FINA Swimming Championships: Alexandre Dio relay with a medal

“We are very relaxed and very happy. But we are also very tired,” said Anna Maria of Margaret Island in the Hungarian capital. “We are very happy, it was just 0.2 less than 93 points,” Irene added.

According to coach Albina Mladenova and his sister Vasiliki, this was the “best performance” they had ever given. When the medal dream came true again, there was a group hug at the edge of the pond, and tears of joy also flowed.

Shocking moment for Irene

However, Irene had to come to terms with a shock moment in the 3:15 freestyle called “Evil Dolls”. “I swallowed water for the first time in my life,” said the agitated 24-year-old. She couldn’t breathe for a moment and “thought I was dying.” Her sister also noticed the little bug and heard her sister’s short cough, “But you didn’t notice,” Anna Maria asserted.

The European Championships await in Rome in August and with it the next big event of the season. With the achievements in Hungary, the original Greeks who came to Austria ten years ago can definitely go to Italy with a great deal of self-confidence. “We are now working on the goal of beating Ukraine,” Anna Maria declared. At the Olympics, the gap was five to six points, and now it is only about 1.3 points. Ukraine will be the biggest competitor for gold in Rome.

However, the motto is: “Keep your feet on the ground and work hard,” Irene said. “We hope to get silver and want to keep getting better.” To celebrate this day, the Alexandre sisters once again ate a large portion of sweets at the hotel’s buffet. “We’ll only really realize this in the next few days.”

The Alexandre sisters finish the spell of drought

For the Austrian Swimming Federation (OSV), these are the only two medals in the synchronized swimming world championships and in the title fights underway in Hungary. The Alexandre duo, who finished seventh at the Olympics in Tokyo, celebrated their fourth medal overall in major events. At the 2021 European Championships, the 24-year-old also won the bronze medal twice in Budapest.

Austria’s synchronized swimmers had previously endured a 34-year drought without a medal, and Eva Woerich won the silver at the 1987 European Championships in Strasbourg. Missing from the Hungarian capital were the Russian gold-favorites, who were sidelined by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.