China won the artistic swimming team acrobatic event, a category which was opened up to mixed gender for the first time this year, on Monday at the World Championships in Fukuoka (Japan). With a score of 238.0033 points, the Chinese edged out the United States, in silver with 232.4033 points. The host country won bronze (220.5867 pts).
The acrobatic routine, introduced to the program of the World Swimming Championships in 2019 and which gives pride of place to lifts and jumps, will make its appearance at the Olympic Games next year in Paris. For the first time, the team events (acrobatic, technical and free) were open this year to co-education, men being authorized to join the group, within the limit of two per team. This will also be the case at the Paris-2024 Games.
The three medal selections on Monday all had a man in their squad. The American team included in its ranks Bill May, a true pioneer of men’s artistic swimming who won the first mixed duet event in the history of the Worlds in 2015. “It’s incredible! This team is the hardest working I have ever met in my life, they are so inspiring,” he said.
Earlier in the day, 20-year-old Spaniard Fernando Diaz del Rio became the first male world champion in solo artistic swimming.