| Boudreau-Gagnon maintains her solo lead at Japan Open |
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Tokyo, May 3, 2010 – Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon of Rivière-du-Loup, Que., posted the best score in the free solo program preliminaries on Monday to maintain her overall lead heading into the final at the Japan Open synchronized swimming competition. Boudreau-Gagnon, a bronze medallist at the 2009 FINA World Aquatic Championships last year, totalled 94.375 points performing to the music of the rock group Muse. Andrea Fuentes, a member of Spain’s team which won the combo event at worlds, follows in second place at 94.125. It was the same 1-2 finish in Sunday’s opening technical program. "It was probably the best I’ve performed that program this year, including training," said Boudreau-Gagnon. "I really wanted to show that I belonged in first place after the technical event and I tried to give it my all today." The solo final is on Wednesday. Canada is also in the lead in the team competition after Monday’s technical event which counts for 50 percent of the final score with 93.125 points. The Canadian swimmers were Elise Marcotte of l’Ancienne-Lorette, Que., Jo-Annie Fortin of Montreal, Tracy Little of Pointe-Claire, Que., Karine Thomas of Gatineau, Que., Ève Lamoureux of Montreal, Stéphanie Leclair of Laval, Que., Valérie Welsh of St-Nicholas, Que., and Erin Wilson of Toronto. "We had a very energetic start to the program and that carried us through," said Marcotte. "It’s a new program and it was the first time we performed it in competition. Plus new required elements were implemented for this year so it was nice to make such a strong impression early in the season." Imura club is second at 90.375 and Ukraine third at 90.125. In the technical duet competition, Fuentes and Ona Carbonell of Spain are first at 93.125 with a slim lead over Canadians Boudreau-Gagnon and Chloé Isaac of Brossard, Que., in second at 92.375. "We swam well but there’s certainly things we need to improve for the next competition," said Boudreau-Gagnon. "We are especially happy with our technical scores for the elements which were the same as for the team from Spain." The pair is in their second year together. "This was our first competition against the new Spanish pair and we were looking to be in first place, so it’s good we are very close right now heading into the free program," said Isaac. Competition continues Tuesday with the free program preliminaries for team and duet and the team combo final.
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