USA Synchro: Qualifier is Next!

By Mariya Koroleva, 2012 Olympian

Hi everyone!

I am a member of the 2016 US Olympic Duet for synchronized swimming, together with my duet partner Anita Alvarez.

We train in Northern California with the rest of the Senior National Team and we have a very exciting year ahead of us before the Olympic Games in Rio.

As a matter of fact, we've already started 2016 with a two-week training camp in Italy and competed at both the German Open and French Open during the past few weeks grabbing a pair of third-place finishes. So it’s been a solid start to the season.

These were our first competitions of the Olympic Year and will be good preparations for the Olympic Qualifier early next month in Rio de Janeiro. The Qualifier is where we will (hopefully!) secure a spot for the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics, so it's a very important meet for us. After that we will compete at the China Open and U.S. Open leading up to the Games and will spend the rest of our time training in California.

Our training is spent mainly in the pool working on synchronization, endurance, power and height for our two duet programs, the technical and free routines. However, we also do strength and conditioning at the gym, ballet, pilates, speed swimming and land drilling as cross-training.

Every day is about 8-9 hours of training in and out of the water with a short lunch break. This will be a whirlwind year for us, but we are excited to show our routines and to represent our country all around the world! I had the chance to represent the U.S. in London and it was an amazing experience.

Thanks for following along with our updates for Team SwimOutlet and check out all the news on the Olympic qualifier in March at USA Synchro.

Go USA!