European champion Ranjuo Tomblin (GBR) made an impressive start to his 2026 campaign with two victories on the opening day of season-opening World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in Medellin, Colombia.
The 20-year-old, first topped the podium in the Men’s Solo Technical event, before joining British team-mate Izzy Thorpe and partnering the Olympic silver medallist to gold in the Mixed Duet Tech discipline.
He described the results as “very special,” whilst Thorpe told World Aquatics that their combined performance was “really exciting” as they look to build to even greater successes than the 2025 World Championships bronze attained during their maiden season together.
Olympian Audrey Lamothe (CAN) secured the first individual World Cup success of her career following a powerful performance in the Women’s Solo Tech Final.
Mexico were the surprise winners of the Team Tech Final event, with USA, featuring three of the line-up who claimed Olympic silver at Paris 2024, placing second, as Canada rounded off the podium places.
Men’s Solo Technical – Tomblin, Villalobos and Druzin Claim Medals
Cloudy skies and showers greeted the first athletes to take to the water.
When the field returned, the fans were treated to a series of high-class performances from the field, which included regular major medal contenders Eduard Kim (KAZ) and host-nation favourite Gustavo Sanchez (COL).
They would not claim podium places on this occasion though, with Kim seventh and three-time World Championships medallist Sanchez, who admitted he had considered retirement after a challenging 2025, finishing fourth.
Rising to the occasion though and claiming the second individual World Cup victory of his career was Tomblin, who is rapidly establishing himself as one of the leading athletes in the men’s field.
Performing to the theme of ‘Timeless Rebellion’ to the track ‘the 5th’ by David Garrett, he attained a combined total of 223.8033 points, with his degree of difficulty scored at 29.9000, which was more than double the value given to those placing second and third.
“Obviously it's the first competition of the season, the first event of the season as well and I'd just like to thank all my coaches, my family of course, who's always supporting me,” Tomblin told World Aquatics.
And yeah, it's nice to come to Colombia, “I have a good support system in Great Britain, but it's nice to be in Colombia, it’s my first time in here and nice to be somewhere different (for an Artistic Swimming World Cup).”
Claiming second was talented Mexican Diego Villalobos Carrillo (207.1000), with Viktor Druzin of Kazakhstan (200.5833) third.
Mixed Duet Technical – Great Britain, Mexico and Kazakhstan secure honours
With Thorpe’s Olympic silver medal-winning duet partner Kate Shortman taking an extended break away from the sport following her exertions at Paris 2024 she marked her return to the sport by trying a new event, Mixed Duet and pairing with Tomblin for the first time in 2025.
They quickly established a strong bond, leading to a series of outstanding performances across World Cup as well as European and World Championship events, collecting a host of medals including their nation’s first-ever global mixed event honour, with bronze at Singapore 2025.
In Medellin they debuted their high-tempo, high-energy and highly entertaining new ‘Latin dance’ themed routine, performed to the track ‘Magalenha’ by Sergio Mendes.
Spectators were impressed, as were the judges who awarded them a winning total of 202.9517.
“I was really excited because it's a really fun routine and I was just really excited to swim it, especially here in Columbia and South America as it’s a summer theme, so that was really fun,” Thorpe told World Aquatics.
“There were definitely a few errors, but it's the first competition of the season, so I think we've got a lot of work on throughout the next World Cups and we're really excited to do that.”
Villalobos Carrillo (MEX) would claim his second runner-up spot of the day, behind Tomblin, following another strong display, this time alongside Nayeli Mondragon Acevedo, with the pair just 5.3308 points short of their British rival’s score.
Completing the podium places in the discipline were Kazak teenagers Yasmina Islamova and Aldiyar Ramazanov, with the respective 16 and 17 year-olds scoring 189.1275 pts.
Women’s Solo Technical – Lamothe, Strapekova and Bleyer Take Gold, Silver and Bronze
Following the retirement of Canada’s most decorated artistic swimmer, Jacqueline Simoneau, who stepped away from the sport after Paris 2024, her former duet partner Audrey Lamonthe is now the most experienced athlete in her national team.
She is still just 20 years of age, but continues to show impressive growth within the sport and claimed her maiden World Cup solo crown with a narrow victory over the impressive Slovakian teenager Zofia Strapenkova, with just 0.8483 points separating the pair.
“That first medal of the season has given me lots of motivation for the next steps in the season,” Lamonthe told World Aquatics.
“I have a lot of things to improve, so it's very fun to see that all my work paid and I'm still a lot more motivated to even give more and achieve more results in the future.”
Silver medallist Strapekova added; “I was very focused on not getting a base mark and trying to do all the technical elements correctly. “This is my first-ever big medal, so I’m very excited.”
Overall Women’s Solo World Cup winner, for 2025, Klara Bleyer (GER) rounded off the top three, but is targeting improvements in her performance at forthcoming events, after scoring 232.4467, 5.4816 points behind winner Lamonthe.
“I'm not happy with my swimming but, it's the first competition of the season,” Bleyer told World Aquatics. “I will participate in more World Cups and I want to improve and impress the judges.”
Team Technical Final – Mexico, USA and Canada set the standard
The final action of the opening day at the Medellin World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup saw six nations battle it out for three podium places.
While the USA, as Olympic silver medallists, would typically have been predicted to finish top, they are in a ‘development’ phase after twice changing coaches since Paris 2024.
They are also seeking to combine emerging talents, such as 15-year-old Kanako Field, with established names such as Anita Alvarez, Jamie Czarkowski, Daniella Ramirez and Natalia Vega.
Their new line-up performed well, but it was 2023 Pan American Games champions Mexico who impressed the most during a high-class session, with their ‘Bollywood’ themed routine attaining a gold medal-winning combined score of 263.2375.
The USA (249.8833) placed second, 13.3542 points behind their rivals, with Canada (217.2667 points) completing the top three.