First introduced in 2010, the World Aquatics Athlete of the Year Award honours the best male and female athletes in each aquatic sport: swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving.

Male Artistic Swimming Athlete of the Year | Gustavo Sánchez (Colombia)

For Colombia’s Gustavo Sánchez, 2024 was a year in which he created more history in artistic swimming. The first athlete from his country, and indeed from South America, to win a medal in the sport at the World Aquatics Championships added two more to his collection in Doha. He earned a bronze in the Men Solo Technical event in the Qatari capital, and followed it two days later with the same result in the Solo Free competition.

Sánchez went on to enjoy further success in World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup events later in the year. He earned a double gold medal haul at the stop in Paris with victories in the Men Solo Technical and Free events, and added a Mixed Duet Free silver with Jennifer Cerquera Hatiusca to his medal count.

He went on to compete at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Final in Budapest, and rounded off a fine season by taking gold in the Men Solo Free and silver in the Mixed Duet Free with Emily Minante.

Speaking to World Aquatics during the World Aquatics Championships Doha 2024, Sánchez reflected on the significance of his achievements for artistic swimming in Colombia.

“I hope that my effort and these good results will serve as an inspiration for young Colombian athletes and for artistic swimmers from other countries too,” he said.

Female Artistic Swimming Athlete of the Year | Evangelia Platanioti (Greece)

It was a memorable 2024 for Evangelia Platanioti, who became Greece’s first-ever world champion in artistic swimming. Competing at her eighth World Aquatics Championships in Doha, she produced a sublime performance in in the Women Solo Technical final to achieve the highlight of her career.

“This medal weighs a lot, it is the heaviest I’ve ever won,” she reflected afterwards.

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

Platanioti also left the Qatari capital with a silver medal earned from the Women Solo Free event, taking her career tally at the World Aquatics Championships to four medals.

She went on to participate at the Olympic Games for the fourth time in her career at Paris 2024, and achieved her best result to date. Competing with Sofia Malkogeorgou in the Women Duet event, the pair finished the competition in sixth place.

Gustavo Sánchez and Evangelia Platanioti are exemplary role models for artistic swimming in their respective countries and beyond, and clinching World Aquatics Athlete of the Year honours caps off an outstanding 2024 for both of them.