With longtime powerhouse Russia not competing in Paris, the United States and China are the leaders going into the team final at the 2024 Olympics Wednesday for the sport once known as synchronized swimming.
And that means U.S. has a shot at taking home a gold in artistic swimming.
China had 712.4455 points on Tuesday through the technical and free team routines. The United States had 643.0255 points, followed by Spain (633.6119) and Japan (627.9308).
The final acrobatic team routine is set for 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, with 10 countries in the running. The U.S. is scheduled to perform 9th, with China at the end.
Could the U.S. take gold?
Russia began a run of dominance of the sport, formerly known as synchronized swimming, at the 2000 Sydney Games, winning every Olympic gold since then — 12 straight victories in all.
But the country has been largely shunned on the international sports stage since launching its war on Ukraine. Russia has not entered an artistic swimming team at a major competition since the Tokyo Olympics.
Now, for the first time since 2008, the U.S. is in the field.
The competition takes place in three stages, with a technical routine, a free routine, and for the first time, an aerobatic routine.
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NBC Olympics reported the Andrea Fuentes, the U.S. head coach for artistic swimming, thinks the addition of the third phase could make the competition more unpredictable than in years past.
“We’ve always been a little bit bored of how every competition we knew what was going to be the rank for years and this is the first period of time that artistic swimming has an unknown rank and everything can happen,” Fuentes, a four-time Olympic medalist for Spain, told NBC Olympics.
The newly-added artistic routine, which emphasizes airborne and platform elements, plays to Team USA’s strengths, Fuentes said, as the U.S. appeared on the aerobatic routine podium at both the 2023 and 2024 World Championships.
“We decided from the beginning to take high risk (difficulty), and we’re pretty proud of that because it has been opening the door to success since we have changed that,” Fuentes told NBC Olympics.
The USA roster for artistic swimming includes: Anita Alvarez, Daniella Ramirez, Megumi Field, Jamie Czarkowski, Jacklyn Luu, Audrey Kwon, Keana Hunter, Ruby Remati, and Calista Liu serving as Olympic alternate.
Here's what else to know ahead of the competition.
What artistic swimming looks like
The sport has become much more physical, notably in the team acrobatic routines. Breath control and endurance are necessary and more athleticism has entered into the sport. The tricks are now more risky, the throws are higher — and with more tricks and higher throws there are more bruises and a greater risk for concussions.
Despite all the changes, the gelatin-thick hair and makeup are still prominent, and so are the smiles when swimmers surface from their underwater work.
How does scoring work?
During the team competition, there are three routines that each team will perform, one on each day.
The first was a technical routine, which featured a series of five required movements, with judges scoring teams based on adherence to those movements and their different components.
The second will be the free routine, which does not have required movements but does incorporate elements of choreography, interpretation, synchronization, difficulty and presentation into the mix.
The third and final routine is known as the “acrobatic routine,” which emphasizes airborne and platform elements. This is a new addition to the Olympic program, and could bring more teams into medal contention on the final day of the competition.
Judges award points for technical merit and artistic impression. The highest and lowest scores are removed and the others are averaged. Technical merit is broken down into execution, synchronization, and difficulty. Artistic impression involves musical interpretations, choreography, and presentation.
In addition to the team competition, there will be a duet competition on the final two days of artistic swimming. As the name implies, teams of two swimmers will perform one technical routine and then one free routine to get their final score.
Swimmers are not allowed to touch the bottom of the pool and they are deducted points of they do.
Can men compete?
Men were eligible to compete in the team event for the first time in this Olympics, but no men were selected for any of the eight-member teams. Men have been allowed to participate for several years at the lower levels of the sport.
Swimming’s world governing body, World Aquatics, has said it was disappointed no men were picked as the sport seeks to broaden its appeal.
Monday featured the technical routines for all 10 teams, with the United States finishing the day in seventh position. China scored the best at 313.5538, with Spain and Italy also in the top-three.
How to watch the finals
The final event of the team competition will take place on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. on Peacock and E! It will also re-air on NBC Chicago during the afternoon coverage window.
The duet routines will kick off at 12:30 p.m. CT on Friday on Peacock, and will continue at 2:45 p.m. on E!
The final day of competition will take place Saturday at 12:30 p.m. with the free routine of the duet competition, starting on Peacock and finishing on E!
