China takes gold in the Women’s Duet

Artistic Swimming duet Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi have won the People’s Republic of China’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the Women’s Duet event, holding off a number of high performing teams on the second and final night of competition at the Olympic Aquatics Centre.

Finishing last night’s Duet Technical with a 9.5334 point lead over a crowded field of teams, the 27 year-old Chinese twins scored 289.6916 points in tonight’s Duet Free to place fourth. Their cumulative score of 566.4783 points was just enough to finish 7.9416 points clear of Great Britain (558.5367), Netherlands (558.3963), and Austria (555.6678), in the overall total scores.

In a night filled with excitement and drama, Great Britain’s Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe almost did the unthinkable when they top scored in the Duet Free with 294.5085 points. It was enough for the silver medal, with twins Bregje de Brouwer and Noortje de Brouwer from the Netherlands securing the bronze. Austrian pair Anna-Maria Alexandri and Eirini-Marina Alexandri were in medal contention right up until the final performance of the night when the Chinese pair pushed them down into fourth place.

A clean sweep of two gold medals here in Paris now cements China’s reputation as the current dominant force in Artistic Swimming, having already won seven of the eleven gold medals on offer at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha earlier this year.

The Wang twins also now join Canada’s Carolyn Waldo and the United States of America’s Tracie Ruiz, as the only non-Russian dual Olympic Games gold medallists, while Great Britain’s silver, and the Netherlands’ bronze, are both nation’s first-ever Olympic medals in the sport.

THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (Wang Liuyi & Wang Qianyi) secured the nation’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the Women’s Duet event, edging out their nearest rivals despite finishing fourth in the Duet Free on the second night of competition. Sticking with their 51.650 DD ‘Gravitation’ routine, which has been a staple at major competitions, the Chinese twins again top scored with Artistic Impression (95.3000) on night two, however were only sixth on Elements (194.3916). Their 289.6916 points for the Duet Free, combined with last night’s 276.7867 in the Duet Technical, was just enough for the pair to win their second Olympic gold medals of Paris 2024. The People’s Republic of China placed first overall with 566.4783 points.

“I am extremely happy to have won the gold medal in this duet event today, as this is China's second gold medal at the Paris Olympics and the first gold medal in the Olympic duet event. I feel honoured that we could represent China in this duet event. This has been historical opportunity, and with support from our motherland, and trust from our leaders and coaches who were willing to send us here to compete, we withstood all the pressure and stress to deliver the gold medal in today's competition. I am very, very happy,” said China’s Wang Qianyi.

“At first, when the big screen showed the scores, we did not see the ranking, so we were hesitant to stand up and cheer. When the ranking finally appeared it was really, really exciting. During the preparations this evening we didn't know what scores the other teams had achieved, and so we could only focus on ourselves and aim for a high score. After finishing the technical routines yesterday, we heard about the difficulty levels of other teams today, and we knew there was a gap in difficulty. So, we faced a lot of pressure while preparing for the free routine. When the scores were announced, it was particularly thrilling, which is why I jumped up,” said China’s Wang Liuyi.

GREAT BRITAIN (Kate Shortman & Isabelle Thorpe) almost pulled off the heist of the competition in tonight’s Duet Free, top scoring with 294.5085 points for their 56.050 DD ‘Rising Phoenix’ routine. The British pair were fourth after last night’s Duet Technical, so while they didn’t quite rise from the ashes, they did deliver the best single Artistic Swimming routine in the history of the sport in Great Britain. Set to the music of German producer Alexander Richstein, the routine featured a new addition – their ‘T9 with a 180-degree twirl on catch’. Prior to the routine the girls said they “wanted to create a routine that symbolized the new judging system so we decided on the theme of the rising phoenix, the re-birth of the sport with the new system. The music is strong and interesting with different tempos and composition. The music fits the theme well and it helps create the artistic impression for this routine, we have worked hard to try and fit the moves to the music in a creative way.” It was a defining moment for British sport, with the pair doing enough to claim the silver medal. Great Britain finished second with 558.5367 points.

"I feel absolutely on top of the world. I don’t even know, it’s just amazing to be here and to think how far we’ve come from the last Olympics. We came 14th in Tokyo. After last night, when we came fourth in the Technical Duet, we knew we had to do something special today to climb those rankings, and to come off with a silver medal, it’s a dream come true,” said Great Britain’s Isabelle Thorpe.

"I am literally speechless. It's just a dream come true. I have no words. We’ve gone through some really hard moments this year, so we’ve tried to train through that. It’s hard when you’re doing a lot of training to keep that in mind,” said Great Britain’s Kate Shortman.

NETHERLANDS (Bregje de Brouwer & Noortje de Brouwer) delivered the second highest score in tonight’s Duet Free to leapfrog Austria into the bronze medal position. The twins’ 57.000 DD ‘Van Gogh’s Voices’ routine was an ode to their nation’s most-famous artist. Tonight, the de Brouwer’s also made their own piece of Dutch history, placing second in the Duet Free with 293.6897 points to claim the nation’s first Olympic medal in Artistic Swimming. The choreography and music were made specifically for tonight’s event, with artist Alexis Maldiney Casasus also working with the Dutch team for Tokyo 2020. The routine took the crowd on a journey through the life of Van Gogh, from the use of organ music and ecclesiastical voices to evoke his most religious period, to the seamless transition and direction changes to symbolise his madness. There was even a hybrid that incorporated van Gogh’s scream in desperation, as the twins grabbed their ears to replicate Van Gogh’s act of cutting off his own, before their downward spiral to mark Van Gogh's life leading to an abrupt end. It was dramatic, poetic, and worthy of the bronze. The Netherlands placed third overall on 558.3963 points.

AUSTRIA (Anna-Maria Alexandri & Eirini-Marina Alexandri) was again exemplary with their synchronisation and execution in the Olympic Aquatics Centre pool. It is the second year the twins have been performing their 54.050 DD ‘Condors’ routine at competitions, with the performance set to the music of the Akhenaten Opera. The choreography has been alternated and adapted over this period to highlight both the artistic and the technical parts of the choreography, with the addition of trap artists Skan & Krale’s No Glory for their unique walkout. Bird movements were integrated through the hybrids and transitions, with the pair scoring 288.4145 points in tonight’s Duet Free. Austria finished fourth overall on 555.6678 points.

UKRAINE (Maryna Aleksiiva & Vladyslava Aleksiiva) last night spoke of their responsibility to represent their nation and bring joy to their people, and tonight they brought joy to all of Paris. Their ‘Up Down’ 54.300 DD routine was developed to represent that “life is a series of ups and downs, and it is important to remember that after every fall you can take off again, that every up begins with a fall, and every success is the result of failure.” Tonight was one of those successes for the twins who delivered a season-best 278.2084 points. Ukraine finished in fifth place on 538.6684 points.

GREECE (Sofia Evangelia Malkogeorgou & Evangelia Platanioti) took on the hardest routine of the night for the second night in a row, with a massive 60.200 DD routine. The ‘Yin Yang’ choreography and music was prepared specifically for these Olympics, with the duet scoring 281.8418 points in tonight’s Duet Free. Greece finished in sixth with 532.3002 points.

SPAIN (Alisa Ozhogina & Iris Tio) took inspiration for tonight’s Duet Free from the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona which adjoins the training centre they have used for almost all of their swimming careers. The 54.000 DD routine was highlighted by the Barracuda that helped create the shape of a church in the water. The duet scored 267.4021 points in the Duet Free, with this the first major competition using their new choreography. Spain finished seventh overall on 521.4837 points.

JAPAN (Moe Higa & Tomoka Sato) has struggled this week to return to their Fukuoka 2023 dominance, in part due to new teams and pairings this season. Sixth overnight after the Duet Technical, the pair aimed big with their 56.700 DD ‘Pegasus’ routine set to the song of the same name by Koji-Sakurai. Sixteen year-old Higa won the Duet Technical at Fukuoka 2023, and Sato the Mixed Duet Technical, however this new pairing of strong individual swimmers is still a work in progress. This was evident with their basemark tonight as they placed tenth in the Duet Free with 249.7271 points. Japan was eighth overall on 507.0804 points.

CANADA (Jacqueline Simoneau & Audrey Lamothe) showed remarkable resilience on the second night of competition to skyrocket from fifteenth place in the Duet Technical to place third in the Duet Free, scoring a monster 290.9103 points for their 60.050 ‘ Middle Eastern’ routine. It was the second hardest degree of difficulty in the competition, and the pair delivered it with no basemarks to end up the best-placed Pan-American nation overall. Canada placed ninth on 492.4270 points.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Jaime Czarkowski & Megumi Field) bounced back from last night’s disappointment in the Duet Technical, scoring 254.0354 points with their 48.500 DD ‘Uniqueness’ routine. Set to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Dark Necessities, their score in the Duet Free would have medalled at Doha 2024. Back then, these two were not even a duet yet, with Field competing with Ruby Remati. Tonight’s performance showed great maturity and progress from this pair, highlighted by the transitions with double arms jumps and ballet legs. It has been a massive week for Team USA who brought their sport to the mainstream with their ground-breaking silver medal in the Mixed Team event on Wednesday night. The United States of America finished tenth overall on 484.7488 points.

ISRAEL (Shelly Bobritsky & Ariel Nassee) has been knocking on the door of the top three over the past two World Aquatics Championships, with this pair placed fifth in the Duet Technical at Doha 2024 and fourth in the Duet Free at Fukuoka 2023. Tonight they rolled the dice with their 52.600 DD ‘Charlie Chaplin’ routine, which they nearly landed except for a basemark on the final hybrid, scoring 239.3416 points for the Duet Free. Israel finished eleventh on 482.4082 points.

MEXICO (Nuria Diosdado & Joana Jimenez) has owned the soundtrack at the Olympic Aquatics Centre this week, and tonight had the crowd clapping along with the heavy bass beats of German DJ Bennett’s club anthem Vois Sur Ton Chemin -Techno Mix. Their ‘Freedom’ 52.450 DD routine aimed big, with the pair receiving a basemark on the eighth element to score 232.6563 points. Tonight’s routine was also a celebration of legend Diosdado, who is competing at her fourth Olympic Games having debuted back at London 2012. Mexico was twelfth with 471.5946 points.

REPUBLIC OF KOREA (Hur Yoonseo & Lee Riyoung) went basemark-free for the second night in a row, scoring 227.7500 points in the Duet Free for their 48.350 DD ‘Flying Birds’ routine. Korea missed both the finals of the Duet Technical and Duet Free at Doha 2024 by just one place, and should be pleased with their solid performance in Paris and the progress the nation is making in the sport. The Republic of Korea placed thirteenth on 455.3167 points.

FRANCE (Anastasia Bayandina & Romane Lunel) received basemarks on their second and ninth elements for their 48.500 DD ‘Bolero’ routine to score 189.0687 in the Duet Free. France finished fourteenth overall on 430.3803 points.

EGYPT (Nadine Barsoum & Hana Hiekal) didn’t let last night’s basemark on the final hybrid impact their Duet Free, aiming big with their 46.400 DD ‘Tap Dance’ routine. The fourth team in the water on night two, Egypt scored an impressive 225.6541 points with no basemarks. Egypt placed fifteenth on 422.1791 points.

AUSTRALIA (Rayna Buckle & Kiera Gazzard) brought ‘Kung Fu Panda’ to the Paris pool with their 41.600 routine. The girls from down under went basemark-free for the second night in a row, scoring 198.0271 in the Duet Free. Australia was sixteenth overall on 408.1053 points.

NEW ZEALAND (Nina Brown & Eva Morris) celebrated their nation’s return to the duet competition at the Olympic Games with a 36.050 DD routine inspired by the beaches and beautiful landscapes of the island nation. The World Aquatics Scholarship holders scored 166.5105 for tonight’s routine. New Zealand placed seventeenth on 354.6006 points.

ITALY (Linda Cerruti & Lucrezia Ruggiero) withdrew from the competition prior to the commencement of the event.