Open Water | Women 5km

Sixty-five swimmers are on the final startlist for the Women’s 5km event on day six of competition, the second and final individual open water event for women on the Doha 2024 schedule.

Athletes to Watch:

Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED):  Women’s 10km world champion Sharon van Rouwendaal will be the swimmer to beat in this morning’s 5km event at Old Doha Port with the 30-year-old from the Netherlands aiming to go one better than her Fukuoka 2023 silver medal. In the 10km event on day two of competition in Doha Van Rouwendaal got the winning touch in a frantic finish that saw the top five swimmers split by just four seconds. The 2016 Olympic champion in this event will be aiming to win the tenth World Aquatics Championships medal of her sixteen-year senior international career.

Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA):  Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha dead-heated for fourth in Women’s 10km event earlier in these championships and the 31-year-old will be out to add another World Aquatics Championships medal to her already extensive collection. Cunha’s achievements are almost unrivalled in the open water discipline. She is a seven-time individual world champion, a fifteen-time medallist, the reigning Olympic champion in the 10km event, and a six-time winner of the World Aquatics Open Water Swimmer of the Year award. Having won this event at both Gwangju 2019 and Budapest 2022, the Brazilian will no doubt be keen to get back on top of that dais once more in the shortest of the open water individual events.

Previous Championships:

2023:  Gold – Leonie Beck (GER), Silver – Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED), Bronze – Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)

2022:  Gold – Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA), Silver – Aurelie Muller (FRA), Giulia Gabbrielleschi (ITA)

Open Water | Men 5km

Two-time defending champion Florian Wellbrock faces a tough field in the Men’s 5km event this afternoon with previous champions and emerging stars aiming to dethrone the almighty German.

Athletes to Watch:

Kristof Rasovszky (HUN):  Men’s 10km winner Kristof Rasovszky is the ‘in form’ open water swimmer here in Doha with a stroke well suited to the Old Doha Port conditions. The Hungarian won this event at Gwangju 2019, with 9th and 7th place finishes following in Budapest 2022 and Fukuoka 2023. Rasovszky is already Hungary’s most successful open water swimmer at a World Aquatics Championships and will be aiming to make it career gold medal number three on the 5km course this afternoon.

Domenico Acerenza (ITA):  Italy’s Domenico Acerenza was third in this event in Fukuoka last year and has the speed to match the best of the field on this course at Old Doha Port. The 29-year-old finished seventh in the 10km event on day three of competition but should be better suited to the shorter distance this afternoon. If Acerenza does win gold for the green, white and red, he will move Italy into outright second on the all-time medal table for open water events at the World Aquatics Championships.

Previous Championships:

2023:  Gold – Florian Wellbrock (GER), Silver – Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA), Bronze – Domenico Acerenza (ITA)

2022:  Gold – Florian Wellbrock (GER), Silver – Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA), Bronze – Mykhailo Romanchuk (UKR)

Diving | Women 3m Synchronised

The People’s Republic of China will be diving for their fifth gold medal of Doha 2024 in an event that has not delivered a non-Chinese winner since 1998.

Athletes to Watch:

Chang Yani & Chen Yiwen (CHN):   To say the People’s Republic of China have a stranglehold on Women’s 3m Springboard events at the World Aquatics Championships is a bit of an understatement. Since Fukuoka 2001 a Chinese pairing has won all twelve gold medals in the 3m Synchronized event. At these same twelve championships an individual Chinese diver has also won gold in the 3m Springboard event. That is 24 consecutive gold medals across the two women’s 3m springboard events as part of a 23-year unbeaten streak. At Doha 2024 it looks every chance for this streak to extend to 26. In this afternoon’s Women’s 3m Synchronised event Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen will dive for their third successive title. Chang is already a three-time world champion and Chen a five-time world champion, and it will take something very special to get past this exceptional diving pairing.

Previous Championships:

2023:  Gold – Chang Yani & Chen Yiwen (CHN), Silver – Yasmin Harper & Scarlett Mew Jensen (GBR), Bronze – Elena Bertocchi & Chiara Pellacani (ITA)

2022:  Gold – Chang Yani & Chen Yiwen (CHN), Silver – Rin Kaneto & Sayaka Mikami (JPN), Maddison Keeney & Anabelle Smith (AUS)

Diving | Men 3m Springboard

With the past four world titles shared between them will anyone be able to stop either of the Chinese duo in this evening’s Men’s 3m Springboard final.

Athletes to Watch:

Wang Zongyuan (CHN):  On day three of competition the People’s Repulic of China’s Wang Zongyuan won his 18th consecutive gold medal at a senior international level as part of a three year winning streak that stretches across two World Aquatics Championships, multiple World Cup events and the Asian Games. Paring with Long Daoyi in the Men’s 3m Synchronised the pair put almost 40 points on second place. Long however will not dive alongside Wang in the individual events, and instead it is a return of Xie Siyi with the Budapest 2017 and Gwangju 2019 world champion looking to end his fellow countryman’s impressive winning streak. If Wang can deliver his second gold medal of Doha 2024 later this evening, which would be the eighth of his career, he will become the most successful male diver ever at the World Aquatics Championships going past fellow Chinese diver Qin Hai who won seven gold medals between 2007 and 2015.

Previous Championships:

• 2023:  Gold – Wang Zongyuan (CHN), Silver – Osmar Olvera (MEX), Bronze – Long Daoyi (CHN)
• 2022:  Gold – Wang Zongyuan (CHN), Silver – Cao Yuan (CHN), Bronze – Jack Laugher (GBR) 

Artistic Swimming | Men Solo Free

The three Fukuoka 2023 medallists face off against Solo Technical world champion Shuncheng Yang and returning legend Giorgio Minisini in what will be one of the most hotly contested finals at Doha 2024.

Athletes to Watch:

Shuncheng Yang (CHN):  Sixteen year-old Shuncheng Yang told World Aquatics after his gold medal in the Men’s Solo Free on day four that he cannot wait to head home to celebrate his seventeenth birthday. Before that however there is another gold medal up for grabs. Yang’s routine in the Solo Technical was outstanding. Conceding after his final that the aim was a “high-quality performance and artistic impression compared to difficulty”, Yang did not disappoint, securing the highest execution score of 151.4766 which was the difference in the end to sneak home past Italy’s Giorgio Minisini by just over one point.

Giorgio Minisini (ITA):  The artistic swimming world is better now that Italy’s Giorgio Minisini has returned to the World Aquatics Championships stage. Minisini won his ninth World Championships medal in the Men’s Solo Technical on day four of competition in an emotional return to the pool. The 27 year-old Italian missed Fukuoka 2023 after suffering a season-ending knee injury after the European Games, and there were doubts if one of the pioneers of the sport in Europe would ever get back to winning medals on the biggest stage possible. But win further medals he did, turning back the clock earlier this week; much to the delight of the crowd, his coaches, and fellow competitors. Can Minisini complete the ultimate comeback and win his first solo World Championship? All will be decided at the Aspire Dome on an exciting sixth night of competition at Doha 2024.

Previous Championships:

• 2023:  Gold – Dennis Gonzalez Boneu (ESP), Silver – Gustavo Sanchez (COL), Bronze – Kenneth Gaudet (USA)