Boasting three of the eight athletes who helped the USA to their historic podium finish at Paris 2024, the new-look line-up lived up to their billing as ‘favourites’, despite an eye-catching ‘French Can-Can’ routine from the host nation.

The Americans, performing to their ‘sorceresses’ inspired routine, would claim victory with an overall score of 183.4100, as France (174.6150) took second.

Israel (164.1551), who featured male athlete Yogev Dagan in their line-up, won something of a surprise bronze ahead of the two Kazakhstan teams.

Earlier Klara Bleyer (GER) won the Women’s Solo Free title, with Viktor Druzin (KAZ) claiming the men’s gold, while Greek teenagers Maria Ioanna Amerali and Stylianos Koukouselis Fouskis secured victory in Mixed Duet Free final, with Kazakhstan second.

Team Acrobatic Final

The discipline was added to the Olympic programme for the first time at last year’s Games, with scores from the Acrobatic event combined with those from the Technical and Free finals to determine the overall medallists.

Outside of the Games, the disciplines carry their own podium places, and the USA, as well as hosts France, were well-fancied for success given the entertaining performances they delivered at Paris 2024.

The French narrowly missed out on the overall podium at their home Olympics, but fuelled by highly energetic – and partisan – Parisian support, they delivered a rousing routine full of creativity and flair.

They were the penultimate team to take to the water at the iconic ‘Piscine Georges Vallerey’ and did so after Israel’s strong ‘Mama Mia medley’ display, and an error-strewn performance by the senior Kazakhstan side had fallen out of contention.

France topped the standings, much to the delight of the sell-out crowd and they then waited anxiously as the USA plunged into the pool.

The Olympic medallists later admitted there were ‘several’ areas they could improve in, but the Americans conjured a “confidence-building” event-winning score.

The spectators applauded, clearly appreciating the level of skill involved in their execution despite their disappointment at seeing the French side overhauled in the standings.

“This performance means the world to us,” said Olympian Jacklyn Luu (USA). “We worked so hard innovating and creating new lifts which we debuted here today and it was so rewarding to show that and to win gold means the world to us.

“We really tried to push the boundaries with our difficulty, and it showed that the risk was worth the reward.”

Claudia Janvier, who won her last Artistic Swimming World Cup medal with France back in 2023, said her team could “feel the energy” from the crowd.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time and it’s always fun to swim in front of family, friends and the country,” she told World Aquatics.

“There are a lot of the smaller girls that are in the clubs around Paris that come to watch us so it’s always cool to see them as they see you as a role model and I remember being like that, so it’s really inspiring to see them.”

The Israeli team celebrated their impressive third-place finish and hope it will provide them with strong momentum ahead of a season which will include European and World Championships.

“We’re so proud of ourselves, to do this for our country and also to do this because it is our first competition as seniors,” Lior Makmel told World Aquatics.

Team-mate Dagan added; “I’m also really proud of myself and as a man I want to show this sport can be to everyone, also men and women.”

Women’s Solo Free Final

The 16-strong athlete line-up created one of the strongest fields of the day, with Doha 2024 World Championship bronze medallist Vasilina Khandoshka (NAA) and two-time European runner-up Klara Bleyer (GER) among the much-fancied medal contenders.

Mari Alavidze (GEO) was not among those, but she celebrated wildly with her coaches after an entertaining display was awarded an overall score of 184.2664 and temporarily put her on top.

Ultimately, it would not be enough for a medal, but the teenager will take significant confidence from the result, as will Aruban athlete Kyra Hoevertsz for her display, which scored 184.7163 and was enough for bronze.

“It’s the first competition of the season, and again, with big changes in the scoring system, I only really had two main goals, which was to be solid in the execution of my hybrids and then improve my artistic impression,

“Those were my two simple goals and when I got out I felt ‘that was it’ and no base-marks is really good and makes me really happy.”

Bleyer looked disappointed with her performance moments after completing her routine, but was ultimately pleasantly surprised when she was awarded what transpired to be a winning score of 211.9176, with Khandoshka 11.8450 points behind in second.

“I got really surprised I thought I did something wrong with a direction, but apparently it was okay,” said Bleyer while laughing.

“I worked on this routine and we wanted to do a theme and we took the theme of ‘Space’ as we thought it would be good with the new system to show artistic and difficulty, but I guess we will do some changes to do the best we can at the World Championships.”

Men’s Solo Free Final

The final day of the Artistic Swimming World Cup in Paris began with the men concluding their solo programme with the Free final.

With six World Cup medals to his name, secured during the 2024 season, 18-year-old Viktor Druzin was the most experienced athlete in the line-up and he delivered a strong performance to his ‘Aborigine’ themed routine.

After deliberation by the judges, he was awarded an overall score of 127.2000.

That was enough to see him overall Greek junior artistic swimmers Marios Kristas (126.6701) and Stylianos Koukouselis Fouskis (123.9413) who are 15 and 14 years old respectively.

“I’m very proud of a very good performance here,” Druzin told World Aquatics. “This is the first performance this year, and in the future, I hope to keep doing a good personal performance

“The music, I enjoy, it’s emotional, and it represents my team and my character.”

Silver medallist Kristas said his medal “means a lot” to him.

“I think my performance was good, and I’m really happy not to have any base marks, which makes me really proud, and I’m so thankful to my coaches who made it possible for me to compete here in Paris,” the teenager told World Aquatics.

Team-mate Koukouselis Fouskis added: “It was my first competition worldwide and I’m really proud of myself.

“Some things could have gone better, but I have learned a lot and it was a great experience.”