Ukraine finish unbeaten at Roma 2022 artistic swimming

The Gala event officially closed the European artistic swimming programme. Five days filled with emotions, from Ukraine being the queens of all the women's events to the men's solo event which was introduced for the first time in an European championships.

At the Nicola Pietrangeli Stadium the Ukrainian anthem resounded eight times, thanks to Marta Fiedina, who was among the stars in and out of the pool. Inside the Roma 2022 village, a Japanese fan stopped the 20-year-old artistic swimmer to tell her that, thanks to her victories, she had learnt the Ukrainian anthem.

Fiedina managed to win gold in each of the six events in which she competed, two individual events and four team events, shared with twins Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva who took victory in the free and technical duet events. " We are very happy," the Ukrainian champion said at the end of the competition, "This has been our last routine and finally we can have some holidays now. This routine is not new. It is from Tokyo last year, but it has a whole new meaning for us now. It feels more important.”

Italy's Linda Cerruti also always medalled in the eight events she competed in, collecting as many medals (six silvers and two bronze), to reach 24 European medals won in her career. This makes the 28-year-old artistic swimmer the most medalled Italian athlete ever at European level.

Only one other anthem was heard four times in the artistic swimming pool, the Italian one. Giorgio Minisini (ITA) finished all four events in first place, two with Lucrezia Ruggiero in the mixed events and two in the solo events, making the home crowd happy and proud.

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