The World Cup circuit heads to Spain this week for the fourth and penultimate stop of the 2026 season. The last time the nation hosted was in 2023 for the Super Final in Oviedo, but this time, Pontevedra takes center stage.
29 countries are expected to compete over the three-day event, but the biggest headline of this stop is, of course, team Spain finally making its season debuts.
The home team has indeed yet to compete this year, a stark contrast from last season when it competed at every World Cup stop and major international event. The Spaniards had closed out 2025 on a high at the World Championships in Singapore, where they claimed nine medals, including three world titles.
In Pontevedra, Spain is set to appear in 10 events, with multiple entries across some of them. Several junior athletes will be given the opportunity to gain international experience, while the seniors are expected to unveil new choreographies in acrobatic team, technical team, technical duet and technical solo.
The acrobatic team routine is undoubtedly the one everyone is waiting for. Set to Rosalia’s “Berghain”, the choreography has already generated significant attention in Spain and within the artistic swimming community over the last few months, and even more so after the team released a short preview on social media over a week ago. From the limited footage shown so far, the routine already appears highly detailed musically and performance-driven, so expectations are understandably high ahead of its competitive debut. Chances are, we will not be disappointed either.
The new technical team routine, however, may end up being the more important conversation starter. Without revealing too much before competition day, Spain has chosen a radically different strategic direction, and one that deliberately pushes against where the sport has drifted recently.
Rather than following the increasingly difficulty- and apnea-heavy trend that has defined technical routines lately, the Spaniards have purposefully lowered their Declared Difficulty (DD) and put a stronger emphasis on execution, height, transitions, and overall artistic quality. For those watching, particular attention will fall on the first Free Hybrid, which the team sees as the clearest expression of that philosophy.
“We know it’s a risk, but it was important to us to explore what happens with a lower DD and less apnea time, for the sake of the athletes,” head coach Andrea Fuentes told Inside Synchro ahead of the meet. “Without more scientific backup, it’s scary to keep moving further in the current direction when it comes to breath-holding, and we know many others feel the same. At our high-performance center, our sports physiologists are currently conducting tests, and we’re waiting for more data and technology to better understand what is truly safe for the athletes.
But in the meantime, we believe it’s important to explore other possibilities. We wanted to test a different approach here at home, and see whether technical routines could be done differently while still remaining competitive. The team embraced the challenge, and if it really doesn’t work, then we’ll adjust before the European Championships. But we felt it was important to at least try.”
Whether the approach will ultimately pay off remains to be seen, but Spain’s willingness to experiment with a different structure and pacing already makes this routine one of the most intriguing entries in Pontevedra.
Outside of the team events, Spain also brings several of the sport’s biggest names back into competition. Iris Tio will be one not-to-miss in free solo, where she is the reigning world champion, and will also unveil a new technical solo choreography set to a new song by Rosalia. Tio and Lilou Lluis will compete in the technical duet for the first time together, and are also set to appear in free duet as the defending world champions in that event.
Dennis Gonzalez, who had left Singapore with five medals including gold in free mixed duet alongside Tio, continues to recover from shoulder surgery earlier this season. While he will not be entered in his trademark events in Pontevedra due to his limited training time, he should still appear in the acrobatic team routine. European Free Solo Champion Jordi Caceres has also been managing injuries and recovery in this first half of the year, so junior athlete Eneko Sanchez has been called up to represent the nation in both men’s solos and technical mixed duet here.
Spain will not be the only country unveiling new routines in Pontevedra.
After a promising outing in the Paris World Cup in technical team, Greece will make its season debut in free team and acrobatic team, with new choreographies planned in both. The free team routine, themed “Hypnosis: The Illusion of Freedom,” has notably been developed by Ukrainian Olympian Anna Voloshyna, who also works as a choreographer with Italy’s national team.
Mexico, meanwhile, recently unveiled several new routines at the Pan American Championships, but will now showcase them again on this larger World Cup stage. Among the most anticipated is the new “Jaguar” acrobatic routine, which combines ambitious acrobatic elements with a highly theatrical presentation.
Canada is also expected to debut new routines, notably in free team. This competition should additionally mark the return of Ximena Ortiz Montano, who spent the early part of the season recovering from knee surgery. She is entered in duet alongside Olena Verbinska, who will make her season debuts as well. The pair last competed in duet together at the 2024 World Junior Championships, where they placed fifth in the free routine and seventh in the technical routine. Pontevedra will mark their first appearance together in duet at the senior level.
The United States arrives in Spain with a reduced squad after holding its Olympic trials earlier this month, allowing the newly selected team time to regroup and begin working together. Both junior and senior athletes will compete for the nation in solo, duet and mixed duet.
Three-time Olympian Anita Alvarez will appear in both solo events, making her return to the free event for the first time since 2022, while junior athlete Kanako Field is set to make her debut in technical solo. Alvarez will also swim alongside Paris Olympic teammate Jaime Czarkowski in the duet events; they plan to unveil a new free choreography so watch out for this one.
In other notable developments, the nation will also return to the mixed duet events for the first time since 2022, with David Llorente — who was recently named to the LA2028 Olympic training squad — partnering with Yilian Yuan. The pair is preparing for this summer’s World Junior Championships. Llorente is also entered in both men’s solo events for his big international debut.
Pontevedra will mark the first international appearance of the season for South Korea’s new duet pairing of Paris Olympian Hur Yoonseo and 18-year-old Kim Jiyoon. The duo arrives directly from the Japanese Nationals in Tokyo, where they placed eighth in technical duet and 14th in free duet. While Hur brings extensive experience at this level, this will be Kim’s senior debut, having last competed internationally at the 2023 World Youth Championships.
South Korea had a very limited presence last season, missing the World Championships and appearing only once on the World Cup circuit, in one event, in Markham. Moreover, this new partnership represents another reset for Hur, who already had a different partner last season. Hopefully, this new pairing can equate stability as the nation builds toward the Asian Games later this year, and the next Olympics.
Portugal is also scheduled to make its season debut in both duet and mixed duet. Anna Luiza Carvalho and Ines Dubini are entered in the former, while Cheila Vieira returns to competition in mixed duet alongside Daniel Ascenso. Vieira, who’s been part of the senior national team since 2016, last competed internationally in 2024, when she notably placed fourth at the European Championships in duet.
But of course, there are likely more surprises in store, with several teams still keeping things under wraps. For example, Italy arrives with a full squad and is expected to compete across all events except the acrobatic team, Great Britain fields its entire team for the first time this season, Hungary also makes its season debut, Ukraine is seemingly testing out a new pairing in technical duet, and Australia will debut in the free duet. So, there is plenty to keep an eye on.
The Pontevedra World Cup starts on Friday at 10:00 am local with the women’s free solo event. All the information to follow the competition is available here.
ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET
Cover photo: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia
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