diff --git a/areal/trainer/rl_trainer.py b/areal/trainer/rl_trainer.py
index 73b98c21f..33f9d67ef 100644
--- a/areal/trainer/rl_trainer.py
+++ b/areal/trainer/rl_trainer.py
@@ -1113,7 +1113,7 @@ def _save_hf(self, epoch: int, epoch_step: int, global_step: int):
                 name="critic",
             )
         # Async mode: synchronization handled by AsyncCheckpointManager
-        if not self.saver.is_async:
+        if not self.saver.is_async and not is_single_controller():
             dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
             current_platform.synchronize()
 
@@ -1139,8 +1139,9 @@ def _save_recover_checkpoint(self, epoch: int, epoch_step: int, global_step: int
             processor=self.processor,
         )
 
-        dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
-        current_platform.synchronize()
+        if not is_single_controller():
+            dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
+            current_platform.synchronize()
 
     def _evaluate_fn(
         self,
@@ -1161,8 +1162,9 @@ def _evaluate_fn(
                     cnt += 1
             self.eval_rollout.wait(cnt, timeout=None)
 
-        dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
-        current_platform.synchronize()
+        if not is_single_controller():
+            dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
+            current_platform.synchronize()
 
     def _evaluate(
         self,
@@ -1188,8 +1190,9 @@ def _evaluate(
             epoch_step,
             global_step,
         )
-        dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
-        current_platform.synchronize()
+        if not is_single_controller():
+            dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
+            current_platform.synchronize()
 
     def _export_and_commit_stats(self, epoch: int, epoch_step: int, global_step: int):
         # Upload statistics to the logger (e.g., wandb)
@@ -1199,8 +1202,9 @@ def _export_and_commit_stats(self, epoch: int, epoch_step: int, global_step: int
             stats.update(self.eval_rollout.export_stats())
         self.stats_logger.commit(epoch, epoch_step, global_step, stats)
 
-        dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
-        current_platform.synchronize()
+        if not is_single_controller():
+            dist.barrier(group=self.actor.cpu_group)
+            current_platform.synchronize()
 
     def _validate_cfg(self):
         """validate config for incompatible settings before weight initialization, to avoid wasted resources on spawning workers and loading models."""