Solo performance

Vasilina Khandoshka won the first medal in the history of Belarusian synchronised swimming at the World Championships

Vasilina Khandoshka

Synchronised swimmer Vasilina Khandoshka clinched the Women Solo Free bronze at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships, held in Qatar

Among the 12 participants of the decisive stage, the Belarusian declared the most difficult programme and did not go wrong. Despite the fact that the judges gave Khandoshka low marks for artistry, the score for difficulty was the second among the finalists. Thus, Vasilina secured a bronze award by the total score. Jacqueline Simoneau from Canada became the world champion, Evangelia Platanioti from Greece won silver.
As Elena Voronova, a Russian consultant coach working with the Belarusian, told Match TV in an interview, the athlete’s solo was changed just two days before the final, and what is interesting — in the remote mode, “It was sort of jest about the new system of rules and refereeing. We showed seven similar combinations, they were absolutely identical and only differed in toe bending in one direction or another. Why was it done this way? The thing is that we had prepared a great solo programme, a very beautiful one, yet it was only the fifth in the preliminaries. ‘Singing’ legs, musicality, stunning hands… Unfortunately, no one is looking at all this now. They give points for complexity elements. So we decided, since no one needs our beautiful artistic solo, we will focus on just the technical part. Accordingly, here comes the result! Hopefully the story of this particular jest will make people reflect on the fact that a beautiful solo programme ranks fifth, whereas a purely technical programme ensures you are a medal winner. This is what synchronised swimming is heading towards now.”
The award won at the World Championships in Qatar is not the first medal from the biggest starts for Vasilina. In 2021, she won bronze at the European Championships. 
Khandoshka also co-authored another success of Belarusian synchronised swimmers. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, performing in a duet with Daria Kulagina, they reached the final for the first time, where they took 11th place.
Now Vasilina Khandoshka is 22 years old. She has been in synchronised swimming since she was five. According to the Head coach of Belarusian National Synchronised Swimming team, Aliona Svetlichnaya, when Vasilina was a child, hardly anyone could say for sure that she would be successful in sports. Yet, due to the dedication of the athlete and serious contribution of her parents, who took their daughter to Moscow so that she could work with Russian specialists, Vasilina managed to reach the highest level. By the way, Vasilina’s father proved himself in water sports in his time — he became the national champion in swimming more than once.

By Tatiana Litvinova