The spring period is a very busy time for our team. On April 14, three new athletes arrived at the Kazan Airport for further participation in the FINA scholarship program.

Bernat Lomero Arenas, a 23-year-old swimmer from Andorra, is an old friend of ours, because he came to Kazan for the first FINA international training camp, held jointly with the Development Center of Thanyapura (Thailand) in 2019 before the FINA Swimming World Cup. This means that he is already familiar with the capital of Tatarstan, the Aquatics Palace, as well as with the FINA Development center Kazan team.

Bernat himself kindly shared his first impression after arriving in Russia, and also told about his expectations from the program:

"Yeah, for sure I knew about the Kazan team for a long time and watched the page on Instagram for quite a long time, which means I don't expect any special surprises. After the training camp in Kazan in 2019, I kept in touch with many guys from here, in particular with Ado, Arina, Bisma and Luis. They gave me some advice, especially about the need for warm clothes even in the spring season. As it was, I already saw that Russia is a culturally very rich country, and there are a lot of traditions and customs here that I would like to study.

If we talk about my goals, it is definitely an improvement in my time at my main distances, which will allow me to fulfill the Olympic B standard. It is great to return to Kazan, because here both places and people are very familiar to me, so interesting and fruitful work ahead…»

On the same day, two representatives of Venezuela – Jesus Eduardo Gonzalez Reyes (17 years old), as well as Oscar Eduardo Ariza Briceno (21 years old) - joined the FINA Development Center's Diving family. Oscar and Jesus are Divers who specialize in the 10m platform as well as the 3m springboard.

From the very first minutes after landing, the guys showed a very pleasant mood, encouraging a good conversation, as well as good teamwork.

Oskar told us about his goals for the coming year and about the Russian diving team:

"I learned about the program through Frandiel, who kindly told me about the conditions for training here in Kazan and about the coaching staff, which is really known all over the world. I can't wait to start preparing for the upcoming World Cup in Tokyo, which will be held in early May. I know about Pavel Muyakin, I saw him and his team at the World Championships in Korea and I can say with confidence that the Russian school is quite strong, and I can point out Nikita Shleikher, I hope that I will be able to compete with him at the upcoming Olympics."

The second representative of Venezuela, Jesus, left his comment after arriving to Kazan:

"I know that Russia is a sports country with good sports facilities and high-class coaches, and here I will have a good opportunity to unleash my potential as an athlete. Yes, I am young and I have big challenges ahead of me. At the next start in Tokyo, if I can go, I already want to show my team what I can do.

From the first days, I really liked the organization of food and accommodation. It's great that now I can fully focus on training here in Kazan."