Reunited twins Lin Yanjun and Yanhan returned to the top step of the podium after a high-class performance in the Duet Free final on the second day of the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Final in Xi’an, China.
The sisters won their last World Cup duet title at the Beijing leg of the 2024 season, and after placing second and third in the respective Free and Technical disciplines in Markham last month Lin Yanjun had been paired with Xu Huiyan for the Duet Tech on day one.
The move paid off, with the new line-up claiming victory, but with Lin Yanhan restored to the line-up for the Free discipline the twins combined to produce a spellbinding display to finish ahead of duets from Spain and Japan.
Earlier China’s teenage star Guo Muye overcame nerves to follow up Solo Tech silver with Solo Free gold, while Spain's Mireia Hernandez and Dennis Gonzalez won a highly entertaining Mixed Duet Tech final and the hosts rounded off the day with a further Team title, this time in the Tech discipline.
Women’s Duet Free – China, Spain and Japan Claim Honours
With reigning Olympic, World and Asian Games champions Wang Qianyi and Wang Liuyi still absent from the sport following their endeavours at Paris 2024, ‘replacement twins’ Lin Yanjun and Yanhan were aware of the high expectations placed on their shoulders.
That pressure only intensifies when competing in home waters, but after the pair impressed as part of China’s Team Tech gold medal-winning line-up on Friday they began their Duet with confidence.
They were the eighth pair to take to the water, with session-opening Mexican duo Itzamary Gonzalez and Marla Arellano leading the standings at that stage, with a combined total of 245.8147 points.
A “truly fabulous” delivery of their ‘Moonlight dancer’ routine followed from China’s Lin siblings, which earned them a personal best total of 266.1442 and put them more than 20 points ahead of their nearest rivals.
Fellow pre-event medal favourites Japan, represented by Tamoka Sato and Uta Kobayashi followed, and after winning gold at the first World Cup in Paris before placing second in Somabay, they were highly fancied again.
Their score of 258.7638 would ultimately see them place third, behind European silver medallists Lilou Lluis Vallette and Iris Tio Casas (260.9325).
“We’re very happy to win,” Lin Yanhan told World Aquatics.
"We're aware of China's strong legacy in duet - with world titles and Olympic medals - so we're pushing ourselves even harder in training"
Lin Yanjun added: “We lost to the Spanish duo last time, but we performed very well today, though we still have lots of details to improve.”
Spain’s Tio Casas was quick to praise the “amazing” pool and venue in Xi’an, adding the Super Final was “good preparation” for the World Aquatics Championships next month, while team-mate Lluis Valette said they aim to improve their “difficulty and synchronisation” in the coming weeks.
Kobayashi, of Japan, told World Aquatics that she was happy that she and Sato did a “good job in artistic impression and (with) powerful execution”, while Sato insisted they will “train harder to improve” ahead of Singapore 2025.
Open Team Free – China, Japan and Spain Continue to Impress
After China’s three returning Olympic champions Chang Hao, Feng Yu and Xiang Binxuan made a winning star to their 2025 campaigns by helping their nation to success in the Team Technical final on Friday, the nation was again expected to be a strong contender for the major medals in the Free final.
Japan, who were fifth at Paris 2024, were the first of the main contenders to show their medal-winning potential though and their score of 310.0788 ensured they topped the standings midway through the session.
Olympic bronze medallists Spain soon followed and given their astounding gold medal-winning form across the World Cup circuit so far, as well as at the recent European Championships, they were expected to move ahead.
However, despite strong overall impression scores and a clean execution, their ‘Insanity’ themed routine scored 308.4859, putting them second, behind Japan.
China, who have won the last three World Championship titles in the discipline and are the reigning Olympic champions, were the last to take to the water and were cheered on by a highly excitable home crowd.
Their ‘Gravitation’ routine was quite exceptional and described as “truly world class” by commentator Andrea Holland, moments before it was confirmed they had been awarded a colossal, title winning, total of 324.3538 points.
"The team executed the routine with remarkable composure, just like in our daily training sessions,” said Olympic champion Chang Hao of China, who missed the event after suffering an injury following the Tech final on the opening day of competition.
“My neck rotation is still slightly (limited), so I'll need treatment tonight. For tomorrow, our focus is hitting every lift perfectly.”
Sato of Japan said their team was “very happy” as they “didn’t expect” to win silver and finish ahead of Spain.
Marina Garcia Polo of Spain stated she was “very proud’ of her team’s performance but acknowledged they have “to improve a lot” for the World Championships.
Team-mate Cristina Arambula Casares added: “(I watched) only the Chinese team and I think they did a great job.
“Their routine is amazing and their acrobatics and artistic operation are all very good.”
Mixed Duet Technical – Spain, China and Great Britain Celebrate Success
While the athletes lining up for this event recently received the disappointing news that the discipline would not be included in the programme for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, they appear undeterred.
Hopes now switch to 2032 and while those Games are over seven years away, the swimmers aim to make the case for inclusion undeniable by raising the standard of the sport – and that was clearly evident in the first mixed discipline of the 2025 Super Final.
European champions Mireia Hernandez and Dennis Gonzalez were the leading names in the field and delivered a personal best performance to their ‘A heartbreak’ themed routine, which scored 219.7700.
“We are so proud of our performance,” Hernandez told World Aquatics.
“We don’t think about the result, so we try to enjoy, try to show our best artistic impression, because I think this is so important for Spain and for the sport."
"We are happy with the work we had made and we are keeping this effort to the World Championships in Singapore and try to achieve our goal, medal in the World Championships"
Hernandez continued: “We will try to increase a little bit of difficulty in the routine and try to make the same execution in with this difficulty, and of course trying to maintain the artistic impression.”
China's Guo Sitong and Guo Muye, who won World junior gold together in Peru last year, continued their impressive run in their first season together on the senior circuit by adding Super Final silver to their second-place finish in Markham last month.
Muye and Sitong were full of praise for the efforts of one another, with Muye stating she is a “very good partner”, while she in turn told World Aquatics Muye is “highly responsible” and they overcome challenges “immediately through communication.”
Rounding off the top-three were Olympic duet silver medallist Izzy Thorpe and European solo champion Ranjuo Tomblin.
They won European silver together in their debut as a pair last week and are aiming to maintain their momentum at Singapore 2025, despite being so early in their relationship.
“It's been really nice swimming with Ranjuo,” Thorpe told World Aquatics. “It's a definite experience for me, because I’ve only ever swam the female duet, so it's my first time swimming a mixed duet.
“For sure we want to try and win a medal (at Worlds), so we're gonna try our best to get our scores up as much as we can, to get the best result we can.”
Men's Solo Free – Guo, Minak and Sanchez Succeed
After finishing second in the Men’s Solo Tech final on Friday, Guo Muye admitted nerves had impacted his performance, in what was the only discipline which did not see a Chinese athlete top the podium on the opening day of the 2025 Super Final.
The 17-year-old could be forgiven for that runner-up result, given he still delivered a highly impressive performance in a stacked final, which was won by Diego Villalobos Carrillo, but Guo entered his second individual contest determined to end it with a better outcome.
And his performance was exceptional.
A score of 196.7401 for his routine was unrivalled despite the impressive efforts of Italian teenager Gabriele Minak, three-time World medallist Gustavo Sanchez of Colombia and European champion Jordi Caceres Iglesias, who placed second, third and fourth respectively.
"Today is the second competition day, so I feel less nervous than yesterday and have adapted somewhat"
“My strength lies in executing technical elements smoothly, but I need to improve my artistic impression - that remains my weak point," said Guo.
Minak said he was “happy” with silver after experiencing a “little bit of a mistake” during his performance, with the Italian insisting he will “train a lot” to improve his artistic impression ahead of the World Championships.
Sanchez was quick to pay tribute to the growing strength of the sport on the men’s side and expects standards to continue improving in the coming months.
“It’s incredible the growth that we have men in the sport,” he told World Aquatics. “It’s a very nice competition, very difficult, and I’m so happy to be part of this.”