Italy’s Giorgio Minisini became the first-ever male artistic swimmer to win an individual European Aquatics Championships title with victory in the Men’s Solo Technical Final.
The event, which was debuted at the European Junior Artistic Championships last month, is seen as an important step towards greater equality and boosting participation in the sport.
Double world champion Minisini attained a total of 85.7033 for a strong display while performing to ‘a plastic sea’ theme to claim gold.
Fernando Diaz of Spain (79.4951) took silver, with Serbian Ivan Martinovic (58.7033) completing the podium places.
“It was important to be here and I’m super proud that we can be the first,” Minisini told LEN TV.
“It’s incredible to do this at home with all of the support and this is a historic moment so I can’t wait to see what else our sport can be.”
Diaz added; “It is a dream come true and one more chapter in Spain’s artistic swimming history.”
Bronze medallist Martinovic was also proud of his historic achievement, saying it was “an honour” to compete and hopes it boosts participation in his homeland.
“I would like to invite other athletes from Serbia and the region to join in!”
Men appeared in the mixed duet event at a major international competition for the first time at the 2015 Fina World Aquatics Championships before the event made its European debut at London 2016.
Minisini, who competed at Kazan 2015 and won world gold in the event in July, will return for the mixed duet final alongside team-mate Lucrezia Ruggiero on Saturday.
Women’s Solo Technical Final:
The women’s Solo Technical Final featured 21 athletes who wowed the judges and crowd with a series of stunning routines.
Just under 90 minutes after they began the scores were complete and Ukraine’s Marta Fiedina, who claimed two World titles at Budapest 2022, was confirmed as the champion.
It was her second gold of Roma 2022 following her nation’s Team Technical victory on Thursday.
Linda Cerruti of Italy took silver – her 16th European Championship medal, with Vasiliki Alexandri securing bronze.
“I am really happy,” said Fiedina. “I really gave everything I could at this moment and this is my best performance in the Technical Solo this year.”
Highlights Final:
The last artistic swimming final of the second day at Roma 2022 was the Highlights event which saw teams of 10 perform a series of acrobatic focused routines.
Marta Fiedina was again part of the Ukrainian line-up and was able to celebrate a further success after her team’s entertaining display to ‘Potpourri’ by Prime Orchestra.
The team achieved a brilliant total of 94.0667 with Italy (91.7000) and France (89.2000) taking silver and bronze respectively.
“For me personally it is a bit of a strange feeling because a year ago in Tokyo my sister and I were among the youngest in the team
and now we are the oldest ones, captains and somewhat of a big sisters to younger girls,” said Maryna Aleksiiva.
“This routine means a lot to us all and is dedicated to our country.”
Women’s Duet Free Preliminaries:
Ukrainian duet Maryna and Valdyslava Aleksiiva signalled their intent to secure another gold at Roma 2022 with a standout performance in the morning Free Preliminaries.
The twins, who claimed European team gold on day one and were part of Ukraine’s Highlights success on day two – attained a stunning total of 94.3667 for their performance.
Their nearest competitors were the Austrian’s Anna-Maria and Erini-Marina Alexandri (92.6000) who along with reserve and solo specialist Vasiiliki, are triplets.
Italy (90.6667) and Greece (90.000) are two other nations likely to be in contention for the medals when the Duet Free final takes place on Saturday afternoon (day 3) in Rome.
For all of the latest results head to the LEN Roma 2022 Live Scoring site.
