Two events took place on the penultimate day in Singapore at the World Championships, with the acrobatic team preliminary in the morning and the free duet final in the evening.
There, Spain made history as Lilou Lluis and Iris Tio claimed the nation’s first world title in duet. In the acro prelims, reigning champions China took the lead, but Spain is lurking dangerously close and has built tremendous momentum heading into the final day of competition.
FREE DUET FINAL
Spain struck gold in the free duet final for the first time in the country’s history, thanks to a superb and expressive performance from Olympians Lilou Lluis and Iris Tio. The two only started competing in duet together this season, and swam here to the theme of “The Essence of Femininity.”
After placing first in the preliminary round, the pair delivered when it counted the most and showcased a polished routine that captured both the audience and judges alike. With a total score of 282.6087, they claimed a historic duet gold, without even altering their Degree of Difficulty (DD) from the prelims. They trusted in their routine, leaned on clean execution, and poured everything they had into artistic impression.
“I have no words,” Iris Tio said. “It’s super special. I had a super good feeling before swimming the duet tonight. We didn’t expect success in our first year, but we have really good chemistry. Swimming with Lilou is a gift. We had a great time training, we had a great… ‘feeling’, and before we went out to compete, we were laughing. We had a good time until the last second, and I think that’s the magic of our duo. We hope that we have a long future together. It’s just our first year, and if we’ve already done this in our first year, imagine in 10 years.”
For Lluis, still only 18 years old, this is a dream first season in the senior duet. The pair were also silver medalists at the European Championships just a few weeks ago and have now medaled at every outing this year since debuting at the Soma Bay World Cup.
“I laugh a lot,” Lilou Lluis said. “I have a great time in training, we connect really well, we understand each other instantly. It’s an honor to swim [with Iris]. We went step by step, following the plan we had, and everything turned out very well. I couldn’t stop crying. I don’t know if I can believe it. I’ve seen the number one, I have the medal… but I still can’t believe it.”
In her first season at the helm, head coach Andrea Fuentes has already helped Spain to seven medals at these World Championships and second gold. It was also a second gold for Tio, after taking the free solo title two days ago.
“[Andrea] brought a lot of positivity and has a lot of confidence in us,” Tio added. “And also in creating super good choreography that we feel comfortable swimming and which are very artistic. We find a very good balance in artistry and difficulty. She’s the best coach ever. She was my idol. She was a really good swimmer, she’s even better as a coach. I think she tries to find her own way to coach, and not follow ‘normal’ coaching. She always wants to follow her values, and that’s what I admire the most.”
Both will be back in the pool tomorrow for the final of competition: Tio in the free mixed duet final alongside Dennis Gonzalez, and Lluis in the acrobatic team final.
Italy took the silver, also making history with its first medal in the free duet at the World Championships. Olympians Enrica Piccoli and Lucrezia Ruggiero, European Champions in this event, brought their “Hypnosis” theme to life thanks to a great choreography by Simona Ricotta.
The two, still in only their second competition together, increased their DD by a full point for the final and were rewarded with a score of 278.7137, allowing them to move up one spot from the prelims.
“We’re surprised and that was totally unexpected,” Enrica Piccoli said. “It’s been a short journey for us, so this was a big surprise. I still can’t believe what happene. When we stepped onto the platform, we didn’t know the others’ results, and even when ours came in, I didn’t immediately realize it.”
Mayya Doroshko and Tatiana Gayday, competing as Neutral Athletes B, came in hot from the prelims and had rolled the dice with a big DD increase (+1.9), the biggest of the field, up to a total of 60.050.
Their “Split Personality” routine remains one of the most captivating ones of the competition, exploring fear and internal conflict through very expressive, interesting and vulnerable choreography.
Unfortunately, a visible lapse during their second-to-last hybrid cost them some points in execution and synchronization. It wasn’t a basemark, but it left just enough of a door open for Italy to slip ahead. They still delivered a memorable swim, finishing with 277.1117 and the bronze medal.
“The level of the competition is really high, everyone wants to win,” Tatiana Gayday said. “The pressure is high too. So we try to show our best. We increased our degree of difficulty because it was the final, and we did more difficult acrobatic moves to have a chance. We wanted to show all our experience, we hope that people enjoyed our new routine.”
A few more countries had notable results during this free duet final. France’s duet of Laelys Alavez and Romane Lunel landed in fifth, the best result for the country in the duet at a World Championships since 1998, when France claimed bronze.
Although the two Olympians have been swimming together for a few years in the team routines, this is also their first season as a duet, which already shows huge promise.
Germany’s pair of Klara Bleyer and Amelie Blumenthal Haz is also a new duet with fantastic potential as it closed in eighth, which marks the nation’s best finish in duet at the World Championships since 1978 (!), when it placed sixth. Bronze medalists at the European Championships a few weeks ago, they’ve quickly established themselves as a new pair to watch this Olympic cycle.
“We gathered all our strength for this final and simply wanted to show the best we’ve been working on all season,” Bleyer told the German Swimming Federation “That gives us a lot of self-confidence and also shows that we’re on the right track. We can build on that. We’ll be preparing a new free duet soon, and I think we can show a lot more. This year it was all about showing ourselves and getting into the minds of the judges. We managed that very well.””
Acrobatic Team Preliminary
The final preliminary round of these World Championships saw 25 nations take the stage for the acrobatic team event, and what a way it was to start the day.
The People’s Republic of China, the reigning World Champions, lived up to their title once again. The team performed their “Soul of the Terracotta Army” routine, unveiled just a few weeks ago at the World Cup Super Final, and claimed the top spot with a score of 225.7993.
They posted the highest DD of the field with 24.6625 and received six 10s in artistic impression, including four in the choreography and musicality category alone.
However, Spain is right on their heels, trailing by just 1.5123. Swimming to Lady Gaga’s “Abracadrabra”, the Spanish team brought charisma, power, joy and many emotions to the pool. It’s a choreography the athletes clearly love performing, and they bring an energy that’s contagious and radiates through the entire venue.
While they also earned a few 10.0s in performance, they were one of only two teams (along with Japan) to earn 10s from the Element judges for their acrobatic movements. Their score of 224.2870 sets the stage for a showdown tomorrow.
Italy, the reigning European Champion, sits in third with 215.7280 for its “Chicago”-themed routine, with the reigning world bronze and silver medalists, the USA and Ukraine, respectively, lurking only a couple of points behind.
A handful of teams encountered difficulties, with basemarks showing up for Neutral Athletes B, Mexico, Japan, and France. They’ll no doubt aim for sharper, more controlled performances in the final.
The battle for medals is tight, and with this being the last chance for teams to fight for a podium finish, we can expect a thrilling conclusion tomorrow.
The countries qualified to the final are the People’s Republic of China, Spain, Italy, the USA, Ukraine, Canada, Neutral Athletes B, Mexico, Japan, France, Kazakhstan and Neutral Athletes A.
The acrobatic team final takes place tomorrow, July 25 at 7:30 pm local.
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Cover photo: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia
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