Doha, Qatar, February 5, 2024: Chinese twins Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi kept their nerve as the last pair to go in the women’s duet technical final – and won World Aquatics Championships gold in Doha on Monday in artistic swimming.
The 27-year-old sisters produced a sharp and graceful routine to the theme “Lotus” and overtook Great Britain and Spain to win the title at Aspire Dome.
Victory also made amends for last year’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where they finished fourth.
The Chinese sisters won with a score of 266.0484, comprised of 104.9500 for artistic impression and 161.0984 for execution.
Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe of Britain were second with 259.5601, 6.4883 points behind, and Spain’s Alisa Ozhogina Ozhogin and Iris Tio Casas were third for the bronze medals with a score of 258.0333.
Looking back on their performance to clinch gold, Wang Liuyi said: “We got a little pressure because this is important. We felt a little bit excited and a little bit of pressure and this is the best condition.
“We just wanted to focus on our performance and enjoy the competition.”
Although they performed their routine at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka last July, Liuyi said: “I think we improved our ability and enhanced our performance, so today the performance is better than Fukuoka.
“We have been performing this routine for almost one year. We did this in Fukuoka but we changed a lot of difficulty in our legs and maybe transition and performance.”
Only two minutes separate the birth of the twins, and they admit they inspire each other every day in training and in their daily lives. “It is heart-warming when we get a great performance,” said Liuyi.
They have already qualified for Paris 2024 and say they want to take it “step by step” to stand on the highest place on the podium.
