Her routine is highlighted and it has already been tried. However, Jacqueline Simoneau will have to wait until February 21, like all her opponents, to find out the result of FINA’s first virtual world championship in art swimming.
In fact, only the organizers and production team responsible for the visual editing of the contest have the famous and long-awaited results. Players and coaches ignore the final ranking of each event, even though everything has been played for a few days. All that’s left to do is join the fans and watch the webcast when the day comes.
“It’s so private,” Jacqueline Simoneau admitted in an interview with Sportcom. The only Canadian to participate in this virtual competition organized by the United States, Montreller was surprised by the news with only two weeks’ notice.
“We usually have months to prepare ourselves both physically and mentally. I had to adapt very quickly, but I treated it as a new challenge,”
Especially as his free solo program is starting to gather dust, as training in recent months has focused only on Olympic, duo and team events. Simono has not practiced her routine since February 2020 and began dedicating an hour per day to him when she learned that she would represent Canada again.
“We revisited the choreography, but didn’t change it much. The rules were too specific to shoot and the judges only see the routine on one side, while they are usually on both sides. We made sure everything was balanced and looked better on one side!”
Specific directions have been sent to the different unions so that they all operate in the same way. The camera was to be positioned 1 meter from the water, opposite the center of the pool and raised 1.8 meters, with the launch pad to the right of the screen. Participants were entitled to a predetermined one-hour period, between January 27 and 31, in order to submit their registration. The video must start and end with a code sent by the organizers in advance at the agreed time.
After a long week of training, Jacqueline Simoneau set off on Saturday afternoon at INS Québec (Institut national du sport du Québec). Without having to leave the hotel or take the bus with her teammates, she was still dressed in the Canadian team uniform, relying on music to stimulate herself and rejuvenate her energy.
“I had a lot of accumulated fatigue and it was different, but I felt like I was in real competition. I was worried that I wouldn’t get the same adrenaline rush because I was relying so much on the crowd and the judges to give me energy when it came to performance. Pan-American in Lima in 2019, “The Federation did a good job of recreating a good atmosphere.”
Satisfactory first
In these special circumstances, including a short period of preparation, the 24-year-old is satisfied with her performance. “I am happy with what you did and it was a great experience. It will allow me and my team mates to better prepare for the next virtual competitions and help us better visualize how it works.”
Canada plans to host the same type of world championship at the end of May, and domestic competitions are also expected to be held virtually this year.
It is difficult to know what awaits the Canadian team in the coming months. The World Series station that was scheduled in Suzhou, China has been canceled recently. The next event still on the calendar is Budapest, in April, in person this time. Every outing counts to form the Maple Leaf in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympics. Here, too, the possibility of revocation disturbs Jacqueline Simoneau, who remains positive after all.
We can see articles and everything going on on social media, but we have to be prepared for any scenario. It might be a unique Olympics, very different from any Olympics you’ve played in the past, but we’re training to compete this summer and the countdown has already begun. ”
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