Somabay was the setting for the event which saw a host of leading names make their first major international appearances since Paris 2024 and fans in the Egyptian city were treated to a series of masterclass performances from establish, as well as rising, stars of the sport.
In addition to Spain’s Team success, Klara Bleyer (GER) won the women’s Solo Technical final, with Muye Guo (CHN) (CHN) taking the men’s equivalent, while Mayya Doroshko and Tatiana Gayday claimed the Duet Technical crown.
Open Team Free – Spain reign under Somabay spotlight
Spain, who finished third in the Team event last summer, have a new head coach – in the form of their legendary four-time Olympic medal-winning athlete Andrea Fuentes – and renewed belief that they can now go on to dominate the sport.
After focusing only on Free disciplines at the season-opener five weeks ago they are contesting all events in Somabay and by fielding a male athlete in their team line-up, for the first time in history, Spain proved it is possible to win medals with men in this sport.
Dennis Gonzalez Boneu played an important role in his nation’s latest World Cup success after missing his nation’s stunning season-opener in the Team Technical event in Paris last month, through injury.
Spectators in Somabay, together with the judges, were wowed by the debut of Spain’s ‘Insanity’ themed, Free routine, which demonstrated poise, power, precision and much more, to attain an overall score of 317.8093.
It saw them finish clear of a strong Japanese squad, who attained 285.4332 points, and a neutral athlete team (NAB), in third with 278.8447.
“We feel amazing, but it’s not just the medal, I think this year we’ve been working on a masterpiece this is the best team I’ve ever been a part of,”
Paris Olympic medallist Paula Ramirez told World Aquatics.
“We are super happy with Andrea (Fuentes) and the whole team of coaches and I think this means more than a gold medal, this is like a dream come true from all of the work, as well as the heart and passion we have put into this.
Gonzalez was clearly emotional after the success, which came only days after it was revealed his main event, the Mixed Duet competition, would not be added to the Olympic programme for the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
“I think Dennis, is the perfect person to do this, it’s a dream for him and a dream for us,” continues Ramirez.
“We’re always trying to make our sport more equal and we’re in love with Dennis and he’s in love with us and so it was really great to do this as sisters and brothers.”
Women’s Duet Technical – Doroshko And Gayday Deliver Gold
This event marked the return of a host of athletes for their first international competition since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Lucrezia Ruggiero (ITA) was among those, with the two-time World champion last taking to the water as part of the Italian team line-up at Paris 2024.
She had been due to compete with Linda Cerruti in the Duet last summer but was unwell, has since retired and is now part of the coaching team guiding Ruggiero and her new partner Beatrice Esegio.
The pair performed well, to their ‘Can can’ themed routine, and gave a glimpse of their potential with an overall score which saw them place ninth.
Another pair to produce a highly entertaining display, much to the delight of the host nation fans in Somabay, were Egypt’s 16-year-old Zeina Amr, who was competing in her first senior competition, and Paris Olympian Nadine Barsoum.
First athletes from their nation to swim on the opening day of competition and celebrated loudly after a of 236.8751, which confirmed an error free performance.
Base marks would cost other potential medal-contenders though, including the Women’s Duet Technical discipline silver medallists in Paris – Japan’s former World champion Moe Higa and Moka Fujii.
The highly fancied Spanish duo Texel Ferré and Lilou Lluis as well as French pair Anastasia Bayandina and Romane Lunel also missed out on medals as a result of penalties.
Starting first and ultimately staying top of the score board for the entire duration of the session were Mayya Doroshko and Tatiana Gayday.
Doroshko, a three-time World champion, and Gayday, who was making her World Cup debut after two previous successes in the World Series event back in 2019 and 2021, wowed the judges.
Their ‘Indian Dance’ themed performance which attained an overall score of 268.0551.
Daria Moshynska (UKR) would return to the podium for the second time of the day, following up her solo silver with a further runner-up placement, this time alongside Ukrainian team-mate Anastasiia Shmonina.
Their ‘Dramatic time’ themed routine to the track ‘Secret Corruption’ by Andrew John Skeet attained scores of 146.2125 and 115.4000 for execution and artistic impression respectively, achieved a total of 261.6125.
“We are so very tired, but we are incredibly happy with this amazing silver result,” Moshynska told World Aquatics.
Rounding off the podium places after a much-improved showing were Canada’s Audrey Lamothe and Ximena Ortiz Montano.
They had finished 20th at the Paris World Cup after suffering four base marks, but there were none to count this time around, allowing the duo to celebrate their first international honour together.
An overall score of 256.2900 enough to edge bronze ahead of Germany’s Klara Bleyer and Amelie Blumenthal Haz.
“Last time in Paris was the first time for us swimming together and we had some technical issues, but with just one month work we have improved so much,” said Lamothe
Ortiz Montano added;
“For me this is very exciting to have the chance to swim with an Olympian and who has had this experience it’s amazing and makes me want to improve and achieve the same level together.”
Women’s Solo Technical – ‘Bleyer brilliance and Moshnynska magic’
The 31-strong field of athletes opened the day’s action with a series of strong performances under Somabay’s morning sun.
Jun Fan (CHN) marked her long-awaited return to competition with an early lead out combined score of 198.7667 points, but it was 17-year-old Daria Moshynska (UKR) who dazzled early in the day.
The Ukrainian won two senior World titles when she was just 14, performing as part of her nation’s Free and Highlights line-up at Budapest 2022, while she is also a current World Junior champion.
This may have been her senior debut in a solo discipline, but she showed few nerves and was the first to pass the 200-point mark with a strong execution (134.7166) of her ‘naked soul’ inspired routine, to ‘The Wishing Well’ by Tim Cox, impressing the judges.
The 99.6500pts award for artistic impression, together with a degree of difficulty (DD) value – 29.3000 – saw her attain an overall score of 234.3666.
That would be enough to retain the lead for much of the session, with Olympic bronze medallist Iris Tio Casas surprisingly unable to mount a push for the podium places herself.
Technical issues meant the Spaniard had to restart her routine, but the Paris World Cup Solo Tech gold medallist was subsequently hit with two base marks, for elements four and five, which would ultimately see her place 15th.
There were no such problems for European silver medallist Klara Bleyer (GER), who backed up her victory in Paris last month, with another outstanding display.
Her ‘Space’ themed routine, which had a DD of 32.9000, was awarded 98.7000 for artistic impression and 139.5966 for execution to give an overall score of 238.2966.
The only swimmer who could deny the German victory was neutral athlete Vasilina Khandoshka, who won Solo Free bronze at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships and was seeking a maiden World Cup win.
The 23-year-old, performing to ‘Mysterion, Anaparastasis’, delivered an eye-catching display, but would ultimately attain a score of 232.5733, which would secure her third place, behind Bleyer and Moshynska, with Jasmine Verbena (SMR) finishing an encouraging fourth.
“I’m very happy it’s very unexpected from me, I was looking for a medal, but the gold is special,” Bleyer tells World Aquatics.
“I tried to correct the things I thought went wrong in Paris and I’ve had some weeks to focus on my technical (skills) and I think it’s a good outcome.
Bleyer continues;
“I’m taking the World Cup as a test as I want to do really good at the World Championships, so I’m doing everything to be my best there.”
Silver medallist Khandoshka continued; “It’s the first solo in adult category and it’s a new experience for me, so I am very proud for my coaches and I’m very happy (for myself).”
Men’s Solo Technical – Guo Grabs Maiden Solo Gold
A star-studded men’s field of World and continental champions lined up for the first male contest of the Somabay World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup.
With Dennis Gonzalez Boneu (ESP) focusing on his debut with the Spanish team later in the evening his nation’s podium charge was led by rising star Jordi Caceres Iglesias.
He would come close, but along will fellow regular medal contenders Gustavo Sanchez (COL) and Viktor Druzin (KAZ), would also fall short on day one in Egypt.
At 16 Muye Guo (CHN) was among the youngest in the field, but the three-time World junior champion has been long identified as a potential senior star and added further evidence of his talent with a majestic display in the fading Somabay sunlight.
He attained a combined score of 224.5450 for his ‘Wizard’ themed routine to top the standings and land his first senior solo crown, which he said “felt good.”
Following up victory in Paris, with a further podium finish will still be seen as a success for Britain’s Ranjuo Tomblin, who recovered from the disappointment of learning Mixed Duet would not be part of the LA 2028 Olympic Games programme with a strong display.
218.7650 his reward for his showing to ‘The 5th by David Garrett’, which is based on ’Beethoven's Symphony No. 5’. However, it not for one error in the performance, he may have soared past the ultimate score gap of 5.7800 to winner Guo.
“I feel very good, obviously I did make quite a huge mistake in my pool pattern,” Tomblin admitted to World Aquatics. “I wanted to do the same swim as Paris to gain more confidence and experience for later in the season, but I’m still happy with the lessons learned.”
Competing the podium places, with the 14th World Cup medal of his highly decorated career, was Eduard Kim (KAZ).
The 19-year-old, swimming to an ‘Aimless path’ theme, attained a combined score of 211.2383, despite a degree of difficulty score of 22.8000, which was significantly lower than Guo (30.3000) and Tomblin (27.6000).
“I feel so good because I have a little degree of difficulty, I made more artistic and it’s not the maximum power, but I liked the swim today,”
Kim told World Aquatics.