Estonia's junior artistic swimming team achieves historic result at European Championships
Estonia's junior artistic swimming team has achieved its best ever result at the European Junior Championships in Munich, with Alexandra Orlova placing 8th in the free solo final.
At the recently concluded European Junior Artistic Swimming Championships in Munich, Estonia's team achieved its best ever result. The highlight was Alexandra Orlova's qualification for the free solo final, where she finished 8th.
According to the team's coach Anastasia Rudkovskaya, as told to Rus.ERR, Orlova's advancement to the final was the result of many years of teamwork. "We have been working towards this result for a very long time. We were always close but could not break into the final. Finally, Alexandra executed the program cleanly, received good scores from the judges, and made it to the final. For us, it was like a victory—people congratulated us as if we had won a medal," Rudkovskaya said.
The coach added that in the final, Orlova performed even more confidently and moved up one place in the standings. "She proved that her place in the final was not accidental. Despite fatigue and nerves, she delivered a worthy performance and finished eighth," the specialist noted.
Less successful was the free duet competition. Alexandra Orlova and Alisa Valtanen placed 15th out of 18 pairs and failed to reach the final. Head of the Estonian delegation Anton Rzhanov noted that the result was affected by a base mark deduction due to a failed element. "It's a pity that because of this mistake we couldn't fight for a place in the final. But the free solo showed that we are already able to compete with the strongest athletes in Europe," Rzhanov said.
According to Rzhanov, this championship was Estonia's debut at the European junior level, and most Estonian athletes were significantly younger than their opponents. "The competition format allows athletes up to 19 years old, and our girls were among the youngest participants. Now we have seen our level and understand in which direction we need to move forward," he added.
In the technical duet final, Alisa Valtanen and Maria Nazarova placed 17th out of 21 pairs, performing their program cleanly.
After a short break, the team will begin preparations for the new season. According to Anastasia Rudkovskaya, the junior squad will be expanded with athletes born in 2011, and the coaching staff is already developing new routines.
Meanwhile, Anton Rzhanov noted that plans for the next international season will largely depend on decisions by the international federation regarding new rules and possible changes in age categories. Estonia's participation has already been confirmed for the Baltic Championships in Lithuania and the Nordic Championships, which will take place in March 2027 in Kohtla-Järve.
