Positions and movements

Synchronised swimming is based on a number of basic positions and transitions.. These include the obvious ones, such as performing a figure on the front or back or from a vertical position, to the more technical ones such as the flamingo position, where one leg is straight and the other is bent in the same kind of shape as a flamingo, hence the name!

There are also certain movements that swimmers can perform in many different ways, so for example a swimmer can spin in the water but this can be spinning 180degrees or moving their entire body for one rotation (360 degrees).

Or with the Flamingo position there is a way to move the leg into the bend position and a way to get out of the move. Learn more about Figure Descriptions.

There is an internationally recognised list of figures provided by FINA, the sports world wide governing body. All figures are given a category and a tariff. So a single ballet leg (one leg out of the water stretched upwards) has a lower rating of 1.6, while a spiral (where a swimmer will lift both legs out of the water to hip height and perform two full twists , followed by a Vertical Descent) has a rating of 3.5.

There are also a few figures that are part of the synchronised swimming stages of the ASAs National Plan for Teaching Swimming but are not recognised by FINA. These have been designed to introduce young swimmers to the basic movements of synchro.