Making a splash

In first, Israel’s synchronized swimming team reaches World Championship final

Technical routine receives highest-ever score from judges for an Israeli team

Israel's team compete in the team technical artistic swimming event during the 2019 World Championships at Yeomju Gymnasium in Gwangju on July 14, 2019. (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP)
Israel's team compete in the team technical artistic swimming event during the 2019 World Championships at Yeomju Gymnasium in Gwangju on July 14, 2019. (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP)

Israel’s synchronized swimming national team made history on Sunday by qualifying for the first time ever for a World Championships final.

At the tournament in South Korea, the Israeli team had an extraordinary performance in the technical routine, scoring 81.9659.

It was the highest ever score for an Israeli group of synchronized swimmers in the technical routine, and a whopping almost 10-point improvement over the previous championship two years ago.

It was enough to put the team in 12th place — the last place that qualifies for the final, surpassing higher-ranked teams such as Switzerland, Belarus and Brazil.

Still, the score was far from on par with the leaders. Russia came first with 96.2253, with China second and Ukraine third. The United States was in 11th place.

The final will be held on Tuesday at 10:00 GMT (1 p.m. Israel time, 7 p.m. Korea time).

The team’s swimmers are Tali Ostrovsky, Elina Chalemsky, Ariel Nassee, Yael Polka, Nikol Nahshonov, Shelly Bobritsky, Eden Blecher, Gal Litman and substitutes Maya Dorf and Emili Green. The coaches are Anna Tarres, Larissa Konin and Svetlana Blecher.

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