Ballet, gym and swimming pool six days a week: this is how the first world champion in men's artistic swimming trains
Fernando Díaz del Río received three kisses from his coach, Anna Vega. Three kisses in three key moments for the new world champion in artistic swimming, previously synchronized, in the first men's solo world event.
The first was in the tunnel before facing the pool where he would make history. It was his second exercise, he started as leader after his first performance, and his tactic was clear. “Maybe I was somewhat conservative, but with the new scoring system it is very easy to be penalized and you can be left off the podium,” he explained in conversation with EL MUNDO.
After that first kiss, which barely elicited a half smile from his pupil due to the accumulated tension, and a few words of encouragement, Fernando went out to conquer the world under the notes of 'Unholy' by Sam Smith, with arrangements by Salvador Niebla. 'Impuro' says the title of the song, the complete opposite of what Díaz del Río did in the water that combined splits (leg openings) and twists (turns) as if he were in his element. and maybe it was. “I've been doing ballet since I was very young and I combined it with swimming, so artistic is the perfect combination,” he reveals.
Another moment from Del Río in his technical-only exercise. EFE
Two minutes later, this 20-year-old canary emerged from the pool shyly waving to some members of the Spanish swimming delegation, who had already accumulated three medals to their credit, but none of them gold, who shouted in encouragement.. “Having gone to the final first, I didn't want to lower the bar,” he explained.
He did not lower it, although his face was indecipherable when he clung to the ladder leading out of the pool.. Anna Vega then gave him her second kiss, apparently more positive than her pupil or, at least, facing the outside. Fernando, 'Fer' as they call him in the Spanish delegation, returned to his half smile without losing concentration, as if his routine had not finished.
Perhaps the endless sessions at the CAR in Sant Cugat were going through his head, the facilities through which other myths of artistic swimming have passed, such as Andrea Fuentes, Ona Carbonnell, Anna Tarrés or Gemma Mengual, another of his coaches, between the pool , the gym and the ballet. “Between six and eight hours a day,” said Díaz del Río.
A center that he reached after a meteoric rise in the artistic. A promotion that left behind his sister, “his inspiration”, but who could only compete in championships in Spain and was never able to make the leap to the international scene. “I started when they added the mixed duo in Spain,” explained Díaz del Río. He was twelve years old when he took his first artistic steps at the Las Palmas Swimming Club where, last year, he received the medal for sports merit. 16 when he made his international debut.
Fernando del Río bites into his gold medal. EFE
Hand in hand, Díaz del Río allowed himself to be guided by Anna Vega to the chair where the final grades are awaited. And then the note: 224,555 points, the number you will never forget. Vega gave him his third kiss, perhaps there were several, and hugged him while he, still incredulous, looked again at the score over his shoulder to make sure that he was, indeed, world champion.. “The key was that I carried out an exercise of the highest difficulty that I could do, but that it was real,” he pointed out.
Díaz del Río obtained, so far, the fourth medal for the Spanish delegation in the World Cup in Fukuoka (Japan), the first gold. Previously, Emma García and Dennis González (silver in mixed technical duet), Iris Tió (bronze in solo technical routine) and Alisa Ozhogina and Iris Tió (bronze in technical duet) had climbed to the podium.. Only this last category is Olympic for the moment.
The swimmer from the Canary Islands surpassed the American Kenneth Gaudet, with 216.8, and the Kazakh Eduard Kim with 216 points. His great rival was missing, the Italian Giorgio Minisini, champion in the European past. “I am very happy and satisfied with how the competition has gone,” he valued.
Future
Then yes, after leaving the chair, Fernando's full smile while the Spanish public, excited, hugged and jumped at his success. The world champion, after listening to the Spanish anthem, already focused on “his next challenge, which is the European junior” and “with his sights set on [the World Cup] Doha.”
Unfortunately, his discipline is not yet included in the Olympic Games. In Paris 2024 they will allow boys in the team modality, but there will still be no mixed duo or only male. “I suppose that in Paris we will be able to see some boys in some team”, confided the canary.
However, Fernando only considers looking at things one year ahead: “I think the best thing is to enjoy each year and see how you feel physically and mentally each end of the season and leave the path open, so you don't put pressure on yourself”, ended the river.