Three days, eleven events, thirty-three countries and close to three hundred of the best artistic swimming athletes in the world resulted in a spectacular event with surprising and unpredictable results.

The Montpellier event represents part of the rebirth of the sport, initiated by the development and implementation of a new scoring system. The future is bright, exciting, and open for female and male Artistic Swimming athletes to train and compete on an even playing field, judged for the execution of their abilities during their performances.

“I am very proud of our athletes, coaches, judges, technical controllers, and volunteers. The new scoring system has been a global effort, said World Aquatics Technical Artistic Swimming Committee Chair Lisa Schott. “We wanted a system that was fairer for our athletes and stopped the uniform ranking. The system has achieved that goal by developing defined objective measurements and we now see different countries on the podium. You can feel the positive energy from our community.

Added Schott: “Montpellier was a fantastic partner, and we thank them for sharing their beautiful aquatics facilities and their energetic fans.”

Mixed Team Free

Japan’s routine “Chess”, with a powerful ending simulating “checkmate” to the other competitors declared a massive 40.7 for degree of difficulty. The choreography was creative, fast, and included maximum time under water, changes in spinning direction which were executed beautifully.

Although, the Japanese performance was awarded a slightly lower difficulty score than that of Israel, they received higher marks for artistic impression and execution, securing the gold medal with 391.5896 points. 

Ironically, the silver medalists Israel’s theme is “Japan”, inspired by Japanese culture and choreographed to Japanese music. The team received 356.3647 points for their performance.

Italy won the bronze medal with 345.1329 points for their choreography “The Transformation” swum to music by composer Antongiulio Frulio.  The performance was energetic from start to finish and the Italians showed great balance and power in their acrobatic moves throughout the routine.

Mixed Duet Free

The fight for the medals was exciting with the participation of eleven pairs that were evenly matched.

Japanese siblings Yotaro and Tomoka Sato, winners of the silver medal in the Technical event, were able to execute their “Levitation Magic” choreography the best and claimed the gold medal. The Japanese pair scored 273.5708 points for this new routine that showcases their artistic side, a change from the upbeat and cheerful choreographies they swam before.

Spain’s Fernando Diaz del Rio Soto , with a gold and a silver medal from the Solo events, newly paired with Mireia Hernandez Luna performed “Angels and Demons.” The pair scored just slightly lower on the difficulty and the artistic impression to finish second with 267.8917 points and the silver medal. 

The seasoned Colombian duet, Jennifer Cerquera Hatiusca and Gustavo Sanchez, already more successful than at any previous Artistic Swimming World event, added another bronze medal to their collection. Their rendition of “The King and Queen” earned them 255.1416 points.

Acrobatics

The Acrobatic routine, new on the schedule of events in 2023, requires the teams, made up of eight athletes, to perform seven acrobatics moves covering the different groups, airborne, balance, combined and platform. The routines are often breathtaking and require creative choreographies that tie together the different acrobatic moves.

The team representing Ukraine swam a wonderful routine, artistically, musically, and the acrobatics all in balance. More than that, their “Love to Smile” choreographed to a compilation of very upbeat happy music left everyone smiling and moving with the rhythm of the music. With a score of 260.2750 points, 19.40 for difficulty, the Ukrainians claimed their second gold medal this weekend.  

Team USA’s routine stunningly depicted the power, fearlessness and courage of “Amazons”, the theme of their routine. The choreography’s artistic impression was second to none, and the height of the lifts and throws were extraordinary. The Americans wrapped up the weekend with a silver medal with a total of 252.0000 points, 19.55 for difficulty.

The Chinese Team created a buzz in the stands and on pool deck, it was a crowd pleaser, and many were left without words to describe the very original, but very difficult routine. As has been the case with other routines this weekend, a high declared degree of difficulty is a risk, it can go both ways.

In this event, the Chinese team was not able to successfully execute which resulted in base marks, leaving the difficulty score at 16.85 points, three points behind Ukraine and the USA. Fortunately for China, the score was good enough to reach the podium for the bronze medal with 247.0583 points.

World Cup Medal Standings from Montpellier

Artistic Swimming’s Next World Cup Tour Stop: Somabay, Egypt

The World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup’s third and final leg before the Super Final in Oviedo, Spain, will be held May 13^th through the 15^th in the Egyptian resort area of Somabay.

The Artistic Swimming Cup will be one of three Aquatic events during the World Aquatics Festival. Taking place at the breath-taking Somabay beach resort on Egypt’s Red Sea coast – which pairs some of the most beautiful sandy beaches and panoramic views of the nearby desert mountains – the artistic swimming event will be joined by the Beach Water Polo Qualifier for the ANOC World Beach Games - Bali 2023 and the opening leg of the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup 2023 season.