USA Youth Team Captures Overall Championship

The second FINA Youth World Artistic Swimming Championships came to a close in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday. USA claimed four medals at the championship across seven categories. In addition, the American 13-15 national team was awarded the Overall High Point trophy for their incredible performance over the course of the championship.

Ayla Barry and Michael Chan represented our nation in the solo categories. Chan was able to secure a silver medal with his ‘Eye of the Tiger’ performance and Ayla ended in fourth place for her routine but fifth overall with her combined figure score.

Figures played a huge role in the final results from the competition in many ways this past weekend. This technical category is what separated first-place Spain from second-place Japan in the team standings. Similarly, Canada’s female duet slipped past USA due to figure scores, placing the US just shy of being able to collect a fifth medal. Notably in the figure category, Barry finished in the top-10, taking ninth overall. Sophie Shen also notched a score worthy of the top-20.

Barry paired with Karen Xue for the female duet. The California natives came together and in just seven short weeks crafted a performance worthy of a 77.8. Continuing a rich history of American mixed duets, Chan and Jennifer Ryu were named World Youth Mixed Duet Champions. They matched exquisitely both artistically and technically, even ending up back-to-back in figure rankings.

Success also came in the free team and combination categories. The squad stuck with the same routine as the 2021 team, a piece adapted from Ohio State’s collegiate championship bird-themed routine. Their performance earned them a bronze medal. Additionally, the team competed in the combination category with a Merionette doll routine to claim another bronze medal for the tally.

The team trained together for just seven weeks in Las Vegas, Nevada. Head coach Ludivine Perrin-Stsepaniuk and assistant coach Olivia Zhang coached the team to success and their cohesion was evident by the results achieved over the week.

To view full results from the weekend, visit the page HERE.