Dennis González takes silver
Dennis González lived up to expectations and earned the Spanish delegation’s first medal at the World Championships in Singapore, after taking silver in the men’s solo technical routine final on Saturday. The second medal of the day for the Spanish team came with Iris Tió’s bronze in the women’s category of the same event.
González, who achieved a total of 241.1667 points, was just over ten points – 10.5466 – behind the Russian Alexandr Maltsev, who is competing in Singapore as a neutral athlete and who was crowned the new world champion with a score of 251.7133
Completing the podium was Mexican Diego Villalobos, winner of this year’s World Cup Superfinal, who took the bronze medal with a score of 238.1600.
A result that reflected the changing times that men’s artistic swimming is experiencing , with the rise of figures such as Dennis González himself, 21, and the Mexican Villalobos, 20.
But if one thing was clear, it was the completely different understanding of the sport held by two figures like Spaniard Dennis González, destined to dominate the sport in the coming years, and a true legend like Russian Alexandr Maltsev, who was returning to the World Championship.
While the Spanish swimmer made a determined effort to impress with a moving performance of Billie Eilish and Khalid’s song “Lovely,” the Russian focused on the technical difficulty of his elements.
A circumstance that allowed Maltsev, 30 years old, who was returning to the World Championships six years later , to start the competition with a difficulty score – 32.0500 – almost five points higher than that of the Spaniard – 27.7000.
But Dennis González was not intimidated, and he immersed the judges and viewers in the disturbing inner world of American singer Billie Ellish with a sublime performance .
Iris Tió falls a few tenths short of silver.
For her part, Iris Tió has earned the second medal for the Spanish delegation at the World Championships in Singapore, after winning bronze in the women’s solo technical routine final on Saturday.
Tió, who achieved a score of 260.2917 points , was twelve points behind the winner, the Chinese Huiyan Xu, who was crowned the new world champion with a score of 272.9917.
Completing the podium was Belarusian Vasilina Khandoshka , who is competing in Singapore as a neutral athlete and who won the silver medal with a score of 260.5416 points, just two-tenths more than the Spanish swimmer.
With the bronze medal won by Iris Tio, the Spanish team now has two medals in Singapore, where this Saturday Dennis González won silver in the men’s technical solo final.
