Day 2 in Soma Bay brought us three events and plenty of action. Russia (Neutral Athletes B) kicked things off with its second gold at this World Cup, winning the free duet in the morning. But, it was Spain who ruled the day, winning three medals across today’s three events, including two golds in the technical mixed duet and technical team.
FREE DUET
The livestream gods giveth and the livestream gods taketh away. After yesterday’s rocky start, hopes were high for a smoother viewing experience today. And yes, things did kick off right on time, except for one small detail: the sound. Thankfully, this venture into Silent Artistic Swimming was only brief, and the sweet noise from the pool returned by the fourth duet to put us back on track with our regularly scheduled programming.
The first final of the day was the women’s free duet, and this time it was the junior pair of Russia, or “Neutral Athletes B”, who claimed gold after yesterday’s win by the senior duet in the technical event.
After a disappointing result there, Anastasiia Sidorina and Veronika Sokolova bounced back with an impressive and well-executed routine to the theme of “The Elements of One Mechanism.” Executing the highest Degree of Difficulty (DD) of the event at 59.05, the pair showed excellent height and control, especially in the unbalanced and isolated leg movements, and sealed the win with a 256.0388.
Kobayashi Uta and Sato Tomoka of Japan, who had won this event in Paris, took silver with their “Oni”-themed routine. Smooth and composed, their execution remained strong throughout, although not quite enough to reclaim the top spot. They scored 248.0671, receiving full credit for their difficulty this time around, leading to a significant 34-point increase since that first World Cup.
The bronze went to Spain, with the brand-new pairing of Lilou Lluis and Iris Tio making a promising debut. They’ve only been training this routine together for a month, but already show a remarkable connection and potential in the water.
The choreography, set to the theme of “The Essence of Femininity,” still has a few kinks to iron out, with some synchronization and execution errors keeping their score in check. But as we’ve come to expect of Spain, it was their strong artistic impression that carried them to the podium, with a final score of 236.0830.
Also making their first appearance as a duet were France’s Romane Lunel and Laelys Alavez, presenting a new “Octopus”-themed routine. The two Paris Olympians meshed quite well and ranked fifth with 227.7450. Alavez, a former star in the youth category, was moved up to the senior squad at just 15 in the fall of 2022 and obviously continues to shine in her senior duet debut.
Sofia-Evangelia Malkogeorgou and Vasiliki Thanou of Greece also made their debut as a duet here, bringing back the “Illusion” choreography from its previous senior duet iterations. This new pairing performed it confidently, placing sixth with a score of 225.1164 and giving the routine a solid second life.
Tokyo Olympians Daria Fedaruk and Vasilina Khandoshka of Belarus (“Neutral Athletes A” here) opened the event, albeit without music on the livestream. So, judging their performance from the video alone was, well, more interpretative than usual. Still, they landed in fourth overall with a score of 229.3988, so clearly the difficulty and execution held up.
TECHNICAL MIXED DUET
The day continued with the technical mixed duet event, featuring 11 entries. This included two from Spain, Kazakhstan and Bulgaria, and a few new pairings testing the waters while making their season debuts.
The reigning European Champions, Dennis Gonzalez Boneu and Mireia Hernandez of Spain made their season debut together, and looked like they just picked up right where they left off last year. Swimming their “Hip Hop, Let’s Go” routine, the Spaniards delivered a sharp, confident swim with the highest DD of the field (32.30) and the highest artistic impression score, earning them gold with 207.3858.
China’s Guo Sitong and Shi Haoyue opened the event, and were quite impressive in their first international appearance together. Performing to a “Silk Road” theme, the pair earned silver with 196.1908. Guo is actually the current World Junior Champion in this event, at the time paired with Guo Muye, who just won the men’s technical solo here in Soma Bay.
Gabriele Minak and Sara Maria Rizea of Italy rounded out the podium with bronze. The duo, also making their international debut as a pair, swam to a “Heartbeat” theme. Minak had previously competed in the mixed duet with Ginevra Marchetti, and Rizea with Filippo Pelati. The latter are actually the reigning vice-European Champions in this event. Anyways, this new combo already shows promise, scoring 186.5899 for third place today.
The reigning World Champions, Kazakhstan’s Nargiza Bolatova and Eduard Kim debuted a superb new routine, swimming to “Ameksa” by the Taalbi Brothers. Choreographed by Olga Pylypchuk, it featured powerful lifts and expressive movements, with the pair continuing to showcase their strong chemistry and artistic flair in the water. Unfortunately, they received a a basemark on their free hybrid and finished in sixth place, which was surely a frustrating end to an otherwise enthralling swim.
TECHNICAL TEAM
The day wrapped up with the technical team final, featuring 13 nations, and a bit of everything: comebacks, debuts, crowd-pleasers, live stream and on-site music issues, and some unfortunate drama.
Spain took the gold once again with its always-entertaining “Backstreet Boys routine.” Paula Ramirez and Aurora Lazaro subbed in this time around for Iris Tio and Mireia Hernandez, who had swam this routine in the Paris World Cup, and the team still delivered the same high energy and crisp execution.
The Spaniards had bumped up their DD slightly by 0.20, but once again, it was the artistic impression that truly set this routine apart. The athletes were engaging from the first beat to the last, and achieved a score of 276.2168 to win their third gold of this competition so far.
The Russian junior squad, competing as “Neutral Athletes B,” followed with silver and a technical masterclass. Swimming to a theme of “Time Ahead,” they posted the highest DD of the event (47.125) and backed it up with excellent execution, precise patterns, clean lines, great height, and sharp transitions. It was undoubtedly a polished performance all around, but their 266.4899 just wasn’t enough to close the gap with Spain.
Silver medalists in the last World Cup, Japan rounded out the podium with bronze this time, swimming its basketball-themed routine for a total score of 260.5267. The Japanese team showcased strong execution, impeccable technique and perfect timing, staying as reliable as we’ve come to expect from them over the years.
Canada and Italy both made their first appearance as a team since the Olympics. Canada debuted a brand-new routine to Celine Dion’s catchy “River Deep, Mountain High,” a nod to the Quebec-based team’s culture. The Canadians delivered good energy all around and truly seemed to have a blast in the water, delivering a clean swim with no basemarks. They finished fourth with 257.1716.
Italy went with a “Queen of the Night” theme set to the famous song “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics, and a choreography by Ukrainian Olympian Anna Voloshyna. Unfortunately, an early basemark on their first acro landed them in sixth with a score of 241.1267, slightly behind the “Neutral Athletes A” from Belarus at 244.1151.
Ukraine also made its return in this technical team event, its first appearance there since the Doha World Championships, with a very young but talented roster. The routine had a promising start, but issues crept in during the free hybrids, with one swimmer getting visibly lost early on in the first one. Despite the strong artistic impression on this new “A good mood through life” choreography, they suffered two basemarks and ultimately placed eighth.
Egypt’s outing was filled with setbacks, but also a huge display of resilience. After a music glitch forced a restart, one of the athletes became unwell shortly after starting the routine and had to be helped out of the pool. The routine was stopped, and the competition paused briefly.
The home team was given the chance to go again later in the draw, with reserve swimmer Nour Shamala stepping in at the last minute. She hadn’t competed at the elite level since 2017 until literally yesterday, but rose to the occasion beautifully, helping the team finish the routine with determination in front of friends and family. The Egyptians ultimately placed ninth tonight with a total of 204.8634, counting one zero on a TRE.
The competition wraps up tomorrow with four events left on the schedule: the men and women’s free solos starting at 12:00pm local, followed by the free mixed duet and the acrobatic team routine.
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Photos: Shams Rashad / Fishtail App.
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