen upsets in sports before, so why not in Paris? Mexico is doing its best to impress the world with its performance. The name of Nuria Diosdado stands out in a young squad that is preparing for its fourth Olympics, giving the team youthful vigor along with an experienced athlete.
"You cannot see the other's performance like before the new rules. Now it's all about you, your performance, the difficulty of your routine. You have to focus on yourself. Before the Olympics, we look for how to improve, how to be cleaner, to be more artistic, as Nuria Diosdado says.
Team Canada | It’s Anybody’s Game
We saw at the Super Final in Budapest that the Canadians can take their training to the highest level. Kenzie Priddell believes they can do anything, because anything can happen in Paris: "Anything can happen, it's anyone's game. It's going to be super exciting to see where the countries go in the medals. We're just going to push, do our best and see what we can do.”
“Our tactic will be to get the DD as high as possible: Keep increasing the difficulty as we do in every competition, come together with the synchronisation and power, and find a good balance for the team.” as the Canadian artistic swimmer, Kenzie Priddell says.