With last year’s winner Yukiko Inui of Japan announcing her retirement following her success in Fukuoka, the stage was set for a new winner of the event at the Aspire Dome.

Evangelia Platanioti, a two-time world bronze medallist, seized the opportunity to take the opening artistic swimming title of Doha 2024 and make history for Greece.

Jacqueline Simoneau of Canada captured silver with 18-year-old ace Xu Huiyan from the People's Republic of China snatching bronze.

Experience Tells for Platanioti

Competing in her eighth World Championships, Platanioti is an excellent performer on the big stage and showcased all her years of experience to seal top spot.

After missing out on a medal at Fukuoka 2023 with a fourth-place finish,  Platanioti had the bit between her teeth in a stunning interpretation of the theme “Black Ravens”.

The 29-year-old, who led after the preliminaries, produced a dramatic performance to her new choreography, scoring 272.9633 including 171.3133 for elements and 101.6500 for artistic swimming to a difficulty of 38.900.

“This medal weighs a lot, it is the heaviest I’ve ever won,” said Platanioti.

“Inside it there is a lot of very hard work, many hours of training, and also tenacity and much determination.

“I fought for the gold medal and words can’t describe my feelings after I made it.

“I enjoy competing last of all and kind of close the show.”

Alexandri Error Proves Costly

Vasiliki Alexandri of Austria looked set to be Platanioti’s biggest challenger for the gold having placed second in the preliminary and finished second at last year’s World Championships.

It was not to be for Alexandri as she picked up a base mark for her final hybrid element to finish with a score 234.4984 and miss out on a podium spot.

With Alexandri slipping up, Simoneau pounced to secure her first medal at the World Championships.

The four-time Pan American Games champion showed great height and alignment in the water with her continuous spin to the song of Save the Last Dance for Me by Michael Buble.

Simoneau pushed herself with a greater difficulty in her both hybrids compared to the preliminaries as she registered 269.2767 with 171.1267 for elements and 98.1500 for artistic impression to bag silver.

“I came here today increasing my routine difficulty by four points, so I knew I would have big wins or big losses and it turned out in my favourite shape,” said Simoneau.

“I’m really glad how it turned out for me, it’s fun to see how the sport has evolved to what it is today.”

Teenager Rises to Occasion

China’s Xu was another first-time medallist, marking a sensational debut at the World Championship with a brilliant bronze.

The teenager moved up one place from the preliminaries to complete the podium with 262.3700 to a degree of difficulty of 38.200.

“This medal feels great,” said Xu.

“This is out of my expectation, to be honest. It was a bit of a surprise to finish among the top three. Things went very well for me today. The perfect execution on the hybrid and technical requirement elements was the key point for me to end up so high.”

Vasilina Khandoshka, a Neutral Independent Athlete, and Klara Bleyer of Germany rounded off the top five, scoring 261.7466 and 237.1333 respectively.