Day 8 of the World Aquatics Championships - Singapore 2025 featured standout performances across three aquatics sports: the 5km open water swimming finals for men and women, the start of artistic swimming with the Women’s Solo and Duet Technical routines and a packed day of water polo action with 12 teams in competition.
Here’s what the athletes said!
Open Water Swimming
Florian WELLBROCK (GER) – Gold in Men’s 5km
On winning two gold medals so far:
“It's so amazing to be honest. I didn't expect my second gold today and it was the second gold for Team Germany, for my club, for my teammate Moesha JOHNSON (AUS, women’s 5km) as well. It's an amazing feeling to be on the top of the podium again.”
Moesha JOHNSON (AUS) – Gold in Women’s 5km
On what this means for her and her country:
“This is huge for my country. I think we're topping the medal table. We've never had back-to-back golds in a competition. I know we've had silvers and bronzes, so this is just historic for my country and I'm just so proud to be setting the standard for everyone.”
On being chased:
“When you're leading, you're trying to stay calm and just keep them behind you, I had no idea where she was. I knew she was going to bite, to be honest, I knew she wanted it today, and then I saw a splash beside me, so I started kicking my legs.”
Ichika KAJIMOTO (JPN) – Bronze in Women’s 5km
On how it feels representing Asia:
“Most open water swimmers come from Central Europe and America, but we have a chance in Asia. My hope is that we have more fantastic races and swimmers from Asia.”
Artistic Swimming
Loya CENKCI (GBR) – Women’s Solo Technical athlete
On her routine:
“I felt really good and powerful. I was a bit nervous before, because this is my first World Championships, and the first event was the solo. I didn't know how the call room was going to go, but it felt so much better. I really enjoyed it. I scored my best score this season, and it’s my first season doing solo as well. So I feel really proud of myself.”
On the competition pool:
“I love the pool. It's really fresh and new. I really like the writing in there [the pool], it really gives me motivation. I love the training pool. It's like fresh air.”
Zoe POULIS (AUS) - Women’s Solo Technical athlete
On what she hopes the world sees about artistic swimming:
“I hope people can really see the effort that goes behind. We train countless hours, six, seven days a week, seven hours in the pool. It’s so much work that goes into these two minute-routines, and every single second of the routine matters. Everything counts. I hope that people watching can see that.”
Rachel THEAN (SGP) - Women’s Solo Technical athlete
On competing at home:
“It means the world to me to compete here. I returned to the national team just last year. In the team events, my sister will be competing alongside me, and my mum is judging in the Masters, so to have everything coincide with SG60 means the world to me.”
Women’s Duet Technical
LIN Yanhan (CHN) – Women’s Duet Technical athlete
On her first world championships:
“I was a little nervous, but it was more of excitement to be able to perform on such a big world stage. It was quite emotional.
Ghizal AKBAR (USA)
On representing USA in artistic swimming:
“It's definitely my dream… going out there and representing my country on this huge platform. It's always been a dream of mine and I'm really lucky to experience this and I'm just really taking it all in.”
Water Polo
Shaunn LOK (SGP) – re. SGP v CHN (8-21)
On scoring his first goals of the tournament:
“This is my first time scoring here and I’m quite happy to break my mental block and I’m happy that my family got to watch me hit this milestone.”
Petar JAKSIC (SRB), Player of the Match – re. SRB v JPN (21-14)
On the result:
“It’s a great feeling of course to advance to the quarter-finals, but there are three more matches so we are focusing right now on that and there’s no time to rest. I’m not focusing on my own performance, I’m more happy with the team performance, the way we played – defence firstly, then offence so I’ll say it’s a team effort.”