Water Polo | Men’s Gold Medal Match

Budapest 2017 champions Croatia meet Gwangju 2019 champions Italy in today’s final as the Men’s Water Polo competition of Doha 2024 comes down to the wire. As World Aquatics Water Polo Correspondent Russell McKinnon details in his ‘Medal Watch’ below, this will be the first time these two nations play off for a world title despite ten appearances in the deciding match across the two nations.

Match Preview:

These are experienced nations indeed and both teams came through the back way to the final, having not won their groups. Three group winners — Greece, Serbia and Hungary — all lost their quarterfinals.

Both have suffered the ups and downs of world sport and both have long-term head coaches whose approaches appear different on pool deck. In the water, the teams are dedicated and fighters until the end. Italy is the historical champion of the two, although Croatia has been playing as an independent nation for a shorter period than Italy.

Italy has four crowns — 2019, 2011, 1994 and 1978 — and lost finals in 2022, 2003 and 1986. It has also won bronze in 1975 and lost four bronze finals, so it knows how to play at this level. Croatia had two titles — 2017 and 2007 — a silver from 2015 and five bronzes, all since being an independent nation in 2003. That means both nations have eight finals appearances each at this level. At last month’s European championships in Croatia, the host was beaten in the final by Spain 11-10. Italy took bronze with a five-goal win over Hungary.

Route to the Finals:

Italy finished second in Group D, losing a penalty shootout to world champion Hungary on day two. It beat Kazakhstan and Romania. From there, Italy went through the second round and did just enough against United States of America, finishing 13-12 ahead. In the quarterfinals, Italy nudged out Greece 11-10 with the winner in the final minute. In the semifinals, it controlled European champion Spain 8-6.

Croatia lost to Spain 10-6 in Group A and beat Australia and South Africa comfortably. In the second-round crossovers, it easily defeated China 22-4. Come the quarterfinals, Croatia overcame Serbia 15-13. In the semifinals it was a torrid 17-16 sudden-death penalty shootout win over luckless France.

Players to Watch:

Italy - Francesco di Fulvio (captain), Edoardo di Somma, Andrea Fondelli & Marco del Lungo (goalkeeper).

Croatia - Marco Bijac (goalkeeper), Loren Fatovic, Jerko Marinic Kragic & Konstantin Kharkov.

All-Time Records:

Italy – 4 Gold, 7 Silver, 1 Bronze  [Last Title: 2019]

Croatia – 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 4 Bronze  [Last Title:  2017]

Previous Gold Medal Matches:

• 2023:  Hungary 10 d Greece 10  [4-3 pen]
• 2022:  Spain 9 d Italy 9  [6-5 pen]
• 2019:  Italy 10 d Spain 5
• 2017:  Croatia 8 d Hungary 6
• 2015:  Serbia 11 d Croatia 4 

Water Polo | Men’s Bronze Medal Match

As World Aquatics Water Polo Correspondent Russell McKinnon details in his ‘Medal Watch’ below, Spain again finds themselves in a second successive World Aquatics Championships bronze medal match, while France continues to prove they are an emerging talent in the world of water polo.

Match Preview:

Spain is one of the best teams in the past decade and France is proving that sixth last year was no fluke as it came close to make the gold-medal final. Spain has nine medals at world championship level, winning the crown three times — in 2022, 2001 and 1999 — being on the losing end of four finals and winning two bronze medals. Those wins at the turn of the century included Miki Oca, the Spanish women’s coach in Doha and coach Juan Jane who is guiding the Chinese men here.

Spain was the bronze-medal winner in Fukuoka last year, defeating Serbia 9-6. With bronze, gold and silver in the last three editions, Spain is keen to stand on the podium again. Last month, it won the European crown and the long campaign will take its toll, but hopefully not until after Doha.

Route to the Finals:

Spain was the winner of Group A, having beaten Croatia, Australia and South Africa. France was second in Group B, beating China and Brazil but losing to Greece 13-12. Spain had a rest day and went straight to the quarterfinals where it beat Montenegro 15-12  and then advanced to the semifinal, losing 8-6 to Italy. France had to go through the second round and played Australia, winning 11-8. It then went to the quarterfinal and upset Hungary with a fantastic final quarter, finishing 11-10 up.  Then there came that magnificent semifinal where it lost to Croatia in sudden-death penalty shootout 17-16. France’s 5-2 final quarter was spectacular.

Players to Watch:

Spain - Felipe Perrone (captain), Alvaro Granados, Unai Aguirre (goalkeeper) & Alejandro Bustos.

France - Thomas Vernoux (24 goals), Ugo Crousillat (captain), Alexandre Bouet & Romain Marion Vernoux..

All-Time Records:

Spain – 3 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze  [Last Title: 2022]

France – 0 Gold, 0 Silver, 0 Bronze  [Last Title: never won]

Previous Bronze Medal Matches:

• 2023:  Spain 9 d Serbia 6
• 2022:  Greece 9 d Croatia 7
• 2019:  Croatia 10 d Hungary 7
• 2017:  Serbia 11 d Greece 8
• 2015:  Greece 7 d Italy 7  [4-2 pen]

Swimming | Women’s 50m Butterfly

Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom looks on track for a sixth straight world title in the Women’s 50m Butterfly after clocking a casual 25.08 in the semi-finals. The veteran, who is still right at the top of her game, has not lost this race at a world championships since Kazan 2015. She also holds the 22 fastest times in history in this event. A win would put Sjostrom on par with the United States of America’s Katie Ledecky’s dominance in the Women’s 800m Freestyle as the only six-time winner of an event at the World Aquatics Championships.

Aiming to prevent the Swede from making history will be France’s Melanie Henique who at 31 years-old is racing at her eighth World Aquatics Championships, and Egypt’s Farida Osman, who advanced as third fastest in what is her seventh straight World Championships final in the 50m Butterfly.

Top Qualified:

• 25.08 – Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
• 25.27 – Melanie Henique (FRA)
• 25.80 – Farida Osman (EGY)

Best Entry Times:

• 24.74 – Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
• 25.24 – Melanie Henique (FRA)
• 25.62 – Farida Osman (EGY)

Fukuoka 2023: 

• 24.77 – Gold: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
• 25.05 – Silver: Zhang Yufei (CHN)
• 25.46 – Bronze: Gretchen Walsh (USA)

Records:

• 24.43 – World: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2014
• 24.60 – Championship: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2017

Swimming | Men’s 50m Freestyle

If Sarah Sjostrom’s potential history making swim isn’t enough to get the crowd excited at the start of the penultimate finals session, then Australia’s Cameron McEvoy swim should be.

Last year McEvoy became Australia’s first world champion in this event and in yesterday morning’s heats ripped an outrageous 21.13. Put in perspective this was comfortably the fastest 50m Freestyle heats time in the history of the World Aquatics Championships. The previous bests were McEvoy’s 21.35 at Fukuoka 2023, and Brazil’s Cesar Cielo Fihlo’s 21.37 in a supersuit at Rome 2009.

McEvoy is showing that he is every bit on par with Cesar Cielo’s supersuit times, and therefore that fifteen year-old 20.91 world record may be challenged when the 29 year-old takes to the pool at the Aspire Dome this evening.

Vladyslav Bukhov of Ukraine was the other standout swimmer in the semi finals, his 21.38 a new career-best that moves him to sixteenth on the all-time list. The time was also a new Ukrainian national record knocking off the 21.46 of Andriy Govorov. Tonight will be Bukhov’s first final at a World Aquatics Championships after 9th and 10th place finishes in this event across the past two championships.

Budapest 2022 champion Ben Proud looked powerful in the first heat to advance in third, while Sweden’s Bjorn Seeliger and Kenzo Simons of the Netherlands advanced to their first individual finals at the World Championships.

Top Qualified:

• 21.23 – Cameron McEvoy (AUS)
• 21.38 – Vladyslav Bukhov (UKR)
• 21.54 – Ben Proud (GBR) 

Best Entry Times:

• 21.06 – Cameron McEvoy (AUS)
• 21.58 – Ben Proud (GBR)
• 21.64 – Michael Andrew (USA)

Fukuoka 2023:

• 21.06 – Gold: Cameron McEvoy (AUS)
• 21.57 – Silver: Jack Alexy (USA)
• 21.58 – Bronze: Benjamin Proud (GBR) 

Records: 

• 20.91 – World: Cesar Cielo Fihlo (BRA), 2009
• 21.04 – Championship: Caeleb Dressel (USA), 2019

Swimming | Women’s 200m Backstroke

The United States of America’s Claire Curzan cruised through the semi finals of the Women’s 200m Backstroke last night, and this evening will attempt to be just the third swimmer in history to win the 50/100/200m treble in any stroke at a single World Aquatics Championships behind the People’s Republic of China’s Qin Haiyang and Australia’s Kaylee McKeown.

Australia’s Jaclyn Barclay, who was fourth in the 100m Backstroke earlier in the championships, progressed as second seed again highlighting the island nation’s incredible depth in this event. Hungary’s Eszter Szabo-Feltothy advanced to her first final at the World Aquatics Championships after she was ninth in Fukuoka last year, while Bulgaria’s Gabriela Georgieva will be the only swimmer in tomorrow’s final born before the year 2000 as the fifth seed advanced to her first World Aquatics Championship final at the age of 25.

Top Qualified:

• 2:07.01 – Claire Curzan (USA)
• 2:08.85 – Jaclyn Barclay (AUS)
• 2:09.42 – Eszter Szabo-Felothy (HUN)

Best Entry Times:

• 2:06.35 – Claire Curzan (USA)
• 2:08.73 – Freya Constance Colbert (GBR)
• 2:08.76 – Jaclyn Barclay (AUS)

Fukuoka 2023:

• 2:03.85 – Gold: Kaylee McKeown (AUS)
• 2:04.94 – Silver: Regan Smith (USA)
• 2:06.74 – Bronze: Peng Xuwei (CHN)

Records:

• 2:03.14 – World: Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2023
• 2:03.35 – Championship: Regan Smith (USA), 2019

Swimming | Men’s 100m Buttefly

Portugal’s newest sporting superstar Diogo Matos Ribeiro showed no signs of a gold-medal hangover when he blitzed last night’s semi final in the Men’s 100m Butterfly. It was a career-best time for the 19 year-old who was also the world junior champion in this event at Lima 2022.

Swimming alongside Ribeiro tonight will be Poland’s Jakub Majerski and Austria’s Simon Bucher who both swam in the final at Budapest 2022 finishing seventh and sixth. South Africa’s Chad Le Clos, who was world champion in this event at Barcelona 2013 and Kazan 2015, was all smiles after progressing to his first final at a World Aquatics Championships in five years.

Nyls Korstanje of the Netherlands and Zach Harting of the United States also qualified through to tonight’s final, both boasting World Championship finals experience with Korstanje finishing fifth in Fukuoka last year, and Harting sixth in the 200m Butterfly at Gwangju 2019.

Top Qualified:

• 51.30 – Diogo Matos Ribeiro (POR)
• 51.33 – Jakub Majerski (POL)
• 51.39 – Simon Bucher (AUT)

Best Entry Times:

• 50.78 – Nyls Korstanje (NED)
• 50.80 – Shaine Cassas (USA)  [did not qualify for final]
• 50.96 – Katsuhiro Matsumoto (JPN)  [did not qualify for final]

Fukuoka 2023:

• 50.14 – Gold: Maxime Grousset (FRA)
• 50.34 – Silver: Joshua Liendo (CAN)
• 50.46 – Bronze: Dare Rose (USA)

 Records:

• 49.45 – World: Caeleb Dressel (USA), 2021
• 49.50 – Championship: Caeleb Dressel (USA), 2019