Chinese stars Tingting and Wenwen Jiang, who won a duet technical bronze in Rome in 2009, devised a sophisticated routine to challenge Russia’s dominance. Showing good technique, body control and elegance, the 27-year-old twins earned an overall 94.900 points, each collecting their eighth medal at world level.
2012 Olympic silver medallist Ona Carbonell and new partner Margalida Crespi performed brilliantly to win the minor medal with 93.800 points. Spain has won a medal in this event at every World Championships edition since 2003 (5 silver and 3 bronze).
In fourth came the Ukrainian duo made of Lolita Ananasova and Anna Voloshyna, scoring 92.400 points. Europe’s number-3 nation moved up two spots from the 2011 classification, a case in point of their steady rise in the ranks of the world’s top synchro competitors.
Yumi Adachi and Yukiko Inui from Japan, who have been competing at world level since 2009, performed for the first time as a duet, placing fifth. Canadians Chloe Isaac and Karine Thomas took sixth.
The duet technical is a 2-minute routine which technical aspects are execution, synchronisation and difficulty. 33 nations took part in the duet technical competition.
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QUOTES:
Gold medal winner: Svetlana Romashina/Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS)
Romashina on new partner Kolesnichenko: “I’m very happy to partner with her, we never had any conflicts. Her personality resembles that of Natalia Ishchenko, she’s very calm. We felt comfortable from the very first day we started training together.”
Romashina on winning the gold: “Every time after each victory we know that we have to work harder.”
On other teams fighting for top honours: “There should be threats, otherwise there will be no striving for perfection and development.”
Kolesnichenko on first gold: “I won three golds in Shanghai but this is my first duet gold. Swimming the duet is a big responsibility, I feel very grateful to Romashina.”
Silver medal winner: Tingting Jiang/Wenwen Jiang (CHN)
On performance tonight: “This is the first time we win the duet technical routine at World Championships so we’re very happy.”
On future: “We are very satisfied with our performance tonight. This medal may be the last medal we win at World Championships since we will retire after these Championships.”
Bronze medal winner: Ona Carbonell/Margalida Crespi (ESP)
Crespi on performance tonight: “We are very happy because we only had six months of preparation for this event. Our coach [Mayuko Fujiki] is happy so we’re happy. We want to enjoy these World Championships because this competition at home will be unforgettable.”
On fighting for silver in the duet free: “It will be so difficult because China is too strong but we won silver at the London Olympics last year so we’ll try to get the silver in the duet free.”