The 2025 artistic swimming season is officially underway as the first day of the Paris World Cup saw athletes take the stage for an exciting start to the competition.
With four events on the schedule, Spain made a strong statement by claiming three medals including two golds, while Great Britain and Kazakhstan also secured victories to kick off their season.
On this Friday morning, 24 soloists took to the stage in Paris, competing in the women’s technical solo. After a year away from the event, Iris Tió of Spain made a triumphant return, grabbing everyone’s attention on her way to the gold medal with a gripping routine set to Rosalia’s “Me quedo contigo”.
Tió, an Olympic team bronze medalist, scored 240.0167 for the win, her first and likely not the last under the guidance of new head coach Andrea Fuentes.
“I was a little bit nervous because it was the first competition, but I think in the water I can do my best”, she said. “I really enjoy competing in solo a lot, it’s a different event, where you can feel the music more, do your own movements. When we did the routine with Andrea, she just played the music, and let me move in the water, so it’s all very natural movements for me. She also gave me confidence to do it well. I feel comfortable during the routine, and she tells me all the good things that I do, so it gives me confidence.”
Tió and Fuentes had opted to focus on the Technical Required Elements (TRE) and artistic impression at this competition, and it paid off. Tio Casas only had the sixth highest Degree of Difficulty (DD) in this event, but her strong performance brought her to the top.
China’s Xu Huiyan, reigning World Junior Champion in this event and World bronze medalist, grabbed silver with a score of 239.1651 for her routine set to the theme of “Lovesickness”.
“Today was my best swim of the last two or three months,” she said. “For every athlete, their dream is the top medal position, so I want to improve much more my elements and hybrids at a high level and execution.”
Vasilina Khandoshka, competing under the Neutral Athlete (NAA) flag, claimed the bronze with 235.7242. Khandoshka came in with the highest DD (37.55), and arguably the longest free hybrid worth a massive 23.350. She did receive full credit for her difficulty, but her artistic impression and execution of her TREs wasn’t enough to catch up to Tió and Xu.
The competition continued in the afternoon with the women’s technical duet. It was yet another gold for Spain, with Olympic bronze medalists Lilou Lluis and Txell Ferré claiming the top spot for their very first time swimming duet together. The two had a near-impeccable swim, scoring 281.7383 as they performed to Elle King’s “Ex’s & Oh’s”.
“This result is great for us,” Ferré said. “I think we have done a great job, and also we have a team that supported us very much. We are very happy for this medal.”
This first place is especially noteworthy for Lluis, who suffered a minor knee injury on the very first day back to training after the Olympic break. The 18-year-old, who’s also finishing her school load at the same time, had been limited in training until a few weeks ago.
“It was quite difficult because we didn’t know at first how long the recovery would take,” she explained. “I suffered a patella dislocation, so I did a lot of strengthening exercises so it doesn’t happen again. Little by little, it has been getting better. Four weeks ago, I started feeling like I had almost recovered completely, and about one week ago was when I truly felt great. I wasn’t too stressed coming here because my coaches have helped me a lot to feel confident, and Txell and I trusted each other too.”
It was also a successful first outing for the new pair of Higa Moe and Fujii Moka, representing Japan, as they scored 265.4225 for silver. Higa and Fujii unveiled a new choreography set to the theme of “Android”, which they have only been working on since December.
Higa, who has been in the duet ever since she joined the senior squad in 2022 at age 14, was pleased about this result but argued that next time at the World Championships, they would very much like the gold.
The Olympic duet of Anastasia Bayandina and Romane Lunel of France won the bronze medal with a score of 264.8292. They had made their debut as a duet only six months ago at the Paris Games, and returned to the stage with a new choreography set to “Mamma Mia”. They had been using this song for gala shows and enjoyed swimming to it so much that they wanted to see what they could do with it in a competition setting.
“This is a great start for all of us, for the coaches, for this first competition,” Bayandina said. “We are very happy to win this bronze medal at home for this World Cup. We’re really grateful to be able to swim a similar routine to the Olympics, but it’s still a bit different because of the new rules and some other changes, like the music of course.”
The second French duet of Romane Temessek and Lou Thuillier, both still eligible for junior events this year, notably ranked fourth with a great swim to the same music and a score of 253.2692.
It was also a great first showing for the new duet of Germany, made of Klara Bleyer and Amelie Blumenthal Haz, which had declared the highest DD of the event. Scoring 240.1317, the pair finished fifth with a basemark on its acrobatic move, resulting in a drop in DD from 33.35 to 31.35, but the potential for a bright future was clearly there.
It was a very close finish in the men’s technical solo, with the top three athletes separated by only 0.7974 points. Reigning European silver medalist in this event Ranjuo Tomblin of Great Britain took the top spot with a score of 214.3966, unveiling a new routine set to David Garrett’s “Beethoven’s 5th”. This is the country’s first-ever solo gold at a World Cup event.
“I totally didn’t expect it,” he said. “We just came here to test out our routines, especially with the recent rule changes, we’re still a bit unsure about what to declare, so I’m really happy about this medal. The previous achievements, and also the help of Kate [Shortman] and Izzy [Thorpe, silver medalists in Paris 2024] are opening the door for us newer generations. It’s helped us gain confidence and realize that, yes, Great Britain is quite good at this sport.”
Eduard Kim of Kazakhstan took the silver medal with a score of 213.8167. Swimming a new choreography created by Olga Pylypchuk to the theme of “Aimless Ways”, Kim was seemingly in a pure, total flow state. He was fully living his routine, hitting every little detail of his music, and was taking us along for the ride.
Although he unfortunately lacked a little bit in technique and strength in his TREs, Kim was captivating from start to finish, and this routine is undoubtedly one to watch over and over this season.
Jordi Caceres brought Spain its third medal of the day by clinching bronze with a total of 213.5992, swimming to “Love on the Brain” by Rihanna.
“I really enjoyed today,” he said. “I have trained a lot, so I just wanted to enjoy the moment and I think I did it. My mom is here too in the stands, I haven’t seen her for two months, so I am very happy for this moment right now. Of course, I think I can improve a lot, but I feel I have a nice year coming.”
Teammate Dennis Gonzalez Boneu had come in as one of the favorites for a medal, but unfortunately received a zero on his first TRE.
Guo Muye of China was another favorite, but had a bit of a hiccup halfway through his routine, seemingly getting lost at the start of a TRE. He did go for it again and continued on with the routine to finish strong. Although he did receive full credit for his difficulty, this mistake probably fazed him for the remainder of the routine and affected his execution and artistic scores.
The day wrapped up with the free team competition, which only featured two nations and junior squads. Kazakhstan claimed its second medal of the day by winning the event with a score of 167.6538, while Czechia claimed the silver medal with a 129.6150.
The competition resumes tomorrow morning at 10:00 am with the free duet event. Technical Mixed Duet are then scheduled at 3:00 pm, and the day will end in a very exciting fashion with the technical team at 6:30 pm.
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Photo: FFN / Anh Viet Chau
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