Iris Tio Casas was elated to win her first individual world championship gold medal Tuesday morning in Singapore. She defeated runner-up China’s Xu Huiyan by 4.1888 points. Neutral athlete Vasilina Khandoshka claimed bronze.
SINGAPORE – The three medalists from the Women’s Solo Technical event all made the podium again in Tuesday’s Solo Free event – but this time, Iris Tio Casas of Spain, 22, seized the gold with her dramatic performance to “Hymne a L’amour” which Celine Dion had famously sung at the Paris 2024 Olympic Opening Ceremony. (Casas had already captured two bronze medals in Singapore: in Solo Technical and Team Free.)
“It means a lot, because it’s my first world championship gold in a solo event,” she said. “I’m super happy, I can’t believe it right now. My parents are in the stands. It really was a dream come true. I’m a little bit shocked.”
Tio Casas’ impression score was 2.9 points higher than runner up Xu Huiyan of China, comprising more than half the difference in their total scores. Xu was bidding to become the fifth woman to sweep both the technical and free solo world titles in the same year. To that end, she used the now eight-month-old Eternal Night Sky performance that won her the World Cup title in Markham, Canada this spring.
“Today is considered a breakthrough,” Xu said of her silver medal. “Today’s result was within my expectations. I made some adjustments for the final. I just tried to [improve] artistic impression and creativity. There are still things I can improve, whether it’s completion or the connectivity.”
Xu said she had been working on her physical fitness since the Super Final in June, and after competing in both solo events in Singapore, admitted, “I probably am better able to come to terms with the gravity of the competition. Competing in more events also means I got more opportunities to test myself. There isn’t any secret to not feeling any nerves. As athletes, we put our faith in the training and work that we’ve done before each event.”
Neutral athlete Vasilina Khandoshka, 23, earned her second consecutive world championship Solo Free bronze medal, 5.6476 points behind the winner. Khandoshka, in a flesh-colored suit, used a haunting, slightly scary “Mummy” routine that was intended to be unusual, interesting, and show her range of creativity.
“This bronze medal means a lot to me, Khandoshka said. “This routine was physically difficult for me. What went through my mind constantly was that I must work hard and persevere towards the end and fight with all my might.”
As for the Mummy theme, she said, “I tried to show the story behind a person before her death, before she met her end. I wanted strange music that was more niche and less popular. I tried to make a theatrical show.
“I didn’t expect anything. I just counted on my strength to do a good performance and to wait for the judge’s assessments.”
The women’s solo fee event dates back to the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne. Past winners had all been from France, Russia, Japan, and Canada. Tuesday marked Spain’s first gold in this event.
Of note, one of the Austrian triplets, Vasiliki Alexandri, placed fourth, less than 24 hours after her two sisters claimed gold in Duet Tech. Vasiliki was competing in her seventh world championships at age 27 and was the 2023 silver medalist in this event.
Fifth place went to Klara Bleyer of Germany, 21, who effectively conveyed an astronaut’s journey into space and had the highest degree of difficulty in the 12-woman final.
Up Next:
Artistic swimming resumes Tuesday night with the Team Technical final at 18:30 Singapore time. Defending champion China will try to claim its second team gold in Singapore to accompany its Team Free victory from two days ago.