Darina Ryashidovna Valitova (; born 9 February 1997) is a Russian competitor in Solo and Mixed Duet

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming), also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World A ...

. Together with

Aleksandr Maltsev Alexander () is a male given name, name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in anc ...

, she won a gold medal in the inaugural mixed duet competition at the 2015 World Championships.

Career

Valitova has been member of the Russian national team since 2007. In 2008, she took the 3rd place in duo combination at the Moscow Championships. She became multiple junior champion of Russia in duo and group from 2009 to 2011. In 2012, she won gold in duo combination. At the 2013 European Junior Championships in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, Poland, Valitova won 3 gold medals in Duet, Free Routine Combination and Team competition. In 2014, Valitova began competing as a Senior, and she was a member of the Russian Team that won gold at the 2014 European Championships. In November 2014,

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

officially approved of adding mixed-gender events in

Synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming), also known as artistic swimming, is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World A ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...

under its banner after a vote at the Extraordinary Congress in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar. Valitova began pairing up with

. They competed at the Italian Open Test for mixed duet where they took the gold medal. At the

2015 World Aquatics Championships The 16th FINA World Aquatics Championships, FINA World Championships (), also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia hosted this event for the first time. The number of participating national teams (190), ...

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, Valitova/Maltsev represented Russia at the inaugural Mixed Duet in synchronized swimming, after leading the preliminaries in Mixed Duet technical, they finished second in the finals losing just 0.2122 points to Americans Bill May and

Christina Jones Christina Noelle Jones (born September 17, 1987) is an American competitor in synchronized swimming. She grew up in Fremont, California and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jones swam with Andrea Nott in the duet event at the 2008 Summer Olympics i ...

. They avenged their loss by winning the gold in Mixed Duet free with a score of 91.7333 points ahead of Lum/May.

References

External links

Darina Valitova

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valitova, Darina 1997 births Living people Russian synchronized swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in synchronised swimming Synchronized swimmers at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships Synchronized swimmers at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships European Aquatics Championships medalists in synchronised swimming Swimmers from Moscow 21st-century Russian sportswomen