| Canada adds two gold and a silver at Japan Open |
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In the solo competition, Boudreau-Gagnon, performing to the music of the rock group Muse, took the gold with 188.250 points. She finished ahead of Andrea Fuentes of Spain in second at 186.00 while Yumi Adachi of Tokyo, Japan, was third at 182.375. "I had a great preliminaries and to reproduce another strong swim like that was very satisfying," said Boudreau-Gagnon, a bronze medallist in the technical solo event at the 2009 FINA World Aquatic Championships. "This year I’ve changed my style with my choreography and I think the judges appreciated that." In the team final, Canada maintained its overall lead finishing with 95.125 points performing to a western-themed program. Ukraine was second at 92.375 and a club team from Japan third at 91.250. The Canadian team members were Isaac, Stéphanie Leclair of Gatineau, Que., Valérie Welsh of St-Nicholas, Que., Élise Marcotte of l’Ancienne-Lorette, Que., Jo-Annie Fortin of Montreal, Tracy Little of Pointe-Claire, Que., Karine Thomas of Gatineau and Ève Lamoureux of Montreal. "It was very important for us to come here and get the win," said Lamoureux. "Everybody in the synchro world sees these results and it shows that Canada is continuing its road back to the top. Today we knew the adjustments we needed to make for the final and we went out confident. Our energy was much higher and we reduced the synchronization errors." In duet, Boudreau-Gagnon and Isaac earned the most points in Wednesday’s free program final but it wasn’t enough to catch Fuentes and Ona Carbonell of Spain who took the overall gold at 188.500 on the strength of a strong opening technical program on Sunday. Boudreau-Gagnon followed at 187.875 and a Japanese club pair was third at 182.625. The Canadians performed to music by Metallica. "To make up a 1.6 point deficit on yesterday’s performance is a huge boost for us," said Isaac. "I think yesterday we surprised people with such an innovative program and today it was more appreciated. Plus we cleaned up some errors and that helped it all come together." Canada ends the competition with three gold and one silver. On Tuesday, the Canadians won the team combination event with Isaac, Leclair, Welsh, Marcotte, Fortin, Little, Thomas, Boudreau-Gagnon, Erin Wilson of Toronto and Lamoureux.
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Tokyo, May 5, 2010 – Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon of Rivière-du-Loup, Que., won the gold medal in the solo event, Canada added another victory in the team competition and Boudreau-Gagnon and Chloé Isaac of Brossard, Que., notched silver in duet on Wednesday to conclude the Japan Open synchronized swimming competition.
