Women's Solo Free | Xu Makes it Two for Two at the Water Cube

Xu Huiyan, winner in Solo Technical, clinched her third gold medal on Saturday, adding the Solo Free title under her belt after she performed a routine of a Relaxed Girl in 240.3021, beating Cui Xu Isabel Shuang of Spain 206.7833 and Marloes Steenbeek of the Netherlands 198.0792.

Xu, 18, burst into tears with her coaches after they heard the victory score.

"The most breathtaking moment was the time when I did my movements in the water, but the time we waited for the scores to come out. I thought over and over again about my routine. I was afraid of getting the base mark. I reduced my difficulty this time compared to what I did in Doha at the World Championships. But it required more power and speed on rotation and different types of leg movements," Xu said.

Spanish girl Cui Xu Isabel Shuang enjoyed her performance in the Water Cube for her international debut.  

"My parents are Chinese, but I was born and raised in Spain. I felt excited to compete in Beijing because there is a big group of my family members, more than 10 people, to watch my competition today. The silver medal is the best reward for their support," said Cui, who started artistic swimming at Kalipolis Club in Barcelona when she was 8.

"It is the first time I have competed in China. I have learned a lot from others during the competition this time. I hope I can enter the top level of the Spanish national team and compete in the Olympic Games in the future," the 17-year-old Cui said.

Men's Solo Free | Italy's Pelati Back on Top

Filippo Pelati of Italy, winner of the World Aquatics Youth Artistic Swimming Championships in Greece and World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup - Super Final in Spain last year, performed the Haratious concept of time the Man and the Hour, and earned the highest scores 174.5979. Jordi Caceres Iglesias from Spain was the runner in 163.5543 and Viktor Druzin of Kazakhstan third in 161.5771.

"It is a beautiful place, and I am so happy to be here. I am very happy about my performance, but I know that I can do much better," said the 17-year-old Pelati.

Jordi, who won Men's Solo Tech Friday, revealed he was totally involved in the music Love on the Brain during his whole routine.

"I really love this song. It is very important for me because my best friend, my club teammate wanted to do this song in her solo, but she got injured and could not do it. It is my honour to do this song for her and very easy for me to express my feelings," Jordi said.

Women's Duet Technical | Twin Sisters Lin Win in First Senior International Competition

Twin sisters Lin Yanhan and Lin Yanjun drove the crowds into a crazy tizzy as they showed a combination of difficulty and artistic elements by winning 238.8985 for their Veria's Fortune.

"It is our first senior international competition, and we are lucky to get the chance. We felt nervous but when we heard the cheers from our teammates, family members and Chinese fans in the stands, we were boosted with power and energy. We did better than our expectation," said the 21-year-old Lin Yanhan.

"We thought artistic swimming is full of elegance and beauty and that is the reason why we love this sport so much. It seems the World Cup opens a wider world for us that we can learn a lot from watching others' performances," Lin Yanjun added.

Spain's new pair Rocio Calle Garcia and Aurora Lazaro Cabaleiro were happy for their silver medals in 210.5867.

"We have trained just for four days! We are very glad and excited about our job today. It is a very cool experience for us," Calle Garcia said.

Acting like robots, Slovakia's Chiara Diky and Lea Anna Krajcovicova took the bronze medals in 207.7218. “We are robots with robotic music and robots on our swimming suits. We tried to follow the sense of rhythm and synchronization,” Diky said.

Team Free | Doha 2024 World Titlists China Win At Home

In the only event the China's top swimmers competed at the World Cup in Beijing, the reigning world champions showed high quality in their difficulty and artistic expressions, collecting 343.3479 for the victory.

Zhang Xiaohuan, the Chinese national head coach, said after the competition: “We have done a good job by testing our understanding of the new rules. We would love to see the sport get more variety types of movements and more elegant."

Wang Liuyi, 27, noted the World Cup is an important step towards the Paris Olympics. "Our team performed great today. As an experienced athlete within the team, I encouraged my young teammates to train harder and get prepared for the following challenges."

With the music of The Way of Water from the movie Avatar, team Australia took the silver medal in 218.0947.

"We loved the movie and soundtrack that we wanted to translate this magic into the pool and reflect our role as the Avatar Warriors," Carolyn Rayna Buckle explained.

What's on Deck for the Final Competition Day in Beijing

The Women's Duet Free, Mixed Duet Free, Team Acrobatic and Gala Show will take place on the third day of the Artistic Swimming World Cup in Beijing.