Olympic bronze medallists Spain made their debut in this year’s World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup at their home venue of Pontevedra – with predictably golden results.
The hosts emerged from three days of competition at the fourth stop in the series victorious in five of the 11 events – with Iris Tio, the European Aquatics female artistic swimmer of 2025, involved in each of the wins.
Tio, 23, who won three golds and three bronzes at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, finished on top of the podium in the women’s solo free and technical events, the women’s duet free and the team free (where she was a reserve) and team technical categories.
She might have had six golds, but a late error meant Spain dropped to second place in the team acrobatic competition, in which their team featured Dennis Gonzalez, with victory going to Canada.
The five other golds went to Italy, for whom Filippo Pelati won the men’s solo technical, France, for whom Laelys Alavez and Romane Lunel won the women’s duet technical title, and Great Britain, for whom Ranjuo Tomblin won the men’s solo free and combined with Paris 2024 silver medallist Izzy Thorpe to earn victory in the mixed duet free and technical events.
Tio got Spain off to a winning start in the women’s solo free with 268.7725 points, with Italy’s 19-year-old Ginevra Marchetti earning her first World Cup medal in second place, with fellow 19-year-old European bronze medallist Mari Alavidze of Georgia finishing third.
Spain then added victory in the team technical event on 292.8417 from Mexico on 277.1583pts and France on 267.6242.
Tio Casas added to her golden total on day two as she partnered Lilou Lluis Valette in the women’s duet free, won the women’s solo technical and took part in the team free.
She and Valette amassed a huge total of 297.2209 to finish 21.0508pts ahead France’s Romane Lunel and Laelys Alavez.
A total of 262.8650 won her the women’s solo technical title, with Italy’s Enrica Picolli third.
Spain were clear winners in the team free final on 257.5013, with Italy 10.3025 back and Canada 28.1334 short of the winning total.
Thorpe and Tomblin won the mixed duet technical on 225.9034 from the new home pairing of 19-year-old Carla Lorenzo and 16-year-old Eneko Sanchez on 210.8792.
The British pairing, established last year, added the mixed duet free title with a total of 259.5159, with silver going to Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero on 249.4276.
“We get on really well outside of the pool and I think that chemistry really helps us in the pool where we’re really focused and know what we need to do,” Tomblin told World Aquatics.
Thorpe added: “He brings great energy, we have a lot of fun in training and we try to take that in to competition, even though it’s a more serious setting.”
Rare mistakes meant Tomblin only finished fourth in the men’s solo technical, where Pelati won on 229.7325 from Spain’s Sanchez Aguilar on 228.4342.
But the Briton responded to take the men’s solo free gold with a total of 244.4588 ahead of Sanchez Aguilar on 233.8751 and Pelati on 212.0150.
Alavez and Lunel won the women’s duet technical with a total of 291.1000. Tio and Llius Valette, who only began working on the duet technical this season, finished fourth.
The World Cup series will conclude in Toronto from June 19 to 21 with the Super Final.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
