The red-and-black synchronized swimming team will face a big challenge this Saturday (15). Competing in the Technical Routine Tournament of the Rio de Janeiro Aquatic Federation (FARJ) in the Gávea pools, the Mais Querido athletes will have the advantage of fighting for medals and good results at home.

For Marina Valadão, coach of the children's and youth teams at Mais Querido, the competition makes a difference in the synchronized swimming calendar in Rio.

"This will be our first routine competition this year. We're super excited, as it's an important and technically challenging tournament, especially for the youth category, which isn't used to competing in this type of routine. Taking advantage of the fact that Rio de Janeiro is the only state in Brazil that has this type of competition for children, youth, and junior categories, we gave all our athletes the opportunity this year to compete in the floor event," explained Marina.

Roberta Perilier, Flamengo's head coach for adult synchronized swimming, analyzed the competition and the coaching staff's expectations for the results in this important tournament.

"We expect to win several medals. The goal of this competition is to improve the technique of teams in all categories. That's why we entered several solos, as it's the event that best provides personalized training for the athlete, in addition to being the technical routine with the most difficult elements. Therefore, with the degree of difficulty being high and the athlete needing to practice her routine, she ends up being trained individually using techniques with very difficult elements. So we were looking to improve the technique of each one of them," said the coach.

The teams have been preparing intensively for the Technical Routines Tournament over the past few weeks, aiming for major achievements on the water. "It's the most important competition we have until mid-year, and it also serves as preparation for the State Championship in October and the Brazilian Championship in November," explained Roberta.

The venue for this important competition will be Flamengo's new Olympic-sized pool, the Daltely Guimarães, which will once again host competitions. Now in its fifth edition, the FARJ Technical Routines Tournament will feature four teams: Flamengo, Fluminense, Tijuca Tênis Clube, and Guanabara.