The Italians, who placed second behind Ukraine at the previous leg in Somabay (EGY), delivered a much-improved execution of the routine, inspired by the 2002 movie ‘Chicago’, increasing their overall score by 12.4037 points since last month’s contest.

Spain’s silver medal-winning performance was highly celebrated though with Dennis Gonzalez making a landmark appearance as the ‘flyer’ in the opening lift.

Earlier in the day he had topped the podium with Iris Tio Casas following the Mixed Duet Free final and show followed that up with a second victory alongside Lilou Lluis Valette in the Women’s Duet final.

Afterwards, Gonzalez, who is widely regarded as the strongest male swimmer in the world of elite artistic swimming competition, hailed Tio Casas as his nations’ “best athlete” with the Olympic bronze medallist having now claimed medals across all disciplines this season.

Team Acrobatic Final – Italy, Spain And France Secure Medals

This is an event which never fails to entertain and the nine nations taking to the water for the final contest in Markham provided a suitably spectacular conclusion to a fantastic three-days of competition which demonstrated a host of magical moments.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Ukraine, who won the event in Somabay, were the first of the major podium contenders to take to the water in the Team Acrobatic final, but they were far from their best and an error-strewn display saw them slip out of contention.

The USA, who fielded a host of their Paris 2024 Olympic silver medal-winning line-up, including the returning Anita Alvarez, were also surprise absentees from the top-three standings.

They would rank fifth, marginally behind rivals Mexico, with Ukraine in eighth. 

Italy topped the standings after their high-class performance, but would have to wait for six further nations to complete their routines before victory could be confirmed, with their overall score of 199.4300 giving them a winning margin of 17.7688 points.

“It’s totally new for us and we tried to be sexy with some fire,” Sofia Mastroianni told World Aquatics. “We didn’t expect to win a gold medal as all the other teams are amazing and we need to work more, but we’re very happy today.”

The gap between France, who placed fourth at their home Games last year, and Olympic bronze medallists Spain, was significantly closer though with just 0.0786 points separating the nations.

Spain attained an overall score of 181.662 for their ‘one shot, one opportunity’ routine, to secure their best result of the season so far in the discipline.

Head coach Andrea Fuentes said debuting Gonzalez as the ‘flyer’ was a “proud” moment for the team and revealed the idea came from her husband Victor Cano who competed in gymnastics for Spain at the 2000 and 2004 Games.

“Victor is acrobatic coach and he let’s get Dennis because he’s a master of acrobatics in the air,” she said. “We couldn’t push him because he’s heavy, but we made them stronger. 

“We said: ‘let’s push this guy who knows everything in air, because if we can push him, he can do everything, we just had to give him more power.

Fuestes added; “he’s going to be amazing. Txell Mas was underneath his legs, but it’s the whole team as you need everybody to be in synch and be strong.”

France’s energetic and highly entertaining delivery of their established ‘Can Can’ interpretation, which has been slightly modified since it was performed at their home Olympic Games last year, was awarded 181.5826 by the judges.

But for a base-mark it would have been a higher placing, but there was still positivity within the team after they claimed bronze.

“We were trying to do the best execution we could, but we did have a base mark on a highlight, which we had a bit of difficulty with, but this is a working competition for us,” said Claudia Janvier.

“We still have European Championships in a few weeks, then Worlds, so this was like a guideline for us to choose what to do for the next competition.”

Women’s Duet Free – Spain, China and France Claim Podium Places

As an Olympic discipline, there is always high interest in the outcome of the women’s Duet Free competition, and the latest final delivered further phenomenal feats, with the best in the world doing what they do better than anyone else.

No pairing better demonstrated this than the Spanish duo Iris Tio Casas and Lilou Lluis Valette with the duet, who were part of their nation’s Olympic team bronze medal-winning line-up at Paris 2024, delivering further evidence of their versatility.

They were third in Somabay, scoring 236.0830 for their ‘essence of femininity’ creation, but attained the top marks in Markham, with 257.9868 securing victory by a margin of just under five points from China.

“The first time we competed (together) was in Egypt and this time we tried to improve synchronisation and execution, so with a higher score here, we accomplished it,” said a delighted Tio Casas.

Team-mate Lluis Valette emphasised that their ability to “connect” with their “minds” had been crucial to their rapid improvements, while Tio Casas insisted their ability to “make jokes” and create “good chemistry” were also key elements.

Twin sisters Lin Yanhan and Lin Yanjun, who were third in the on Women’s Duet Technical final on Saturday, placed a step higher on the podium in the Free contest.

Their ‘shadow of the moon’ inspired routine attained a strong score of 253.0640 and insisted they were “very happy” with the “style and elements” they executed.

Completing the top-three line-up and edging out Ukraine’s Daria Moshynska and Anastasiia Shmonina by a tiny margin of just 0.0701 points, were French duet Laelys Alavez and Romane Lunel.

“We have been in a little fight since the new rules came in and in duet, we never beat them (Ukraine) before so it’s the first time with this new pair as it’s only our second time (performing the routine) as we started practicing in November,” Lunel told World Aquatics.

“Our routine reflects everything under the seas and all of the animals, but the ‘octopus’ is the one which inspired us the most and we enjoy performing it.”

Mixed Duet Final – Spain Secures Rare Double Podium 

Previous rules only allowed one line-up from each nation to attain a place on the podium at an Artistic Swimming World Cup, but revisions for the 2025 season enable nations like Spain to truly demonstrate their strength-in-depth.

They achieved this for the first time in the maiden event of the current campaign in Paris, France, where Jordi Caceres and Aurora Lazaro, as well as Dennis Gonzalez and Sara Saldana, achieved second and third, respectively, in the Mixed Duet Tech discipline.

Topping the standings this time were the seemingly unstoppable teammates Tio Casas and Gonzalez, who are debuting as a pair for the 2025 season.

“This year is my first with Iris, and I always think she is the best one in the team, because I love how she swims,” said Gonzalez with a beaming smile after their ‘heartbreak’ routine.

“When my trainer told me I would do a duet with her, I was like ‘wow’, and I’m so happy, and I think I will improve with her as we have a lot of chemistry.”

Jordi Caceres and Aurora Lazaro have subsequently placed fourth on five occasions, but were finally able to celebrate another podium finish together, by placing third.

“We complement one another a lot,” revealed Lazaro. “The boy has a lot of explosive movements and I have artistic movement.

Caceres continued; “Her legs are so long and so straight and she expresses a lot when she dances and we’re always laughing and we’re best friends so it’s been a pleasure being her partner this year.”

Separating the Spanish duet line-ups were China’s Guo Muye and Liu Jinhan, who attained a score of 276.9909.

“We have only been together for two weeks,” Guo revealed to World Aquatics.

“Our theme is a very interesting topic, of eating, recycling, time and life and we have been watching a lot of videos to analyse ourselves in the water and make improvements.”