Fernando Díaz del Río, swimmer from the CN Las Palmas, at only 19 years old, has entered on his own merits on the agenda of the firm medal options, present and future, of Spanish swimming. The artistic, of course. The modality that does give revenue in each championship. The canary, who trains at the CAR in Sant Cugat with Anna Vega's team, won his second silver at the Foro Italico in Rome, this time in the Solo Libre final. It is the third medal for the Spanish delegation after the silver on Saturday for the mixed duo of Pau Ribes and Emma Garcia with their Cats.
From animals with claws goes the history of Spanish art in Rome. The cats of the Catalan couple were joined by Fernando Díaz's werewolf, who seduced the judges with his energy and conviction in the execution of his choreography from the film The Wolfman, with music by Dany Elfman. He deserved 83.3333 points, behind the unattainable Italian Giorgio Minisini (88.4667).
“I am very happy with the score received, I think the judges have given us a very good rating”, commented Fernando Díaz, in contrast to his colleagues Ribes and Garcia, who were somewhat disappointed with the assessment of their Cats on Saturday.
“I have felt very comfortable swimming and the sensations have been very good. My choreography is a werewolf with strength, energy and an if anything more manly approach to routines that are usually more feminine. I am going home with a great taste in my mouth and wanting to enjoy the holidays”, pointed out the Canarian swimmer, who is one of the great values of the small but growing male quarry of Spanish artistic swimming, so often the victim of prejudice and labels. .
According to the Spanish Swimming Federation (RFEN), which last year launched a pioneering program to promote male artistic four years ahead with a group of 12 children from 7 to 14 years of age from all over Spain, in the country there are about 35 male synchro practitioners for a total of 6,000 female swimmers. The disproportion is manifest. In the 2019-20 season, the Federation had 956 state artistic swimming licenses, 949 for women and only 7 for men. Of these, only four have international level: Pau Ribes, Dennis González, Xavi Guillén and Fernando Díaz del Río.
The Canarian, who has been training since September 2021 with the selection at the CAR in Sant Cugat del Vallès, has followed in the footsteps of Ribes, the pioneer of male artistic in Spain, the "artistic icebreaker in the Arctic", who had its international emergence at the 2015 World Cup in Kazan forming a duo with Gemma Mengual. Although Fernando already knows what it means to be a pioneer: on Friday he made history by becoming the first Spanish medalist in Men's Solo Technical, in the first final of this modality in a major absolute championship.
In the Spanish Federation, of course, they are delighted with the progression of Díaz del Río. “Fernando has been brutal, he has defended his routine very well from the beginning to the end, which was the goal set, to go out without fear, to give everything and that is what he has done. We have improved the score of the last World Series that he had and it is his best score of the season so we are super happy”, said Anna Vega, his coach at the Sant Cugat CAR, who predicts “a great future” for the canary. "He is very young, with many conditions."
The artistic swimming competition closes today at the European Championships in Rome with the final of the mixed technical duo formed by Pau Ribes and Emma Garcia, with their sights set on, at least, silver. The Catalan couple, who already won silver in the free routine on Saturday, achieved fourth place in the recent World Cup in Budapest, in June, in the same technical routine. Without China or Japan, the silver medal is almost certain.
