China sweeps team golds in artistic swimming at World Aquatics Championships

SINGAPORE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- China won the World Aquatics Championships team acrobatic title in artistic swimming on Friday, concluding its campaign with gold medals in all three team events.

Performing a routine titled "Soul of the Terracotta Army", the Chinese squad topped the preliminary round with 225.7993 points and carried that momentum into the final, where they scored 229.0186 points to secure the gold. The team finished ahead of Neutral Athletes B (NAB) and Spain.

It marked China's fourth gold medal in artistic swimming, with the country sweeping all three team gold medals in this tournament.

"Although we won three gold medals in the team events, I don't think that means we're absolutely dominant," said China's head coach Zhang Xiaohuan. "We're still in the process of exploration. We're also learning from our competitors. There is, in fact, a lot of confusion and anxiety throughout this journey."

"Deep down, I have greater expectations in the new Olympic cycle and with the new lineup. I believe this Championships still marked a significant breakthrough for us - the gold medal in the women's solo event was the first in our history, something we had never achieved before," Zhang added.

Earlier on Friday, Spain's Iris Tio Casas and Dennis Gonzalez Boneu scored 323.8563 to win the mixed duet free event gold medal, followed by neutral athletes Aleksandr Maltsev and Olesia Platonova, with only 0.4125 points behind. Great Britain's Isabelle Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin took the bronze.

"It's the best world championships ever," Tio Casas said. "We are happy that we can finish the season with a happy ending. Probably a lot of people in Spain will see this and we can be an example for children."

The high diving preliminaries also concluded, with Rhiannan Iffland and Constantin Popovici topping the women's and men's fields respectively. 14 men and 14 women advanced to the final round. ■