Nongfu Spring Champions Clinic continues to inspire next generation in artistic swimming

Supported by World Aquatics’ Global Partner Nongfu Spring, the Nongfu Spring Champions Clinics help to engage local young people in aquatics sports and expanding their knowledge and understanding by offering direct access to expert coaching, mentorship and technical guidance.

Olympic and world champions Feng Yu and Xiao Yanning, and trailblazing male artistic swimmer Guo Muye who has won multiple World Aquatics Artistic Swimming Junior Championships and World Cup gold medals, led the Champions Clinic.

It emphasised the importance of teamwork throughout, and the presence of Guo proved especially inspiring for the boys taking part as male artistic swimming continues to grow in China and around the world.

“I hope the boys who joined the clinic today will be able to feel the charm of men's artistic swimming and to have the courage to try. Personally, I hope I can continue to make breakthroughs and obtain good results for Team China. Lastly, I also hope that men's artistic swimming can be more widely recognised,” Guo Muye said.

Xiao Yanning, who helped China to win their first Olympic gold in the Team artistic swimming event at Paris 2024 and has won eight golds at the World Aquatics Championships, underlined the importance of the Champions Clinic in inspiring young people to embrace the sport.

“I was very excited when I stood on the highest podium at the Paris Olympics. I felt that everyone's efforts and contributions were all worth it at that moment," she said.

"This ties into today’s clinic - helping and teaching the next generation of children to learn about their interests and hobbies is the greatest help to them and as an introduction to any sport,” Xiao Yanning added.

Following on from the success of previous editions, including the first artistic swimming Champions Clinic in April 2024, the session prior to the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup – Super Final brought together a mixed-gender group of 10 club students and seven local kids from the Xi’an community selected by Nongfu Spring.

It began with the athletes taking questions from the young participants, who were then introduced to the basics of artistic swimming.

The school students group practised a short artistic swimming routine and received one-to-one feedback, while the children from the local community performed dryland exercises to work on their flexibility and movements.

The World Aquatics Diving World Cup – Super Final in Xi’an ran from 13 to 15 June.