Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival

The Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival was a FINA-organized international aquatics competition spanning the disciplines of open water swimming, diving, and high diving, which took place from 15 to 20 December 2021 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[1][2] It was held correspondent to the 2021 FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships.[3] The festival was the first time competitions in the three disciplines are being conducted at the same time as and in conjunction with a FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships.[4] In addition to sporting competitions, an interactive village is being provided for festival attendees.[5] Coverage of the aquatics festival on television and via online streaming was provided on six continents with news agencies including ESPN (Americas), SuperSport (Africa), and beIN Sports (Asia) providing international coverage of the high diving competitions.[6]

Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival
Date15 – 20 December 2021

A press conference to welcome athletes and attendees following the 4×1500 metre relay open water swimming event on 15 December served as the official start of the festival.[7][8] The second day of the festival, Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the House of Nahyan attended the festival and the opening ceremony of the 2021 World Swimming Championships to express his support of the athletes and the importance of the global events in the sustainable growth and development of local sports culture.[9] On 17 December, FINA hosted an aquatics gala where it announced the recipients of its annual FINA Athletes of the Year and Coaches of the Year awards.[10] Approximately 200 athletes competed in the events held as part of the festival.[11]

The second edition of the Aquatics Festival was announced in February 2023, with a change of location to multiple venues in Egypt and rotating the sports included to water polo, open water swimming (part of the 2023 FINA Open Water Tour), and artistic swimming.[12]

Open water swimming

Open water swimming competitions took place in Yas Bay as part the grand finale of the 2021 FINA Marathon Swim World Series from 15 to 16 December 2021.[1][13] In addition to the standard 10 kilometre open water marathon events held in the World Series on 16 December, FINA debuted a mixed gender 4×1500 metre relay event on 15 December.[14][15] It was the first time the relay event was held at any FINA competition.[4][14]

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men 10 km marathon[16] Florian Wellbrock
 Germany		1:48:09.4 Domenico Acerenza
 Italy		1:48:12.0 Kristóf Rasovszky
 Hungary		1:48:23.6
Women 10 km marathon[17] Leonie Beck
 Germany		1:58:17.0 Ana Marcela Cunha
 Brazil		1:58:19.3 Sharon van Rouwendaal
 Netherlands		1:58:22.10
Mixed 4×1500 m relay[18]  Italy
Martina De Memme (17:23.80)
Giulia Gabbrielleschi (17:24.70)
Domenico Acerenza (16:10.60)
Gregorio Paltrinieri (15:50.00)		1:06:49.10  Hungary
Réka Rohács (17:21.10)
Anna Olasz (17:29.50)
Dávid Betlehem (16:07.90)
Kristóf Rasovszky (15:53.20)		1:06:51.70  Germany
Leonie Beck (17:23.50)
Jeannette Spiwoks (17:51.80)
Oliver Klemet (16:19.80)
Florian Wellbrock (15:53.90)		1:07:29.00

Diving

A FINA team diving exhibition was scheduled for 19 and 20 December and consisted of a mixed gender team event with dives from a 10 metre platform as well as a 3 metre springboard.[2][19][20] It was the first FINA-hosted diving mixed team event to be conducted in open water.[21]

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Mixed 3 m & 10 m team[22]  Brazil
Kawan Figueredo Pereira
Luana Lira
Ingrid Oliveira		416.35  Great Britain
Matthew Dixon
James Heatly
Robyn Birch		385.45  China
Li Zheng
Quan Hongchan
Wang Han
Lian Junjie		384.20

Teams

Diving began at 10:15 on 19 December with dives one to three on the 19th (day one), dives four to six on the 20th (day two), and the following teams competing.[22]

RankNationDiversDay 1 PointsDay 2 PointsTotal Points
4 AustraliaCassiel Rousseau
Melissa Wu
Esther Qin		172.50197.85370.35
1 BrazilKawan Figueredo Pereira
Luana Lira
Ingrid Oliveira		186.75229.60416.35
3 ChinaLi Zheng
Quan Hongchan
Wang Han
Lian Junjie		182.00202.20384.20
7 EgyptMaha Abdelsalam
Mohab Ishak		164.20166.30330.50
2 Great BritainMatthew Dixon
James Heatly
Robyn Birch		173.95211.50385.45
6 ItalySarah Jodoin Di Maria
Elena Bertocchi
Eduard Cristian Timbretti Gugiu		157.50175.00332.50
8 MexicoAranza Vázquez
Andrés Villarreal		175.80147.80323.60
5 RussiaMaria Polyakova
Ruslan Ternovoi
Evgeny Kuznetsov
Yulia Timoshinina		142.00206.40348.40
9 UkraineOleksiy Sereda
Anna Arnautova
Kirill Boliukh
Kseniya Baylo		166.95155.20322.15
10 United StatesGinger Huber
Krysta Palmer
Benjamin Bramley		174.75142.90317.65

High diving

The 2021 FINA high diving qualifier was held on 19 and 20 December as the final world qualifying event for two events to be held at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.[1][3] Women competed in a 20 metre event with prelims on 19 December and finals on 20 December.[23] Men competed in a 27 metre event with prelims on 19 December and finals the following day.[24] Twenty-six high divers, fourteen men and twelve women, had their results from the competition serve as their qualification for the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.[25][26][27] In February 2022, FINA removed high diving from the 2022 World Aquatics Championships program, due to a change of location from Fukuoka to Budapest and a lack of infrastructure in the new host location to conduct high diving competition, thus invalidating the qualifications achieved.[28] Four male divers had their results confirm their place as permanent divers in the 2022 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, three of whom it was the first time achieving permanent diver status.[29][30] The highest degree of difficulty dive in history, a 6.2 degree of difficulty, was executed by Aidan Heslop of Great Britain.[25][27]

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Women 20 m[31]  Rhiannan Iffland (AUS)359.60  Molly Carlson (CAN)323.50  Yana Nestsiarava (BLR)307.90
Men 27 m[32]  Aidan Heslop (GBR)436.90  Cătălin Preda (ROU)433.55  Constantin Popovici (ROU)432.00

Participating countries

A total of 50 athletes from 20 countries competed in the high diving events.[33][34]

References
  1. "Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival is revealed!". FINA. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  2. De George, Matthew (8 September 2021). "FINA Reveals Aquatics Festival in Abu Dhabi, Expanded Scholarship Program". Swimming World. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  3. Penland, Spencer (8 September 2021). "FINA Announces "Aquatics Festival" That Will Run Parallel To SC World Champs". SwimSwam. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  4. "Stage is set for 15th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) as FINA Aquatics Festival gets underway in Abu Dhabi". FINA. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  5. "Exclusive First-Look Images Of FINA World Swimming Championships (25M) Main Pool Revealed To Celebrate 50-Day Countdown". Abu Dhabi Sports Council. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  6. "Where to Watch Guide | FINA Abu Dhabi 2021". FINA. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  7. Mohamed, Hatem; Bashir, Hassan (15 December 2021). "Stage set as UAE's talented swimmers join world's best aquatic talent for FINA world swimming championships, aquatics festival Tuesday". Emirates News Agency. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  8. FINA (15 December 2021). "FINA Swimming World Championships (25m) 2021 - Press Conference". YouTube. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  9. "His Highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan attends the opening ceremony of FINA World Swimming Championships (25m)". Abu Dhabi 2021. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  10. "Aquatics stars honoured at FINA World Aquatics Gala". FINA. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  11. "Spectacular FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) and FINA Aquatics Festival conclude as aquatics sport embarks on new era". FINA. 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  12. Koos, Torin (21 February 2023). "World Aquatics reveals exciting Egypt Aquatics Festival for May 2023". World Aquatics. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  13. "FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2021 - Grand Finale: Overview". FINA. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  14. "Italy wins inaugural Open Water Mixed Team Relay in Abu Dhabi". FINA. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  15. Byrnes, Liz (15 December 2021). "Gregorio Paltrinieri Steers Italy To Victory in Mixed Open Water Relay In Abu Dhabi". Swimming World. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  16. "FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2021 - Grand Finale: Results Men 10km". FINA. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  17. "FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2021 - Grand Finale: Results Women 10km". FINA. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  18. "FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2021 - Grand Finale: Results Mixed 6km". FINA. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  19. "FINA World Short Course: What's On?". British Swimming. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  20. "Chinese Olympic champions to compete in FINA World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi". Xinhua News Agency. 7 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  21. "Brazil leads through first day of the FINA Diving Team Exhibition". FINA. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  22. "FINA Diving Team Exhibition: Results". FINA. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  23. "Noles Ready for World Championships". Florida State Seminoles. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  24. "FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021: Schedule". FINA. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  25. "Aidan Heslop claims title at the FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021 in Abu Dhabi". FINA. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  26. "Australia's Rhiannan Iffland claims gold at the FINA High Diving Qualifier". FINA. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  27. "High Diver Heslop Strikes Gold For World Champs Qualification". British Swimming. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  28. FINA (6 February 2022). "Budapest awarded with extraordinary FINA World Championships!". YouTube. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  29. Magill, Chris (21 December 2021). "Confirmed: the cliff divers who made the cut for 2022". Red Bull. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  30. Magill, Chris (6 April 2022). "Meet the Red Bull Cliff Diving athletes going for glory in 2022". Red Bull. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  31. FINA (20 December 2021). "Women's High Diving Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  32. FINA (20 December 2021). "Men's High Diving Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  33. FINA (18 December 2021). "FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Women's High Dive Rounds 1-2 Dive List". Omega Timing. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  34. FINA (18 December 2021). "FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's High Dive Rounds 1-2 Dive List". Omega Timing. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
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