China take artistic swimming mixed duo bronze at FINA World Championsips

Team China compete in the mixed duet free final at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, June 25, 2022. Photo by CFP

On the last day of the artistic swimming competition, China's Shi Haoyu and Zhang Yiyao won the bronze medal in the mixed duet free at the 19th FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday.

Italy's pair Giorgio Minisini and Lucrezia Ruggiero won the title with 90.9667 points, Tomoka Sato and Yotaro Sato of Japan took the silver with 89.7333 points, while China's pair finished third with 88.4000 points.

With this, China have made history by concluding the artistic swimming events with four golds and two bronze medals.

(L-R) Silver medalists Tomoka Sato and Yotaro Sato of Japan, gold medalists Giorgio Minisini and Lucrezia Ruggiero of Italy and bronze medalists Shi Haoyu and Zhang Yiyao of China pose during the medal ceremony at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, June 25, 2022. Photo by CFP

Shi Haoyu said after match, "we played the roles of two Kung Fu masters with Chinese-style movements to show the feeling of walking across the country with the companionship of the earth and sky."

He added that "We tried to demonstrate the inner content of Chinese culture, as the music included traditional music instruments such as suona, Chinese flute, as well as Chinese clarinet.”

For her part, Zhang Yiyao expressed her excitement, "this is the first time that I stood on the podium of the Championships. We were here to learn from other top swimmers. We didn't try to compete with and surpass others, we just wanted to deliver our best levels."

Yang Junxuan of China (middle) wins women's 200m freestyle title, China's only gold medal, at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, June 21, 2022. Photo by CFP

Saturday also marked the end of the swimming events. However, compared with the breakthrough the artistic swimming team have made, China's swimming team did not live up to the expectation at the Championships.

With only one gold medal and four bronze medals, all from the women's team, China ranked tenth, the worst result in 15 years.

Olympic champion Zhang Yufei failed to win any titles but got two bronze medals in her forte, the butterfly events, while men's world champions Wang Shun and Xu Jiayu did not make it to the finals due to injuries and poor preparations.

The swimming team did make glorious moments during last year's Tokyo Olympics, where they claimed three golds, two silvers and a bronze medal.

At the Championships, Team USA are the biggest powerhouse, taking home 17 golds, 12 silvers and 16 bronze medals, ahead of Australia with six golds, nine silvers and two bronze medals. Italy rank third, followed by Canada.

Diving events will get underway on Sunday, in which China's teenage sensation Quan Hongchan, along with other Olympic and world champions are believed to wow the world again.