A jaw-dropping team technical final brought intensity to the third day of competition at the European Aquatics Junior Artistic Swimming Championships 2025, with five teams putting in medal-worthy performances.
The seed was sown at the Athens Olympic Aquatics Centre right from the first team, as France ‘s tricky routine set a high benchmark – a score of 241.2933 was met with praise from the spectators.
Italy’s team then produced a fine performance – opening strong and finishing with intensity to take the provisional top-spot with a score of 246.7800 as they made the most of their hybrid sections.
With a handful of teams trying and not being able to displace the Italians, the moment finally came through the in-form Spanish team. With a number of 9s from the judges and an impressive choreo and transition score, the eight-strong team kept consistency and composure throughout the routine, which rarely had a drop in intensity. When all was said and done, they took the gold medal by a clear margin with a total score of 260.5326, ahead of the Italians who took silver.
The bronze medal battle was a much tighter affair. With France holding on, good performances from Ukraine and Greece in the nine and ten slots respecticely saw them both come within just two tenths of the French team, but they ultimately had to settle for respective fourth and fifth on 241.1708 and 241.0934.
The result was one of the closest the competition has seen, offering a gripping spectacle for everyone around the outdoor pool.
With three of the events on the programme in the books for the day, the morning was once again dominated by the neutral athletes. 16-year-old Alisa Shevchenko began the day in the intense Greek heat with a performance to match the intensity.
Starting her women’s solo free routine strong, she maintained a solid standard as the difficulty reduced. Her choreo and transitions were equally impressive as she won with a final score of 225.3813 with no basemarks.
It was ultimately a battle of the latter athletes chronologically once it got down to the final few competitors. With Shevchenko’s performance giving her the top-spot as the ninth performer, Spain’s Isabel Cui Xi was the final performer, and only one who would be able to mount a challenge.
The silver medallist from the women’s solo technical once again came close to taking the top spot with an impressive performance. Her bold 14.7-difficulty opening scored well from the judges, but she just didn’t manage to keep up the intensity long enough for those extra points that would’ve got her over the line. Nevertheless, no benchmarks and a solid score of 220.5975 was more than enough for her second silver medal of the competition.
Italy’s Ginevra Marchetti was over the moon with her intense performance that saw her win the bronze by just 0.1 points from Georgia’s Maria Alavidze. The 18-year-old took her third medal in as many events thanks to a superior elements section of her routine as she kept the impressive momentum going.
The attention then turned to the Mixed Duet Technical final – which was once again taken by the neutral athletes. Alina Rumiantseva and Zakhar Trofimov made the most of their hubrid second segment, which scored high 7’s from the judges, as well as a solid final acro-pair segment to see them win out on both the elements and artistic impression categories. Once again, there wasn’t too much in the scores as the neutral athletes continued their amazing story with a final total of 210.9192.
Italy’s Gabrielle Minak and Sarah Maria Rizea both pushed the winners all the way, thanks in part to their near-perfect transitions. With an incredibly diverse routine, they did well to spread out their scores, but just fell short as they finished on 198.3625 and took the silver medal.
The Spanish team of Rodriguez de Manuel and Judith Simo Kuliberda also returned to the podium once again for the bronze medal, with their total of 198.2666 seeing them lose out on the silver medal through the smallest of margins, but still with an impressive return at this stage of the competition.
The day was then rounded off with a spectacular team technical final which saw 13 teams vying for a spot on the podium as the sun began to set on the iconic Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre.
Click here for the full results
Click here to watch all the action on European Aquatics TV
Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
