Defending overall women\u2019s Solo Artistic Swimming World Cup winner Klara Bleyer will be among the leading competitors to contest the second leg of the season when she takes to the water in Paris starting today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI put a lot of pressure on myself,\u201d Klara Bleyer admits with a shake of her head, before pausing, looking up and firmly stating that this season will be different. \u201cI’m trying to swim more with fun and believe in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the 21-year-old has been honing her skills in the water since the age of five, it is only since 2023 that she has begun to realise and accept her true potential, in her own mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During that year she claimed her maiden European Junior titles, with victories in the Solo Free and Solo Tech disciplines, while she also secured European Games silver with the German team, as the sport made a successful return to the multi-sport programme in Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her thoughts soon turned to seeking sustained success as a senior, and that would arrive, perhaps sooner than she expected, via the Artistic Swimming World Cups in Paris and Budapest, where she would claim one gold and three silvers across four events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They proved to be a springboard to further successes, with maiden solo continental honours following at the Belgrade 2024 European Championships, where she placed second twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have a cabinet at home with all of my medals and mascots as they are great memories,\u201d she tells World Aquatics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGenerally, I don\u2019t look at there being a particular result which started this (run of success), but that Junior European Championships in 2023 made me realise, \u2018okay, maybe I can do something in this sport\u2019 and you know, maybe make it more popular in Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is clear that Bleyer has pride in the individual honours achieved to date, but she has a bigger mission and one which comes potentially with a price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur goal is to qualify for the Olympics, and we’ve been working really hard on this because we don’t get a lot of good support in Germany and we have to pay for a lot ourselves, which means we need to fundraise for some events,\u201d Bleyer reveals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we have learned is that we need to swim at all of the World Cups and get into the minds of the judges. I think at the World Championships last year (Singapore 2025), I was not in their minds because they had not seen a lot of me in competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow we are really focusing on doing almost all of the World Cups and showing them, you know \u2018we are here, we are Germany, and we want to qualify.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bleyer combines training with work as part of her nation\u2019s army, where she serves as a sports auditor, which she admits is \u201ca lot to balance\u201d but insists her love for the sport, as well as her passion for it, helps her through the tough times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I’ve learned, and my message to anyone in a similar position is to just do your best and try to enjoy this journey, because you can’t do it forever,\u201d she states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re only an athlete now, so try to enjoy every step and don\u2019t put too much pressure on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That has been a key shift in mindset for the artistic swimmer in recent times, who admits that while the significant new rule changes introduced in 2023 have \u201cdramatically improved\u201d transparency and fairness in the sport, adapting to them has also created challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very stressful because you have to adapt so fast each year,\u201d Bleyer says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to keep changing rules so they can be fairer, but it is exhausting. You need to be very into the sport to understand everything, but at the same time, I\u2019m excited to see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany has never placed on the podium in the sport at an Olympic Games, but after witnessing Great Britain and the Netherlands achieve historic firsts at Paris 2024, it has given her optimism about her own nation\u2019s prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHaving success at World Championships or European Championships is good, and I think it means more people see our sport in Germany, but I think the Olympics can push it to the public even more, and this would help our sport a lot,\u201d she tells World Aquatics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPersonally, I am always looking to improve and work towards new goals, and while sometimes I get anxious before competitions, this season and ahead of trying to qualify (for the Olympics), I\u2019m taking a new approach to try and enjoy things more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn Paris, I\u2019m going to be working on pushing my artistic impression more, and I\u2019m excited to show what I\u2019ve been working on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bleyer will contest both of the solo events at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in Paris, while she will also join Amelie Marianne Blumenthal Haz in the duet disciplines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defending overall women\u2019s Solo Artistic Swimming World Cup winner Klara Bleyer will be among the leading competitors to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[315,382],"class_list":["post-10920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-aquatics","tag-artistic-swimming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t