Artistic swimmers across the region have responded with enthusiasm to the UANA Artistic Swimming Competition set for June 20, says the Chairperson of the FINA Technical Artistic Swimming Committee, Lisa Schott.

The UANA Online Artistic Swimming Competition was designed to give athletes much-needed training following the lockdown of sports around the world from March due to the coronavirus outbreak. Athletes will compete via Zoom from their homes in what is a land-based competition to keep artistic swimmers motivated until pools closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, are open.

Schott said the timing of the competition could not have been better.

“This is perfect timing for a virtual challenge in this amazing sport of artistic swimming as many of our federations have been locked out of the pool since March,” she said.

“Many of these athletes have been practising with their teams via dry-land virtual training since March and they are now used to this new form of training. The UANA artistic swimming community loves being connected by Zoom. Athletes love to compete in our out of the water.”

Evidence of this, she said, can be seen from the response from the swimming community to the news of the competition.

“The response to the UANA Virtual Artistic Swimming Challenge has been overwhelmingly positive. We have 19 federations registered for the challenge. We have 110 females participating in the four age categories.”

Females will compete in four categories: 12 and under, 13 to 15, 16 to 18, and 19 and over.

Schott said every precaution is being taken to ensure that the swimmers remain safe during the competition.

“There are two exercises that have been designed by coaches that take safety consideration as their number one priority when they were selecting the exercises for the athletes. The athletes’ coaches will be on the call, and will be unmuted and can stop his or her athlete at any time if they feel they are facing any risk,” she said.