Russia set to make a synchro splash at Worlds

Even without superstar Anastasia Ermakova, Russia will be the team to beat as the FINA World Championships see seven gold medals on offer in eight days of synchronized swimming competition.

At the Beijing Olympics last August, Russia claimed both the duet and team titles for the third Games in a row.

Ermakova and Anastasia Davydova repeated their duet title from the 2004 Athens Olympics, and while Ermakova is taking a break this year, Davydova has moved smoothly into partnership with Olympic team gold medallist Svetlana Romashina, the pair taking duet gold at the European Cup in Andorra in May.

In contrast to the limited synchro programme at the Olympics, the World Championships will see seven gold medals up for grabs in the competition that runs from Saturday through July 25 in the temporary pool at Stadio Pietrangeli.

Medals will be awarded for both the technical and free programmes of the solo, duet and team events, and in the free combination.

Russia boast the longest streak of team success at worlds with six straight golds.

Four of those were "traditional" team golds in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2005, while they captured team technical and team free gold when medals were offered in each for the first time at Melbourne in 2007.

Russia's depth of talent in the deceptively demanding sport was clear in Melbourne, where they won six of the seven titles. The only exception was the solo free gold of French legend Virginie Dedieu, who has since gone back into retirement.

But they will face strong challengers from Europe and Asia.

Gemma Mengual leads a strong Spanish team while Italy will be hoping to benefit from the support of home fans.

Japan are perennial medal contenders while China, led by twin sisters Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen, are hoping to build on their bronze medal performance in Beijing.

China's team bronze in Beijing was the country's first Olympic synchro medal, and now the Jiang sisters will be hoping to claim the country's first place on a World Championships podium.

"We have our own advantage, which is, we have a good sense on dancing," Jiang Tingting said after the Chinese team returned to training in the wake of the National Championships in April.

"We like challenging things. Our coach said we have great potential and she has seen us getting better every single day."

While China are hoping to maintain momentum in the wake of their turn as Olympic hosts, Britain are hoping to build momentum as the 2012 London Games approach.

For the first time in more than a decade Britain will participate in solo, duet and team as well as the combination events.

Their best medal hope appears to be Jenna Randall and Olivia Allison, who have been training in Russia.

"This has been specific duet training which I think has been greatly beneficial for them," said team performance director Biz Price. "For them to experience this sort of training before the Worlds is great," Price said.