Gustavo Sanchez  |  Colombia  |  Men’s Solo Free

It has been ten years since Colombia was last on the medal dais at a World Aquatics Championships when Orlando Duque claimed gold for the South American country in the inaugural High Diving event in Barcelona. And so it was fitting that Colombia’s first-ever Artistic Swimming medal would also come in an inaugural event, being the first staging of the Men’s Solo Free at a World Aquatics Championships.

Twenty-two-year-old Gustavo Sanchez also becomes just the third Colombian ever to win a World Aquatics Championships medal, and the first South American to win a medal in Artistic Swimming.

Speaking to World Aquatics after his performance on day six of the competition, Sanchez was the first to admit that he had struggled to avoid base marks in his past performances and that thankfully everything went to plan in the final.

“I am very, very happy. We were on a bad streak and with this performance we managed to get everything in. I am very pleased with the result,” Sanchez said after exiting the pool after his finals performance.

“I have felt everyone's support. The words of encouragement they give mean the world to me. I feel so blessed and happy.”

His score of 189.9625 was less than four points behind the now world champion Dennis Gonzalez Boneu, with Sanchez’s routine in the final boasting the hardest degree of difficulty and also the highest total score across all elements (Gonzalez Boneu’s artistic impression score was ultimately the difference).

While Sanchez has been in the sport since 2017, when he transitioned from pool swimming as a seventeen-year-old, it’s been the past six months that the Colombian has really emerged as a leading competitor on the male artistic swimming circuit. Three bronze medals in the French leg of the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in May led into three silvers and a bronze in Egypt, and two silvers & two bronze medals in the Super Final in Spain.

His Fukuoka silver medal in his third World Championships appearance is no doubt a new career-high for Sanchez, and wrapping up his time in Japan and the extended period competing away from home, he told World Aquatics that he had achieved all that he had hoped for when leaving home in Cali earlier this year.

“I feel good about everything we have done. I feel very proud of everything we achieved," said Sanchez.

Kate Shortman  | Great Britain  |  Women’s Solo Free

It was a maiden Artistic Swimming medal for Great Britain in Fukuoka as Kate Shortman won bronze in the Women’s Solo Free final. The medal topped off an exceptional week for ‘Team GB’ who swam their way through to nine finals across the competition with Shortman also placing 12th in the Women’s Solo Technical, 5th in the Women’s Duet Free with partner Isabelle Thorpe, and 8th in the Women’s Duet Technical routine also with Thorpe.

A strong showing was always on the cards for Shortman following a bronze medal at the European Artistic Swimming Championships last month which was Great Britain’s first continental podium finish in the sport.

Speaking to World Aquatics after her bronze medal in Fukuoka, Shortman explained the new rule changes in the sport had altered the dynamics of performance with a greater emphasis now on technical precision.

“I think in solos now it's just about not getting those base marks, staying in control and using your brain and being precise rather than what it used to be which was just giving it everything and going for it,” said Shortman.

“Now there is that extra element of control.”

While Shortman was thrilled with her history-making medal win, her eyes now shift to the pairs event in the lead-up to Paris, made even more special by the bond she shares with duet partner Thorpe.The two met as ten-year-olds at High School in Bristol, have been inseparable since, and will be aiming to keep writing new chapters in the ‘Team GB’ record books come to Paris 2024.

Eduard Kim  |  Kazakhstan  |  Men’s Solo Technical

One of the most exciting stories of the nine days of Artistic Swimming competition was Eduard Kim’s bronze medal-winning performance in the Men’s Solo Technical. While Kim didn’t win gold and isn’t the new world champion (that would be Spain’s Fernando Diaz Del Rio Soto), he did however win Kazakhstan’s first medal in any discipline at a World Aquatics Championships.

His score of 216.00 was a personal best for the seventeen-year-old as he delivered a career-defining performance on the biggest stage possible.

“I did it and I am proud I will make history for my country,” Kim told World Aquatics when the results of his fellow competitors were displayed on the screen in the mixed media zone meaning a medal was assured.

It’s been a big six months for Kim who has been on the road competing across the globe. He started the year with dual medals in the Solo Technical (silver) and Solo Free (bronze) at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in Canada, followed by a silver in the Solo Technical at the French World Cup leg leading into a repeat silver in the Solo Technical at the Super Final in Spain.

Despite enjoying such significant individual success, Kim told World Aquatics that he credits the team behind him as much as himself for what he has managed to achieve over his short but successful career.

“Yes for me it is hard work but it’s also the support of my family, my coaches, and my teammates. We all take the bronze medal,” said Kim.

Itzamary Gonzalez Cuellar & Diego Villalobos Carrillo  |  Mexico  |  Mixed Duet Free

There was no missing the Mexican artistic swimming team in Fukuoka with their ten-athlete contingent undoubtedly the loudest and most exuberant group of swimmers to pass through the media mixed zone over the nine days of competition.

Two of those team members, Diego Villalobos Carrillo and Itzamary Gonzalez Cuellar, had even more reason to make noise on the last morning of competition, with 18 year-old Villalobos Carrillo and 19 year-old Gonzalez Cuellar claiming their country’s first-ever Artistic Swimming medal at a World Aquatics Championships.

When the duo completed their Mixed Duet Free routine as the eighth of twelve pairs to perform, they were sitting in second behind eventual world champions China’s Wenato Cheng and Haoyu Shi.

As the results of the final four pairs gradually rolled in, including the reining European Championships Spain and the highly-fancied Kazakhstan team, the Mexicans' score of 192.5500 was strong enough to remain in second position.

Gonzalez Cuellar shared her excitement with the World Aquatics team after their performance in the final.

“We are very happy and very tired. We really gave it everything in the pool. We are happy to be able to finish the World Aquatics Championships with this routine,” said Gonzalez Cuellar.

“We are very satisfied with our performance. I think our score was very good and we feel very proud of what we did,” added Villalobos Carrillo

Remarkably Fukuoka was the pair’s first time performing together this year, and while the wait was over fifty years for Mexico’s first Artistic Swimming medal, one could safely suggest that it might only be a six-month wait before medal number two in Doha.