Chinese twins regain artistic swimming title
Doha: Twins Liuyi and Qianyi Wang reclaimed the women’s technical duet title at the World Aquatics Championships Doha on Monday. The 27-year-old sisters first took the crown in Budapest in 2022 but just missed the podium in the discipline last year in Fukuoka, Japan.
They scored 266.0484 points. Britons Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe took silver with 259.5601 and Spaniards Alisa Ozhogina and Iris Tio Casas repeated last year’s bronze with 258.0333 pts. Japan’s Moe Higa and Mashiro Yasunaga, who were crowned champions in 2023, withdrew just before qualifying started, one of the two swimmers being unwell.
Meanwhile, Olympic champion Quan Hongchan clinched her first individual world title with victory in the women’s 10m platform diving. The Chinese star, 16, laid down an early statement of intent in the final with a forward dive with 3.5 somersaults in pike worth 76.50 to top the round 1 leaderboard.
Nineteen-year-old Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix of Britain, fresh from winning the mixed team event title, continued her good form with a round 2 inward 3.5 somersault tuck worth 81.60 that was met with gasps around the Hamad Aquatics Complex to take top spot.
But the joy was short lived, as the superlative Quan responded with an almost perfect 91.20 to retake the lead, while her compatriot, 10m synchro Olympic champion Chen Yuxi, slipped into second with an 86.40.
A consistent display over the first three rounds from Kim Mi Rae saw the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea diver complete a top four that had all secured at least 220 points overall at the halfway stage.
The fourth round saw Quan step things up again with the dive of the day, a back 3.5 somersaults in tuck that was awarded four perfect 10s and a total of 97.35. Another spectacular final round saw the Chinese prodigy secure the gold medal with a score of 86.40, to give her an overall total of 436.25. Chen Yuxi secured silver with 427.80, while Spendolini-Sirieix took her second medal of the event, a podium in bronze with 377.10.
China finished on top in men’s artistic swimming event as well with Yang Shuncheng taking gold in men’s solo technical. The 16-year-old Yang earned gold with the final swim of the men’s event, totalling 246.4766 points. He edged Italy’s Giorgio Minisini (245.3166), with the bronze going to Colombia’s Gustavo Sanchez (231.0000).
Artistic swimming is split into 11 medal-winning opportunities at the world championships. There are only two events on the Olympic programme, duet and team. Men have competed in artistic swimming at the world championships since 2015, when the sport was still known as synchronised swimming. They are eligible for the Olympics for the first time in Paris.
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