Like fish, but out of water.

Some local athletes recently took part in a not-so-typical swimming competition, on dry land.

"Due to public health rules, we haven't been able to get into the water to do any competition," said Head Coach Tracey Rothwell with the Weyburn Artistic Swimming Club. "The athletes have been able to follow the rules and practice individually in groups of agents, but unfortunately there is no actual competition allowed in the pool."

"So Synchro Saskatchewan kind of put their their thinking caps on and on Saturday, February the 27th Weyburn Artistic Swimming Competitive Club did compete in Saskatchewan's first-ever live virtual Land Skills Competition via ZOOM. They also live streamed it via Facebook for family and friends to watch and cheer on, and it went really, really well."

She said they had had a successful international competition this summer, in which a couple of their athletes competed in and did well.

"Not making it to the finals, but we were awfully proud," said Rothwell. "So, they thought, you know, maybe we could take a look at this platform and see if we could offer this to the province."

She said, just like in a regular in-pool competition, they performed in front of five judges, complete with the excitement of live marks.

"The athletes looked at whether it would be beneficial to be doing rhythmic movements or whether we should focus more on personal fitness skills," she shared. "So they did go to a combination of both, which was really successful. Each athlete did two skills land skills based on long term athlete development, and their physical abilities."

Rothwell said they will likely use the same format for their next competition on April 17th.

"At this point, we're really hoping that public health will allow us to video in-pool artistic swimming routines such as solos duets, possibly not teams, but we're waiting to hear back," she explained. "If not, we know that we can at least successfully do a Land Skills Competition again and hopefully in-water figures."

Listen here to the full audio:

Screengrab compilation photographs of the judges and competitors courtesy of Weyburn Artistic Swimming  / Facebook.