Doha, Qatar, February 4, 2024: Kazakhstan enjoyed an historic night in Doha as they captured their first-ever gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships with a sensational artistic swimming title on Sunday.
Nargiza Bolatova and Eduard Kim are the history-makers as they emerged victorious from a tense evening of Mixed Duet Technical action at the World Aquatics Championships – Doha 2024.
Sitting fourth after the preliminaries, Bolatova and Kim pulled out all the stops to nail their routine to the theme of Tim Burton’s animated musical fantasy Corpse Bride.
They produced a wonderful interpretation, demonstrating fantastic musicality and impressive technical skills throughout, scoring 228.0050 - 133.0550 for elements and 94.9500 for artistic impression.
Cheng Wentao and Shi Haoyu of China took silver with a total of 223.3166, and Mexico’s Miranda Barrera Jimenez and Diego Villalobos Carrillo with 217.5192.
Kim, 18, made history for Kazakhstan at Fukuoka 2023 when he secured their maiden medal at the World Championships with Men Solo Technical bronze.
“I cannot explain what I feel; it is a mixture of everything,” said Bolatova, 20. “I think this medal is a great surprise to all of us. We made history today with this gold. I cannot believe this is happening, the emotions are very strong.”
Kim added: “Coming to Doha, we did not expect that we will become the world champions. It is a dream – we did not even think we would win a medal.”