China defended its 2024 world championship title in the Team Technical event on Tuesday and proved why it is the reigning Olympic champion. Its Wukong performance blew away the field in terms of both impression marks and execution of the elements.
SINGAPORE – China gave a master class in the Team Technical event on Tuesday night, winning gold with exquisite precision and timing and 307.8001 points – 7.1818 ahead of the runner-up, the Neutral B team. Spain’s lively and joyous Backstreet Boys program placed third (5.7608 points behind Neutral B).
China’s team captain Feng Yu, 25, said that winning her 10th world championship gold medal on Tuesday was particularly special because her team had been waiting so long to compete internationally against Neutral B. “We’ve been wanting to measure ourselves against [them] for a very long time. It is only when you have tough competition that you are able to learn and improve,” she said.
China’s coach Zhang Xiaohuan called Neutral B “formidable rivals [who] have great depth in artistic swimming. They were very connected, expressed themselves very well. They make us feel that this is going to be a great rivalry. They will keep us on our toes. We only got a slight edge this time.”
It was also a special day for 19-year-old Xu Huiyan who took silver Solo Tech in the morning and team gold at night.
Coach Zhang pointed out that Xu went from earning a single bronze in Doha 2024 to capturing three golds and a silver in Singapore in just 15 months. Even so, she said, “Huiyan is only 19, and she still has a long road ahead of her. We’ll take that journey one step at a time. She already has achieved a dream for us. She’s an excellent athlete who takes initiative without us coaches having to worry about her. She’ll initiate music selection, the choreography, the artistic impression… all of that. I’m very glad we’ve found another excellent swimmer to lead the Chinese team.”
As for the runner up, Neutral B had never competed at the world championships under the revamped scoring system due to its suspension after Russia invaded Ukraine. Nonetheless, it’s quick “Sabre Dance” program had the highest degree of difficulty overall.
Silver medalist Anastasiia Bakhtyreva was relieved that it went so well. “We are very happy to be here at such a high-level competition. This is our first experience and we feel a tremendous amount of emotions. We are very excited. It was fantastic to perform our routine here in Singapore. We hope everybody enjoyed it.”
Once again, Spain produced another polished and inventive crowd pleaser to claim Tuesday’s bronze medal. Coach Andrea Fuentes was visibly ecstatic with her team’s performance.
Cristina Arambula Casares, 21, was equally proud, saying “We did a perfect job. This was the best time we swam this routine so we are all very happy for this performance. Our team is continually improving. Little by little, and sooner or later, we will catch up to China.”
For Spain’s Iris Tio Casas, the team bronze was her second medal of the day. (She also won gold in Solo Tech that morning.)
Placing fourth, fifth, and sixth were Japan, Italy, and the US (the 2024 Olympic silver medalist), in that order.
With just one team event remaining in Singapore (Acrobatic on July 25), China will try to make a clean sweep of all three team golds, just like it did in Doha 2024.
But as China’s coach Zhang pointed out, “Artistic swimming is advancing at an unbelievable speed. Everyone is improving so fast. You can never think you will be dominant for a long time; this does not exist anymore in our sport.”
Up Next:
On Wednesday, the lone gold medal in artistic swimming will be awarded in the Mixed Duet Technical event at 19:30 Singapore time. Nargiza Bolatova, 21,and Eduard Kim, 19, of Kazakhstan will try to defend their 2024 world championship title.