The second day of artistic swimming competition at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 saw two new European champions crowned in front of a crowded Olympic Aquatics Centre.
Great Britain’s Isabelle Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin claimed the mixed duet free title, before Greece’s Anna-Maria and Eirini Marina Alexandri secured their second gold medal of the Championships in the duet free final.
The first medals of the evening were awarded in the mixed duet free final, where a visibly emotional Isabelle Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin claimed their first European title together with a score of 258.2383.
It was a particularly special moment for Thorpe, who captured her maiden European gold despite a decade of competing at the highest international level, while Tomblin added a second gold medal to his collection in Paris, and his fourth European title overall.
The reigning World Championship bronze medalists arrived in Paris among the favourites after medaling at all five World Cup stops this season, including three victories.
Their routine, built around the theme of “Conflict between light and darkness”, saw the British pair finally end Spain’s three-year reign in the event, although by the slimmest of margins as just 0.2650 points separated the two duets.
Thorpe was full of emotion when speaking to European Aquatics following the medal ceremony. “It’s incredible. I’m really happy and to have done it with Ranjuo is incredible.” She said. “We didn’t have the most smooth sailing preparation due to injury but it’s good we have been able to come through it and be on top.”
Tomblin echoed the sentiment. “Today is more special (than his gold the previous day) because I get to do it with Izzy, so it’s incredible,” he said with a smile on his face.
Spain’s Dennis Gonzalez Boneu and Iris Tio Casas settled for silver, opening Spain’s medal tally at these Championships. The reigning World and European Champions arrived in Paris unbeaten since first teaming up last year.
Swimming to Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” the Spanish pair delivered another deeply emotional and highly artistic performance, with exceptional musicality and meticulous attention to detail throughout the choreography.
The Spaniards were also far from matching the difficulty of some of their closest rivals, only posting a Degree of Difficulty (DD) of 43.10 – the second-lowest of the final – as Gonzalez Boneu is still not at full strength and recovering from shoulder surgery earlier this season. Nonetheless, they once again demonstrated that their execution and artistic impression remain among the very best in the world, making the silver medal all the more impressive.
“It was so good. I enjoyed it a lot.” Gonzalez said.
“We want to enjoy it because I don’t know if it’s our last time swimming together because the next year and the other one, it will be difficult as now we have to focus on the Olympic Games. We want to enjoy it. We want to do our best version. I know this year we trained only for 2 weeks because I had the surgery on the shoulder.
“We had 12 points less than the other in difficulty, but we are still competing, we swam our best version and we enjoyed it a lot.”
Lucrezia Ruggiero and Filippo Pelati of Italy completed the podium with 255.1641. The reigning European silver medalists entered the final with the highest DD of the field at 56.35 and opened the competition with their passionate “Argentine Tango” routine.
Although they could not quite match Great Britain’s execution or Spain’s artistic impression this time around, the performance earned Pelati his second medal of these Championships after winning silver in the men’s technical solo yesterday.
“For sure we are happy about our result.” Ruggiero explained. “We know that we can do it better. Our coach already told us that we could do better, but for now it’s okay.”
Pelati also gave some insight into the result: “Yes, we are happy of our performance of today. There are a few synchro errors that we can improve on for the other events, also for tomorrow, so we keep pushing.”
The second final saw once again Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri of Greece stand atop the podium. The triplet sisters posted a massive score of 316.3315 to add the duet free crown to the duet technical title they had claimed the previous evening.
The three-time Olympians returned to the duet free event for the first time since the Paris Olympic Games, where they had finished fourth overall. Having focused exclusively on the duet technical throughout last season, the Alexandri sisters were excited to once again compete in the free event with their new “Story of Two Vampire Sisters” routine.
“We are incredibly happy.” Anna Maria said.
“This medal is very special. It’s our first time since the Olympics competing in the free duet, so it’s great to come away with the gold. The free duet is very fresh for us to it’s very unique. We have a very special connection, and know how we work, our chemistry shows in the water.”
Eirini also gave her thoughts: “We have worked very hard and of course doing it with my sister is very special. We have done a great job with all of the staff that have helped us. This sport is our passion and we live for it.”
Spain’s Lilou Lluis Valette and Iris Tio Casas bounced back from a disappointing eighth-place finish in the duet technical final to claim the silver medal with 315.6442, finishing just 0.6873 points behind the Greek pair.
The reigning World Champions, who also won silver at last year’s European Championships, impressed with their “Essence of Femininity” routine to once again establish themselves among the world’s very best duets.
For Tio Casas, it capped an extraordinary day in the pool. The Spanish star, who is the reigning World Champion in all three of today’s events, comfortably qualified for Monday’s women’s solo free final before claiming two silver medals within the span of an hour.
The Neutral Athletes B duo of Maiia Doroshko and Aleksandra Shmidt earned the bronze medal with 310.4407 with their “Fear of Split Personality” routine.
After placing third in the preliminary round, the pair had increased their DD by one point for the final. They successfully completed the additional difficulty, but despite the gamble paying off, it was not quite enough to overtake either Greece or Spain.
Despite a solid swim, defending European champions Enrica Piccoli and Lucrezia Ruggiero missed out on the podium, finishing fourth with their “Hypnosis” routine. On this occasion, the experienced Italians could not quite match the exceptionally high level produced by the three medallists.
“We have got used to being at the top, but I still think we have performed well. We showed a really high level of their technique, particularly in our artistic impression.” They said.
“We want to say a really big thanks to our coaches, especially the head coach Svetlana Romashina. We also want to congratulate all the medalists because they performed really well and have been really friendly. The Greek girls are really friendly, we have been having chats on social media, and the atmosphere is very friendly as well. We really appreciate it.”
The morning session saw 14 artistic swimmers take to the pool for the women’s solo free preliminary round, with the top 12 advancing to Monday’s final.
Neutral Athlete Vasilina Khandoshka returned to the European Championships with a statement swim as she claimed the top spot with a score of 287.3999 for her “The Silent Scream” routine.
Iris Tio Casas, the reigning World Champion, and Klara Bleyer of Germany, defending European Champion, also comfortably advanced to the final in the second and third spots, respectively.
They will be joined in the final by the soloists of Italy, Neutral Athletes B, the Netherlands, Georgia, Greece, Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland and Malta.
The team free preliminary round is scheduled for 9:00 on day three. Starting at 16:00, the mixed duet technical final will be the sole artistic swimming medal event of the day.
Click here for the event page, which includes all start lists and results.
Click here to watch all of the action on Eurovision Sport.
Christina Marmet for European Aquatics
