Open Water | Men 10km

The men’s open water events of Doha 2024 takes off at Old Doha Port this morning with medals and Olympic qualification on offer in the Men’s 10km event. 

Athletes to Watch:

Florian Wellbrock (GER): Germany’s Florian Wellbrock will be attempting a fourth successive podium in the Men’s Open Water 10km on day three of competition as the defending champion aims to become a three time champion in this event. Wellbrock already has his Olympic qualification locked in, although this didn’t appear to help either of the pre-qualified swimmers in yesterday’s Women’s 10km event with both missing the podium including Wellbrock’s compatriot Leonie Beck.

Domenico Acerenza (ITA): Perennial place-getter Domenico Acerenza is one of the in form open water swimmers in Doha and the Italian has every chance to challenge Wellbrock’s hold on this event. Acerenza won silver in this event in Budapest in 2022 and was fourth in Fukuoka last year, and in the past seven months has shown plenty of promise including at the World Cup leg in Portugal where he beat Wellbrock head-to-head. A gold for Acerenza in this event would make Italy the second most successful nation in open water swimming at the World Aquatics Championships adding to their 12 gold, 10 silver and 19 bronze medals won since open water events commenced in 1991.

Previous Championships:

2023:  Gold – Florian Wellbrock (GER), Silver – Kristof Rasovszky (HUN), Bronze – Oliver Klemet (GER)

2022:  Gold – Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA), Silver – Domenico Acerenza (ITA), Bronze – Florian Wellbrock (GER)

Artistic Swimming | Team Acrobatic

The added pressure of Olympic qualification adds further interest to an exciting Artistic Swimming program in Doha, with all three team events contributing to the qualification criteria meaning every nation has to be at their best across the Acrobatic, Technical and Free events.

Teams to Watch:

People’s Republic of China:  The inaugural gold medallists in this event when it debuted at the World Aquatics Championships – Fukuoka 2023, the Chinese team again progressed through to the final in last night’s preliminaries at the top of the leaderboard with a score of 247.0233 well eclipsing their finals score from last year. The execution in their preliminary routine was exceptional. They expect an increase in Total Difficulty in today’s final to make the team even harder to beat as they aim to go back-to-back.

Ukraine: A disappointing finals performance in Fukuoka last year took Ukraine from third in the preliminaries to seventh in the finals in the Team Acrobatic event. In fact, the European nation went from seven medals in Budapest 2022 to just one last year. Therefore Doha 2024 should be the beginning of its redemption arc as the nation aims to return to the heights of its previous dominance in this discipline. Last night’s preliminary score of 243.2134 would have won gold in the final last year, and their biggest challenges in tonight’s final will be both the Chinese team and self-belief. That said, based on their training performances, expect a flawless routine this afternoon from Ukraine.

Previous Championships:

2023:  Gold – People’s Republic of China (CHN), Silver – United States of America (USA), Bronze – Japan (JPN)

Diving | Men 3m Synchronized

The diving competition in Doha has already delivered so many storylines in just the first two days of competition, so what is in store for day three as the Men’s 3m Synchronized gold medal is decided?

Athletes to Watch:

Wang Zonguan & Long Daoyi (CHN):  Six time World Aquatics Championships gold medallist Wang Zongyuan will be aiming for his third successive gold medal in this event as he again partners with his Fukuoka 2023 partner Long Daoyi in today’s springboard event. Wang is amid a remarkable gold medal-winning streak stretching back to his silver medal in the Men’s 3m Springboard event at the Tokyo Olympics. Since that silver, he has won 17 consecutive gold medals across two World Aquatics Championships, World Cup events and the Asian Games. There is every expectation Wang will make it 18 straight gold medals today as the People’s Republic of China continues to exert their dominance in this event.

Anthony Harding & Jack Laugher (GBR):  Great Britain’s Jack Laugher has been on the past four World Aquatics Championships podiums in this event including twice with his Doha 2024 partner Anthony Harding. The pair were extremely close to snatching an upset gold in Budapest in 2022 delivering the best dives of the two final rounds of competition including the highest scoring dive of the final (98.04). The two couldn’t quite replicate that same quality in 2023, but here in Doha they should be spurred on by the early success for their country’s divers who claimed the first gold of competition on day one. 

Previous Championships:

2023:  Gold - Long Daoyi & Wang Zongyuan (CHN), Silver - Anthony Harding & Jack Laugher (GBR), Bronze - Jules Boyer & Alexis Jandard (FRA)

2022:  Gold - Cao Yuan & Wang Zongyuan (CHN), Silver - Anthony Harding & Jack Laugher (GBR), Bronze - Timo Barthel & Lars Rudger (GER)

Artistic Swimming | Mixed Duet Technical

The first mixed gold medal in Artistic Swimming will be decided late this evening with strong showings from the People’s Republic of China, Italy, Spain and Kazakhstan in the preliminaries.

Athletes to Watch:

Dennis Gonzalez Boneu & Mireia Hernandez Luna (ESP):  These two specialists in the free events will aim to take their success to the technical events in tonight’s final as a relatively new pairing for Spain. Reigning Men’s Solo Free world champion Dennis Gonzalez Boneu has achieved significant success in the technical events including a silver in this event in Fukuoka and World Cup success last year including in the Super Final – although this was alongside Emma Garcia who is not competing in Doha. Mireia Hernandez Luna joins Gonzalez Boneu as the new pairing and although the 21-year-old traditionally competes in the free events, their 237.6200 score in the preliminaries shows the Spanish duo will have every chance to compete for medals in this evening’s final.

Giorgio Minisini & Susanna Pedotti (ITA):  Former Mixed Duet Technical world champion Giorgio Minisini returns to this event in 2024 pairing with Susanna Pedotti. Their impressive preliminaries score of 248.8633 qualified the Italian grouping in second, less than two points behind the Chinese pair of Cheng Wentao and Shi Haoyu. Tonight Minisini will be aiming for his fourth career World Aquatics Championships gold medal in Artistic Swimming.

Previous Championships:

2023:  Gold - Tomoka Sato & Yotaro Sato (JPN), Silver - Dennis Gonzalez Boneu & Emma Garcia (ESP), Bronze - Cheng Wentao & Shi Haoyu (CHN)

2022:  Gold – Giorgio Minisini & Lucrezia Ruggiero (ITA), Silver -  Tomoka Sato & Yotaro Sato (JPN), Bronze – Shi Haoyu & Zhang Yiyao (CHN)