Mexico won two of the final three events on offer during the third and final day and added a bronze medal in the third event with brand-new routines that were swum in competition for the first time.

Spain, with three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals, tops the medal table, ahead of Mexico and China.

Duet Free Women

The Mexican duet Nuria Diosdado Garcia and Joana Jimenez Garcia, who just missed the podium in the Technical event yesterday, performed a technically difficult routine to win the gold medal, Mexico’s second gold medal in Somabay. The pair scored a total of 325.6584 points, 31.55 for difficulty, for their presentation of “The flight of the Phoenix Bird”.

After another historic win for Mexico in Somabay, Jimenez Garcia reflected on what this meant.

“Today was our first competition with this routine. For us, this was a super spectacular result. To take the win for Mexico in the Free Duet and the Acrobatic, we’re grateful for the opportunity that life gives us. We’re trying to get better and better every day.”

Diosdado Garcia noted the opportunities that the new scoring system provides for athletes.

“Winning the gold medal with this new scoring system was amazing. We declared a high degree of difficulty for this routine, and we made it, we executed it. With the new scoring system, if you have a high difficulty and you do it, you’ll have a high score.”

Jimenez Garcia also laid out the duet’s upcoming aspirations:  

“We have the goal to get the goal at the Central American Games and qualify through the Pam American Games for the Paris 2024 Olympics.” By Joana Jimenez Garcia

Representing the Netherlands, Bregje de Brouwer and Marloes Steenbeek moved up one step on the podium from the technical event to claim the silver medal with the routine “Werewolves”. The Dutch scored 317.0250 points for their swim to the music which was composed specially by Alexis Maldiney to fit this terror fantasy routine.

The Italian duo of Alessia Macchi and Susanna Pedotti earned bronze, scoring 296.4458 points for their  “Panthers” routine. The choreography was performed to the cover of the classic song “No Woman, No Cry” by Tems from the movie “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”.

Mixed Duet Free

Spain’s Fernando Diaz del Rio Soto and Mireia Hernandez Luna showed a remarkable improvement with their routine “Angels and Demons” throughout the 2023 World Cup season.

In Markham, the pair scored 194.5083 improving to 267.8917 in Montpellier, and today their performance, swum to music by Hans Zimmer from the original soundtrack to the movie, earned them 277.6875 points and the gold medal. 

Diaz del Rio Soto won the technical event with partner Emma Garcia earlier this weekend. “We’re so happy with all the steps we’ve done.”

Hernandez Luna shared: “We have a few improvements to make before the next competition in Oviedo (Spain). Since we competed in Montpellier one week ago, we changed our choreography so we’re proud of this.”

The Colombian mixed duo Gustavo Sanchez and Jennifer Cerquera Hatiusca has won medals in each Mixed event they competed in this season, however, this is their first silver medal. The routine-themed “The King and the Queen” scored 256.4708 points.

Itzamary Gonzalez Cuellar and Diego Villalobos Carrillo of Mexico won their first-ever medal at a World Cup event with the routine “La Llorona.” The Mexican pair received 255.3417 points, to add a bronze medal to the Mexican collection in Somabay.

Acrobatic

The exciting and breathtaking Acrobatic routines, showcasing seven different acrobatic moves tied together by a choreography, once again did not disappoint.

Mexico’s routine used the music exceptionally well. It creatively connected the difficult acrobatic moves, which included an exceptional balancing platform and several throws and handstands that would be difficult to do even when dry and on land. For their swim Mexico was awarded 227.6626 points and their second gold medal in the team events in Somabay.  

Sharing the excitement of being at the World Cup event in Egypt was a double gold medal member of the Mexican team, Regina Alferez Licea.

Alferez Licea also noted the unique preparations that the Acrobatic routines demand of athletes:

“It’s different from the rest of the routines. It’s easier to enjoy because you’re not as worried about the difficulty of the hybrids, and work more on the lifts,” Alferez Licea said. “In Mexico, we train a lot of lifts – we just enjoy this more dynamic way to swim. In Mexico, we have a coach especially focused on this training.”

In a close race for second place between Kazakhstan and France, Kazakhstan’s success in the Team events in Somabay continued when they were awarded 210.0042 points for their performance today, enough to claim the silver medal ahead of the team from France, who scored 208.9208 points.

The rules for Acrobatic events allow for up to two males to be part of the eight-member team. Kazakhstan was the only one of the five participating teams to have one male, Artur Maidanov, in their lineup.  

Bronze medal winner France competed with the routine “Zombies” swam to Michael Jackson’s Thriller was fun to watch from beginning to end. The French athletes interpreted the theme very well with their facial expressions and arm and leg movements. Although their Execution and Difficulty scores were lower than that of Mexico and Kazakhstan, their Artistic Impression score of 86.2 was well deserved and topped the rest of the field.

Medal Standings | Artistic Swimming World Cup – Somabay 2023

Coming Up Next | Super Final

For the athletes, this final leg of the Artistic Swimming World Cup is the last opportunity to score points to qualify for participation in the Super Final of the World Cup, scheduled for 2-4 June in Oviedo, Spain.

National federations are ranked in four categories: Solo (Technical & Free), Duet (Technical & Free), Mixed Duet (Technical & Free), and Team (Technical, Free & Acrobatic).

The first twelve ranked National Federations in each category are allowed to take part in the Super Final in Oviedo.