Less than a week after some of the world’s best divers finished battling for Olympic places at the Rio 2016 test event at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, it is the turn of aquatic sport’s most elegant discipline. The Synchronised Swimming Olympic Games Qualification Tournament, which is doubling up as the Rio 2016 test event for the all-women sport, begins on Wednesday (2 March) at the renovated venue and by the time it ends on Sunday, the final 19 places at the Olympic Games will have been settled.

Diving test event awarded ‘8.5 out of 10’

Five nations have already been confirmed for the team event: Australia, China, Egypt and Russia won their respective continental qualifiers, while Brazil has a place as host nation. The remaining three places will be decided over the coming days, with Canada, Chile, France, Italy, Japan, Spain and Ukraine in the mix.

The eight nations qualified for the team event will also have places in the duets event, along with Canada, Japan and Ukraine, who are already confirmed via continental qualifiers. The remaining 16 slots will be decided at the Maria Lenk. In total, 125 athletes from 30 countires will take part in the test event, in the form of 27 duets and seven teams.

“It’s time to go for it, to give it our all, in both the duet and team competitions”

Ona Carbonell, Spain

Check out the video Carbonell posted from Rio Olympic venue this week:

Carbonell, who won silver in the duets and bronze in the teams at the London 2012 Olympic Games, will lead Spain in the team event and pair up with Gemma Mengual in the duets. Ukraine and Japan are the other favourites for qualification, with 2013 world championship team bronze medallists Anna Voloshyna and Lolita Ananasova representing the former, and Risako Mitsui and Yukiko Inui, who won bronze in the duets and teams at last year’s worlds, in the Japanese team.

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Following last year’s Brazil Synchro Open, it will be another chance for some of the top teams to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic venue as they plot how to dethrone Russia, who have won all the Olympic gold medals since 2000. With their places at Rio 2016 already secured, the Russians will not compete in the test event, along with China, Brazil, Australia and Egypt, although the host nation team will perform two routines for the public, on Saturday and Sunday.

Follow the race to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

The Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre is hosting its second test event in two weeks (Photo: Rio City Government/Beth Santos)

The competition – which is being organised by FINA, the world governing body for aquatic sports, and the Brazilian Confederation of Aquatic Sports (CBDA) – will see 57 staff from 18 departments of the Rio 2016 organising committee in action alongside 85 volunteers. The competition area, sport presentation, results system and anti-doping operations will be the main areas tested.

The Barra Olympic Park venue will host three sports during the Games – diving, synchronised swimming and the group phases of the water polo tournament – and Games organisers are already feeling at home there.

“We gained a lot from the diving test event, the competition helped us grow as a team”

Eduardo Falcão, Rio 2016 competition services manager

The event will have free entry for the public and also be broadcast live on FINA’s YouTube channel. Click here to see the full competition schedule.

Rio2016.com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process. Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change. When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC). Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota.