The USA had placed second, behind Mexico, in the Team Technical event on Friday and while their continental rivals did not contest the Acrobatic discipline, the performance from the north American nation will give them confidence for the season ahead.

They scored 176.2300 to claim gold ahead of Kazakhstan and hosts Colombia.

“It means a lot because this is our first competition together as a team, so this is just the beginning of all the things we're going to be able to do in the future,” Natalia Vega told World Aquatics.

"I think this medal strengthens us for the rest of the year"
By Natalia Vega

Day three of the first World Cup of the season also saw Great Britain’s Izzy Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin attain their second title in Medellin, their latest in the Mixed Duet Free discipline.

Also celebrating was three-time World champion Maya Doroshko, together with new partner Aleksandra Shmidt, who won the Women’s Duet Free event.

Mixed Duet Free Final – Great Britain, Colombia, Kazakhstan Claim Medals

Image Source: Great Britain’s Izzy Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin won their second gold as a mixed duet in Medellin (Federacion Colombiana de Natacio/World Aquatics)

The first event on the final day of the first-ever World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup stop to be held in Colombia, saw six pairs line-up for the Mixed Duet Free contest.

Great Britain’s duet were the standout performers in Friday’s Technical discipline and again demonstrated their outstanding development, following a debut season in 2025 which saw them become World Championships bronze medallists.

Toblin, who also won the Men’s Solo Technical final on the opening day of competition in Medellin, together with Olympic silver medallist Thorpe, once more wowed the audiences and judges.

The latter of whom awarded them an overall score of 241.0792 for their ‘conflict’ themed routine, to the track ‘XVI Darkness’ from the Maleficent 2 Trailer. 

Despite strong performances from opponents, it would see them claim a clear victory, by a margin of 37.0758 points.

“We're here to mainly test our routines and we’re struggling a bit with illness, so we’re glad to get these results,” Tomblin told World Aquatics.

Thorpe added; “I think it was a really good experience for us to compete in these conditions.”

Colombia’s highest-profile and most-decorated male artistic swimmer Gustavo Sanchez, who admitted ahead of the event that he had considered retirement after a challenging 2025, claimed silver (204.0034) alongside Emily Minante.

Viktor Druzin, winner of the Men’s Solo Tech bronze on Friday, partnered Nargiza Bolatova to third (191.4422), ensuring a further honour would go the way Kazakhstan.

Team Acrobatic Final – USA, Kazakhstan and Colombia Secure Successes

Boasting three of their Paris 2024 Olympic silver medal-winning squad, the USA were strong favourites in the Team Acrobatic Final.

Integrating new athletes is rarely straight forward, but the new-look side performed well in tricky conditions, with heavy rainfall throughout most of the final day of competition.

Olympic medallists Anita Alvarez, Jaime Czarkowski, Daniella Ramirez played strong roles in the team’s latest success, which was performed to the same ‘Sorceresses’ theme used at Paris 2024.

Although it was a far from perfect routine, which attained two base marks, their score of 176.2300, was an encouraging achievement early in the season.

"Our coaches did a really great job of unifying us as a team and I feel like even with a few base marks and stuff we were able to really pull together and produce a really great swim"
By Two-time World Championships medallist Nicole Dzurko

“They trained us to do that at practice, so we were able to do it on the world stage too," said Nicole Dzurko.

Kazakhstan (162.9951) and Colombia (161.3258) placed second and third respectively.

Women Duet Free Final – World Medallists Impress in Medellin

Image Source: Maya Doroshko and Aleksandra Shmidt took gold in the Women Duet Free (Federacion Colombiana de Natacio/World Aquatics)

Fifteen pairs took to the water for the Women’s Duet Free Final, where Klara Bleyer and Amelie Marianne Blumenthal Haz were looking to build on their success in the Technical discipline on Saturday.

They again performed well in a strong field, but were unable to claim a second podium place, finishing fourth.

The top-three did have something of a familiar look, with duets from France and Slovakia securing their second successes, but this time reversing their positions from the Free final.

Romane Lunel and Laelys Alavez this time securing silver (242.8421), with Zofia Strapekova and Lea Anna Krajcovicova (233.550) taking bronze.

"We are very excited, this is our first bronze medal in the free duet and we didn’t expect it, so we are very happy"
By Zofia Strapekova

Victory though would go to the highly impressive, World Championships bronze medal-winning duet of Mayya Doroshko and Aleksandra Schmidt, who attained a stunning overall total of 257.2693 points, for their ‘fear of split personality’ themed routine. 

“We were glad to be here and this medal is a big win for us,” said Doroshko.

The next stop of the 2026 World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup will take place in Paris from 27-29 March.