Mariya Koroleva and Anita Alvarez are hoping to earn a spot on the podium for Team USA when the synchronized swimming duets finish with the free routine final on Tuesday.
Russia’s synchronized duet of Natalia Ishchenko and Svetlana Romashina, the reigning Olympic gold medalists and world champions, took the highest scores of Monday morning’s duet technical program session with an impressive “gypsy dancer” routine that earned the pair 96.4577 points. It extended their lead over the field from two points to 3.0889 points. The duet from China was their next-closest competitors, followed by Japan.
The scores from Sunday’s free preliminary routines and the technical programs were combined together to determine which duets moved into Tuesday's 1 p.m. ET final. Scores from the technical routines will added to the free routine final scores to determine the medal winners.
Other high-scoring technical routines included Spain, performing with a theme titled “the water in all shapes” to score 92.5024 points and China, who racked up 95.3688 points with their “Run Boy Run!” routine.
Austria competed a violin-only version of “Smooth Criminal” routine and scored 85.0637 points.
The United States, who sat in ninth place after the free routine preliminary round, tallied 86.4612 points with their “modern violin” themed technical program. They qualified to compete in the final still in ninth place.