Following Friday’s preliminary round, swimmers from Mexico, Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, DPR Korea, Italy, Japan, Ukraine, Spain and Russia and Canada (in this order), competed for the World title at the incredible scenery of the Varosliget Park.

Despite the weather being uncertain and windy, the world’s best solos offered the highest and most technical routines to the large crowd present in the stands. Russia’s Svetlana Kolesnichenko, who led the preliminaries yesterday, did not disappoint and won the first gold medal of the 2017 World Championships synchronised swimming competition.

The three medallists, 1. RUS, 2. ESP, 3, UKR

She earned an excellent 95.2035 points (against 94.0229 yesterday), performing under the theme “Solveig song” by Anna Netrebko.

Kolesnichenko, 23, made history today by grabbing the sport’s leading nation Russia its 50th medal at the FINA World Championships, adding a 45th gold to the country’s tally.

Kazan 2015 silver medallist Ona Carbonell of Spain, secured the silver medal this morning with a strong 93.6534 points (against 92.3893 in the prelims), performing in the skin of a snake as described by herself in an exclusive FINAtv interview two days earlier. As a reminder, four years ago Ona Carbonell took bronze in Barcelona 2013.

Carbonell (ESP), silver

Carbonell, 27, was followed by Ukraine’s Anna Voloshyna with 91.9992 points, narrowly beating Japan’s Yukiko Inui. Inui had ranked third at yesterday’s preliminaries in front of the Ukrainian swimmer.

Voloshyna (UKR) 

The final ranking of the solo technical event is as follows: RUS, ESP, UKR, JPN, CAN, ITA, GRE, AUT, PRK, MEX, LIE, SUI

The synchronised swimming competition will resume with the prelims of the mixed duet technical at 7pm tonight (July 15), while the final of this event will take place on Monday at 11am. The Duet technical final will be staged on Sunday July 16 at 11am.

Inui (JPN), 4th

QUOTES

Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS), Gold

“When the coaches told me, that I would take part in the solo event at the Worlds, I was stricken with panic. It’s not an easy thing to be as good as Natalia Ischenko or Svetlana Romashina, our five-time Olympic champions, and keep the Russian team in the leading position in synchro swimming.”

“I was very nervous, especially in the preliminary round. Because this was my debut in solo at the Worlds. The last time I performed a solo routine, it was a Junior Championship back in 2009. But obviously, that was a completely different tournament. I am excited about the gold medal here, in Budapest. It is a good start for me and for the team as well.”

Ona Carbonell (ESP), Silver

“My tech solo theme was a story about how a snake tries to catch an animal. We looked for some explosive and character movements for this program. I worked a lot inside and outside the water. And I’m happy with my performance and the way I showed the character.”

Anna Voloshina (UKR), Bronze

"To win a medal in solo was my main goal for the Budapest Championships. I dreamt about it, as this was the only medal I didn’t have in my collection. I have stepped on the podium at FINA World Championships but only in the duet and team routines. Everybody in team Ukraine supported me yesterday, after the 4th place in prelims. I am so happy, that I managed to improve my result and finally got this bronze medal. It was very important for me. That is why I nearly cried after I saw the scores.”

Check out the detailed results on FINA website and follow this action in live on FINAtv.