Mayya Doroshko-Elizaveta Minaeva
Three-time World champion Mayya Doroshko and new partner Elizaveta Minaeva, who won Women’s Duet Free silver together at the Medellin World Cup in Colombia last month, claimed their first title as a pair with victory in the Women’s Duet Tech event at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup in Paris.
Doroshko-Minaeva then returned to the water a few hours later for a highly entertaining Team Free contest, where they would again top the podium as part of their eight-strong national squad line-up. China claimed silver and host France, to the delight of the home fans, took bronze.
In the day’s other events, Vasilina Khandoshka in the Women’s Solo Tech and Guo Muye in the Men’s Solo Tech claimed the respective titles.
Women’s Duet Tech Final – Olympic medallists return
Among the highly-anticipated highlights in the 28-strong line-up for the Women’s Duet Technical event was the appearance of Great Britain’s Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe, who were competing for the first time together since winning silver at Paris 2024.
Somewhat aptly their return was taking place in the French capital, some 19 months on from the moment they claimed their nation’s first-ever Olympic medal in the sport.
Much has changed within the world of artistic swimming over that period and while Thorpe made a strong impression with new Mixed Duet partner Ranjuo Tomblin last season, winning World and European honours, Shortman was making her first international appearance since the Olympic Games.
They were the second to last pair to take to the water, with Doroshko-Minaeva having already produced a sublime performance full of power and precision.
They attained a combined score of 299.8376, while Kira Cherezova-Valentina Gerasimova had also delivered a more than competitive score of 290.5550 for their ‘Fun Girls’ performance.
Experienced USA pair Anita Alvarez-Jaime Czarkowski held third until Shortman-Thorpe, debuting their new ‘Last Dance’ themed routine – in tribute to their display at Paris 2024 – attained a podium securing score of 287.8250.
The duets from Germany (Klara Bleyer-Amelie Marianne Blumenthal Haz) and Italy (Lucrezia Ruggiero-Flaminia Vernice), who were highly fancied to contest for Technical medals, were each hit with base marks and as a result finished well short of the podium places.
Team Free Final – Further Success for Doroshko and Minaeva
The highly enthusiastic supporters gathered in the stands in their masses for the final contest of the opening day of competition in Paris and they were treated to a series of innovative performances from the five nations.
As with much of the day, those lining up for Neutral Athletes B (NAB) proved to be a class above the rest, with their line-up delivering a commanding performance which attained an overall score of 260.6329 pts.
While China is the Olympic champion in the event, their selectors typically use World Cup events away from their homeland as an opportunity to give some of their emerging talents experience competing internationally.
That was again the case in Paris, with half of the swimmers who took to the water 16 year of age and the eldest, Wu Yingqiao, 22, making her first appearance at this level since 2017.
China’s score of 238.3467 was enough for silver and while France could have potentially rivalled them, a mistake on their final hybrid denied them that chance.
201.9078 points meant they were still deemed worthy of a podium finish and the assembled host nation fans were clearly delighted to witness them receive bronze.
Women’s Solo Tech Final – Khandoshka, Bleyer, Plekhanova claim honours
The first event of the World Cup stop saw 24 athletes take to the waters in what turned out to be a fascinating competition which demonstrated not only established stars, but also a host of emerging talents.
That included 14-year-old Ana Brontie Chan of Hong Kong, who made her World Cup debut.
At the other end of the spectrum was Olympic, World and Pan American medallist Anita Alvarez of the USA ,and although the 29-year-old was not quite able to challenge for a podium finish she will take encouragement from a strong showing and rank of fifth.
Ahead of her, in fourth, was 2025 World Duet silver medallist Enrica Piccoli of Italy, who achieved a score of 242.3683, to rank just 0.283 points short of the top-three.
That would be topped, in impressive style, by three-time World Championships medallist Vasilina Khandoshka, who claimed just her second World Cup win, following success in last season’s Women’s Solo Free event, in Xi’an, China.
The 24-year-old achieved an overall score of 254.7184 for her ‘Sweet Dreams’ themed routine, which was enough to see her edge ahead of Bleyer’s ‘Morning Dawn’ inspired performance, which attained 252.6484.
Completing the top-three was 16-year-old Valeriia Plekhanova, who secure the first World Cup medal of her career and delivered a performance which suggested she is a clear ‘one-to-watch’ throughout the current season and likely beyond.
Men’s Solo Tech Final – Guo, Tomblin and Druzin secure gold, silver and bronze
The nine-strong men’s discipline included a host of regular major medal-winners, including China’s Guo Muye, Briton Ranjuo Tomblin, Gustavo Sanchez of Colombia, Italian Filippo Pelati and the Kazakh duo of Eduard Kim and Viktor Druzin.
Chinese star Muye has established himself as one of the most talented male athletes in the field by claiming 13 World Cup honours across the last two seasons.
There would be another gold added to his collection following the Men’s Solo Technical event in Paris, with the 17-year-old in stunning form.
He attained an overall score of 245.4900 points for his routine, performed to the soundtrack ‘The Trail’ from ‘The Witcher 3’ in what was his first World Cup in Europe.
Britain’s Tomblin, who won the event at last year’s competition in Paris, was again in strong form, building off his season-opening victory in Medellin, Colombia, last month.
He was awarded 238.9359pts, a significant improvement on the 223.8033 he attained in the first World Cup of the season, only this time he would settle for silver.
Completing the podium places with a narrow ‘win’ over team-mate Kim was Kazakhstan’s Druzin, who scored 226.6050 and matched the third-place finish he achieved in Medellin.
