The best Artistic Swimming athletes are in Oviedo, Spain for the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup 2023 - Super Final. The three-day competition starts on Friday and runs through Sunday (2-4 June).
The competition features athletes from National Federations that achieved a top-twelve cumulative ranking in the eleven events contested across the three World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup stops of 2023 - Markham, Canada; Montpellier, France, and Somabay, Egypt.
A popular tourist destination, Oviedo is the capital city of Asturias in northern Spain. A historic city with a rich cultural heritage, lively and vibrant Oviedo is home to historical monuments and several theatres, cinemas, and concert halls. The Super Final, which will be held at the Piscinas Parque del Oeste, is the final stop on the World Cup circuit and will serve as a major test for the athletes ahead of the World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023.
Fukuoka's second edition of hosting the world championships runs from 14-31 July. Oviedo is the final chance for athletes to show their form and routines before the big show.
Twenty-two National Federations are slated to compete in the eleven events scheduled for the three-day competition. The field of participants is loaded with medal winners from the first three World Cup series, forecasting an exciting competition, especially with the new scoring system which has changed the sport’s future.
In the Female Solo events, the reigning World Champion and winner of three gold and one silver medal in the 2023 series, Japan’s Yukiko Inui, is joined by the silver medalist of the 2022 Budapest World Championships, Ukraine’s Marta Fiedina, who took home one gold from Markham and one silver medal from Montpellier.
The pair is joined by several other World Cup medalists, Spain’s Iris Tio Casa, Canada’s Audrey Lamothe, Slovakia’s Viktoria Reichova, France’s Oriane Jaillardon, and Germany’s Marlene Bojer. Surprisingly, the 2022 Super Final Champion in the both the Female Solo events, Austria’s Vasiliki Alexandri is missing from the lineup.
This World Cup series’ most successful male athletes will be competing in the Solo events. Spain’s Fernando Diaz del Rio Soto, winner of one gold, two silver and two bronze medals thus far and also the reigning Super Final Champion in both the Solo events, will once again face Colombia’s Gustavo Sanchez and Kazakhstan’s Eduard Kim. Sanchez has claimed two silver and two bronze medals, while Kim has claimed two silver and 1 bronze medal in the previous stops.
The Female Duet events may once again provide surprising results with China, Japan and Austria absent from the lineup, the competition is expected to require perfect execution of the declared degrees of difficulty to claim the podium spots.
The 2022 World Championships silver medalists, Ukrainians Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva, as well as the 2022 Super Final silver medalists, Dutch duet Bregje de Brouwer and Marloes Steenbeek are joined by the Israeli duo, who brought Markham to its feet in March, Shelly Bobritsky and Ariel Nassee.
Other 2023 World Cup medal winners competing this weekend are France’s Anastasia Bayandina and Eve Planeix, Spain’s Iris Tio Casa and Alisa Ozhogina Ozhogin, and Great Britain’s Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe.
Although the entries for the Mixed Duet events include a few regularly paired duo’s from this season, Spain, who has been on the podium in five of the six Mixed Duet events this year, will be competing with different pairings of their athletes. Last year’s Super Final Champion in both the Technical and the Free routine, Spain’s Emma Garcia then paired with retired Pau Ribes, is scheduled to compete in only the Technical event with Dennis Gonzalez Boneu.
Garcia’s partner at all three stops this season was Fernando Diaz del Rio Soto, who is listed as the reserve in both events. Gonzalez Boneu, winner of a gold and a silver medal in Markham with, will pair with Mireia Hernandez Luna in the Free event. The 2022 Budapest World Championship Bronze medalists, Chinese duo Haoyu Shi and Yiyao Zhang won the gold medal in the technical event in Montpellier, while Shi paired with Wentao Cheng accomplished the same feat in Markham.
Although both medals were won in the Technical event, the Chinese are scheduled to compete only in the Free in Oviedo. Other World Cup medal winners aiming for the podium include seasoned Colombians, Jennifer Cerquera Hatiusca and Gustavo Sanchez, Kazakhstan’s Nargiza Bolatova and Eduard Kim and Belgium’s Renaud Barral and Lisa Ingenito.
The number of countries in the Team events may be on the lower side, however, the presence of powerhouses China and Ukraine, besides Canada, Spain, France, Israel, and Kazakhstan guarantees a competitive event with spectacular routines showcasing the athleticism and grace of the athletes.
The 3-Day Event Rundown
Live results will be available on the World Aquatics website for this weekend’s competition in Oviedo, Spain.
Friday, 2 June
- 11:00 Women and Men Solo Technical
- 17:00 Mixed Team Technical
- 19:30 Mixed Duet Technical
Saturday, 3 June
- 11:00 Women and Men Solo Free
- 16:30 Women Duet Technical
- 19:00 Mixed Team Free
Sunday, 4 June
- 11:00 Women Duet Free and Mixed Duet Free
- 17:00 Acrobatic