Portugal’s Sheila Vieira and Beatriz Gonçalves achieved their best ever result in the technical duets competition at the FINA World Aquatics Championships this Monday, finishing eighth in the finals of the championships in Doha.
Keyla Vieira and Beatriz Gonçalves scored a total of 236.8117 points after a score of 92.5500 for artistic performance and 144.2617 for performance after a test with a difficulty level of 34.1500 (10th place among 12 finalists).
Finishing 10th in qualifying with 231.5767 points, the Portuguese duo surpassed that mark, their highest ever result at a World Championships, and also surpassed their all-time best result of 11th place achieved in Fukuoka, Japan in 2023 year.
“Our strategy is working. We make changes to our choreography to try to increase the difficulty, but we change as much as possible and we know what we can get in the water and do. And we were able to prove it because we changed before the heat and managed, we reached the final and did it,” said Keyla Vieira.
The gold medal was won by China’s Liuyi Wang and Qianyi Wang, who were already first in the playoffs, with 266.0484 points, followed by Britain’s Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe (259.5601), and Spain’s Alisa Ozhogin and Iris Casas (258). .0333). , who won silver and bronze medals, respectively.
Sheila Vieira and Beatriz Goncalves traveled to the Qatari capital with the aim of achieving unprecedented qualification for the Olympic Games, which is made up of the sum of points in the technical duet and free duet competitions, the qualifying matches of which are scheduled for Wednesday, as well as the final. the next day.
“We haven’t stopped, but continue to train. We still have qualifiers for the tournament. [dueto] free of charge and we hope to qualify for the finals. Let’s move forward, one step closer” to qualifying for the next Olympic Games, said Beatriz Goncalves.
The counting of qualifications for Paris 2024 will only take place on Friday, after the final of the free team competition, during which the five qualifying teams (in addition to those already qualified) will be determined, since the countries that qualify the team will also guarantee a duo. at the Olympic Games.
This format means that there are only three places left for the top-ranked duos who do not qualify for Paris 2024, and it is in these places that Keila Vieira and Beatriz Gonçalves need to finish to qualify Portugal for the Olympic Games for the first time in this discipline.
Portugal is represented by a total of 15 swimmers in three of the six world aquatics competitions (artistic swimming, pure swimming and open water), which runs until February 18 in Doha.
On Saturday, Angelique Andre won a bronze medal in the women’s 10-kilometer open water race, while also securing qualification for Paris 2024, where she will become the only Portuguese woman competing in an open water event.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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