On Saturday in Singapore, four-time duet world champion Aleksandr Maltsev, 30, claimed his first world title in a solo event and 19-year-old Xu Huiyan of China won gold in women’s solo tech. Both dominated.
SINGAPORE – The first two gold medals at artistic swimming at Singapore 2025 were awarded on Saturday in men’s and women’s solo tech.
Thirty-year-old neutral athlete Aleksandr Maltsev proved that he hadn’t lost his aquatic mojo despite a three-year absence from the world stage. He produced his first world title in a solo event with a two-minute “Rebel Yell” tech routine that outscored a slew of teenagers and the event’s bronze medalists from 2023 and 2024. Runner-up Dennis Gonzalez Boneu of Spain, 21, and bronze medalist Diego Villalobos Carrillo of Mexico, 20, both finished more than 10 points behind Maltsev.
A few hours later, Xu Huiyan of China, 19, upgraded her 2024 bronze in the women’s solo tech event to gold with a two-minute program about lovesickness and earned 20,000 USD for the victory. (Xu plans to contest six more events in Singapore.) Neutral athlete Vasilina Khandoshka, 23, took silver with a program she developed two months ago to the song “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from the 1964 film, “Funny Girl.” Khandoshka says she’s fascinated by the ‘60s, and that Barbra Streisand’s character, Fanny Brice, is “very close to me in spirit.” Spain’s Iris Tio Casas, 22, claimed the bronze, just has she had at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
For details and reaction, read on.
Men’s Solo Technical
Although men have been competing in artistic swimming at the world championships since 2015, Saturday marked just the third time the men’s solo technical event had been held at worlds. This year produced an entirely new set of medalists.
Maltsev swam first and scored 251.7133 points with a fairly formal routine to Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell.” Maltsev had already been a four-time world champion in duet events dating back to 2015 and had spent 23 of his 30 years in the sport. But this was the first time he had ever vied for a solo title at worlds.
After none of the other 12 finalists could top Maltsev’s score, the new gold medalist reflected on how far artistic swimming has evolved in the decade since men like himself made their world debut.
“We're now competing in a completely new type of sport,” he said. “Now it’s more standardized [and] more like a lottery; a strong athlete can be knocked down and someone of a lower skill level can rise to the top step on the podium.
“But I’m happy to see a lot of excellent male athletes competing now. It’s a big pleasure to compete with them.”
Spain’s leading man, Gonzalez Boneu, 21, took silver, 10.5466 points behind Maltsev, with a crisp and charismatic performance to Billy Eilish and Khalid Robinson’s “Lovely.”
It was a major jump for the Spaniard since the last world championships, in Doha 2024, where he had placed fourth. Since then, Gonzalez Boneu said, “The emotions have been inside of me. I tried to improve and work for this [medal]. I think the execution in the elements was better than the other times I did it, and I’m so happy for that.”
Mexico’s Villalobos Carrillo, 20, took bronze by performing his expressive and artful “La Maza” routine for the final time.
“It’s emotional to say goodbye to this routine,” Villalobos Carrillo said, “but I’m happy and I’m satisfied. I’ll come back with a new one. I love to swim the solos; that’s my favourite.”
China’s Guo Muye, 17, missed the podium by just 3.0875 points to place fourth with the difficult Wizard program that earned him gold at the World Cup in Somabay, Egypt, in April. But Guo also defeated the 2025 European champion in this event, 19-year-old Ranjuo Tomblin of Great Britain, who placed fifth.
Notably, the event’s last two bronze medalists (Colombia’s Gustavo Sanchez, 2024, and Kazakhstan’s Eduard Kim, 2023) placed seventh and ninth, respectively.
Women’s Solo Technical
The women’s solo tech event dated back to the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, but only three nations claimed gold (Russia, Japan, and Greece) – until Saturday, when China’s Xu outscored everyone by more than 12 points to win her first senior world title.
“It feels pretty emotional,” Xu said, “because something I hoped for but hadn’t dared to think about before, is now a reality. When I was waiting in the call room for my turn, it was quite nerve-racking. But after I started my routine, I felt calmer.”
After claiming the bronze medal in this event at last year’s worlds, Xu said, “The past year has been grueling in training. I needed to work on my artistic impression. I was lacking [that] last year. It’s been a lot of growth.”
Looking ahead to her other six events, Xu said, “I don’t feel greater relief, even with one gold medal. I don’t think about how many I’m going to win. I just take it one routine at a time.”
Runner-up Khandoshka said, “it’s my first silver at the world championships. It was a very big wait and we are happy,” adding that the key, for her, to making the podium was “mental preparation and trainings – many trainings.”
Bronze medalist Tio Casas of Spain was just 0.2499 points away from a silver-medal tie yet she said, “I’m happy with the result and very proud. I have improved a lot this season.” She also earned bronze in solo tech at the 2023 worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.
The fourth-place finisher, Vasiliki Alexandri of Austria was competing in her seventh world championships at age 27. The 2023 silver medalist was the oldest woman in Saturday’s final – as well as the oldest of the Alexandri triplets competing in Singapore.
Up Next:
The third gold medal in artistic swimming will be awarded Sunday night in the team free event. Xu will try to help China defend its 2024 gold, while two of the male solo medalists from Saturday, Gonzalez Boneu and Villalobos Carrillo, will compete for Spain and Mexico, respectively.