Austria and Spain made a golden start to the first stand-alone edition of the European Aquatics Artistic Swimming Championships in Funchal, with victories in the duet and mixed duet technical events respectively.
Returning to the top of the podium, Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri reclaimed the duet technical title they last won in 2023. After missing the 2024 Championships due to illness, the Austrian triplet sisters delivered a commanding performance of their new Swan Lake routine, featuring the highest declared Degree of Difficulty (35.85) of the competition.
Their final score of 301.8800 was a career best and marked the first time they surpassed the 300-point mark.
“This is a very big deal,” said Anna-Maria Alexandri. “It’s our first time over 300 points, and we’re really happy with the way we executed the new acrobatic movement in the routine. It was a challenge, but we pulled it off.”
Spain’s Meritxell Ferre Gaset and Lilou Lluis Valette took silver with 282.1017 in their debut as a senior duet. The 18-year-olds, who won team bronze at Paris 2024, impressed with a clean and confident routine to Elle King’s Ex’s & Oh’s.
France completed the podium, with Anastasia Bayandina and Romane Lunel earning the country’s first duet medal since 2004. Their performance, set to Mamma Mia, scored 278.0242 and marked a strong return after France missed last year’s event in Belgrade.
In the mixed duet technical, Spain’s Dennis Gonzalez Boneu and Mireia Hernandez Luna defended their title with a high-energy routine titled Hip Hop, Let’s Go. Their 216.1967 score underscored their consistency at the elite level.
“We focused on bringing more artistic impression to this routine, and I think we can be proud of what we achieved today,” said Gonzalez Boneu.
Great Britain’s Ranjuo Tomblin and Isabelle Thorpe made a notable debut as a pair, finishing just behind the Spaniards with 214.9441. Thorpe, an Olympic silver medallist and duet specialist, competed without long-time partner Kate Shortman for the first time.
“This has been a new and exciting challenge,” Thorpe said. “We’re really enjoying it, and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead this season.”
Italy’s Filippo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero secured bronze with 205.9059. The duo, performing The Beat, impressed in their first major appearance together. Ruggiero, a 2022 European and world champion in the event, competed in both duets within a short time span, showing composure after a seventh-place finish in the women’s event.
“It wasn’t easy today,” Ruggiero admitted. “But I tried to stay calm and treat it like training. This is a great start for us ahead of the World Championships.”
The Championships continue tomorrow with solo free finals for both women and men in the morning, and the team free final scheduled for the afternoon.
