In a sign that Russia’s stranglehold on Olympic synchronized swimming gold could continue for years to come, the country’s girls team has won gold in every event at the junior world championships.
Russia has won every Olympic gold medal in synchronized swimming since Sydney 2000, domination that looks set to remain after the results at the championships in Volos, Greece over the weekend.
Russia won all four events, with commanding performances in the two Olympics disciplines, the duet and the team swims.
Milena Miteva and Elena Prokofyeva were far ahead of the competition in the duet with a score of 168.5908, winning by almost six points from Japan, with Ukraine’s third.
In the team competition, Russia scored 168.1266 with a team of Miteva, Prokofyeva, Vlada Chigireva, Mikhaela Kalancha, Vasilisa Mironova, Evgeniya Shtefan, Maria Shurochkina and Gelena Topilina.
This compared to just 160.6472 for Japan in second, with Ukraine again third.
Chigireva also won the solo event, and was one of the eight-strong team to win the combination event.
Russia's star performers at the recent Summer Games in London were Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina, who won the duet with a macabre-theme routine and were part of the gold-winning team.
