The best emerging talents produced a series of colourful displays on the opening day of the World Aquatics Youth Artistic Swimming Championships in Athens, Greece.
The performances, across the preliminaries of the women’s and men’s Solo Free, as well as the Team Free discipline emphasised why there has been so much excitement within the sport about what the 2025 edition of the competition could deliver.
“To the athletes, you are the stars this week, but understand it’s more than about medals,” stated World Aquatics Vice President Maureen Croes during a powerful opening ceremony speech.
“It’s about discovering your potential, sharing your passion and building friendships which will stay with you long after the music stops.
“Here in Greece, the birth of the Olympic spirit, be reminded sport is not just about competition, it’s also about unity and joy and each routine is your chance to show the world who you are as artists and team-mates.
“Remember this is your stage, your time and your story to tell, best of luck to all of you.”
President of the Hellenic Aquatics Federation, Kyriakos Giannopoulos, stated it was an “honour” to welcome the athletes, officials, coaches, delegated, parents and supporters to the Greek capital.
“The awarding if this event, by World Aquatics, is a great honour and acknowledges our continued efforts to develop aquatic sport. I wish the delegations the best of luck and experiences they will remember for a lifetime.”
Earlier, they had watched on as the first sets of athletes battled it out for places in the respective male and female Solo, as well as Team Free final events, via an entertaining set of preliminaries.
After 35 strong performances it was Aleksandra Pishchikova who topped the standings with an overall score – which combined artistic impression with execution, while also factoring in the degree of difficulty – of 243.4934.
5.8784 points behind was USA’s Jaclyn Zhuge (237.6150), with Shiori Fukuda of Japan (231.3000) third.
Shortly after, Frenchman Macéo Vanhée-Dedieu, topped the rankings of the 15-strong men’s Solo Free preliminary round, with an overall score of 235.8183 for his ‘warriors’ themed routine. Xavier Wang of the USA (223.0983) and China’s Chen Xiuping (215.9001) rounded off the top-three.
Emerging stars from established Olympic and senior World Championship medal-winning nations, such as China, Spain, the USA and Japan, are expected to again be in contention for honours in Athens.
However, with the sport currently enjoying unprecedented growth and global expansion, thanks in part to the development of the male side of the sport, it is anticipated that athletes from other non-traditional podium-contending countries will mount medal challenges.
The eight-strong ‘Neutral Athletes B’ line-up demonstrated their credentials with a powerful delivery of their ‘Challenge yourself’ themed routine to top a highly competitive 22-strong nation preliminary round in the Team Free contest.
They scored a commanding 288.4059 points, to head off France (263.2625) and USA (261.9767).
“It’s our first world competition and we can say thanks to World Aquatics for this opportunity,” said Varvara Barbashova. “We’re very happy and we feel many emotions.”
They, together with China, Japan and Italy, are likely to be among the main contenders in Friday’s final.
The second day of the 2025 World Aquatics Youth Artistic Swimming Championships in Athens, Greece, will see athletes contest the preliminaries in the Women’s Duet Free, Mixed Duet Free and Mixed Team Free Combination events.