China’s emerging artistic swimming talents displayed encouraging form at the FINA World Cup Super Final in Xi’an, as the home team pocketed three gold medals out of four on offer and one silver on the first competition day here on Friday.
Mexico won the fourth gold on offer on Friday with Diego Villalobos Carrillo winning in the men’s solo technical, relegating China’s 17-year-old Muye Guo to silver. Diego Villalobos Carrillo scored 225.0841 with an emotional routine while Muye Guo finished with 224.0400.
The Chinese team, featuring four reigning Paris Olympic champions alongside four young talents, delivered a highly impressive, choreographed routine inspired by the acclaimed Black Myth: Wukong video game, blending Chinese mythology with world-class artistic swimming techniques. Their performance earned 277.2258 points to win the gold, reports Xinhua.
According to Zhang Xiaohuan, head coach of the Chinese team, the routine has a strong cultural atmosphere and some grandeur of the Qin Dynasty. “We are paying our respect to our home ground,” she said.
“I’d rate us an 8/10,” said Chang Hao, a veteran artistic swimmer. “We’re currently in a transition period with veteran and new athletes working together, so there are inevitably still some (team integration) and coordination issues to work through. That’s why we need more time to repeatedly refine our teamwork before we can perform at our best. But honestly, after these 7 months of intensive closed-door training, we’ve already shown significant improvement compared to before.”
Spain came in second with 276.1408 while Japan took third with 262.5166.
“We will try to make our elements go through difficulty if we can. And I think the most important part for us is to be number one in artistic (impression), and I think we can do it. That’s our goal,” said Paula Ramirez Ibanez. “We loved the Chinese routine. We were amazed. They are so good, and also we think it’s super artistic.”
Teenage pair Xu Huiyan and Lin Yanjun showed significant improvement in their three-week-old partnership. The duo delivered a technically sound performance in the women’s duet technical. Their “Moon Shadow Dancer” themed routine scored 289.6150 points to win the gold medal, edging Japanese duo Moe Higa/Tomoka Sato to second place with 281.4309.
Spaniards Txell Ferre Gaset and Lilou Lluis Valette, who placed first in the World Cup series in Paris and second in the Markham leg in the discipline, came third with 277.8705.
“Considering we’ve only been training together for three weeks, I think we’ve made significant progress. But if you’re asking whether we could do better, absolutely. To be honest, I’m not completely satisfied with our synchronisation today – that’s an area that needs work,” said Xu, who was a Doha 2024 world championship bronze medallist.
Compared to when I partnered with my sister Lin Yanhan, Huiyan is technically more accomplished. Working with her gives me greater stability – I can focus on refining my own movements while synchronising with her rhythm,” said Lin Yanjun.
Xu also won the women’s solo tech title earlier on Friday with a score of 258.7933.
“As one of China’s top solo artistic swimmers, Xu Huiyan can still elevate her performance-particularly in achieving more fluid extensions and refining the delicate precision of her leg movements. She has the potential to be even better,” commented Zhang after the competition.
Muye Guo, who took silver in men’s solo technical, said the pressure was greater here. “There were several areas that fell short of expectations, particularly in artistic expression and the first compulsory element,” said Guo. “I felt quite nervous, pressure was greater here at the Super Final, especially competing on home soil.”
The Super Final continues on Saturday with four disciplines: men’s solo free, duet solo free, mixed duet technical, and team free in what is the conclusion of the 2025 Artistic Swimming World Cup series.
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