China Sweeps Artistic Swimming Golds in Russia’s Absence; U.S., Britain Take Silvers

China swept gold medals in both the artistic swimming duet and team events at the Paris Olympics last week, establishing the nation as the new dominant world power in the discipline with six-time defending champion Russia banned from team events.

The Russians had won every artistic swimming gold medal at the Olympics dating back to Sydney 2000 before they were denied the ability to compete in team events at Paris 2024 due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In the duet showdown on Saturday night, Chinese twins Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi totaled 566.4783 points (276.7867 technical/289.6916 free) to cruise past Great Britain (558.5367) and the Netherlands (558.3963). Not only was it a milestone victory for China, ending a 20-year streak of wins by Russia, but it also marked the first podium appearances ever in artistic swimming for the British and Dutch squads.

Incredibly, the British duo of Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe was the only team in the top five that did not feature twins. Noortje and Bregje de Brouwer took bronze for the Netherlands, Austria‘s Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri narrowly missed a medal with 555.6678 points for 4th place, and Ukrainian twins Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva placed 5th with 538.6684 points.

Chinese duet champion Wang Qianyi explained how competing with a twin can prove advantageous in artistic swimming.

“Our body shapes look similar,” Wang Qianyi said. “The way we look during competitions allows us to give good artistic impression for the referees. We also live together. We’re interested in similar things. We know each other really well. Sometimes, all it takes is a simple look.”

The Wang twins also competed as part of the eight-member Chinese team that took gold with 996.1389 points last Wednesday, ahead of the United States (914.3421) and Spain (900.7319).

The U.S. began the team competition in 4th place even after a viral underwater moonwalk during its opening routine. The Americans climbed up to 2nd place over the next two days thanks to a pair of routines that registered the second-highest scores in the field behind China. It was the their first Olympic appearance in the event since 2008, and their first medal since 2004.

Anita Alvarez, who represented the U.S. in duet events at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021, was the only returning Olympian for the American team. Jaime Czarkowski and Megumi Field went on to represent the U.S. in the duet competition, placing 10th overall (484.7488). U.S. team alternate Calista Liu was recently given a no-fault violation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after she tested positive for dorzolamide in May.