Magnificent Minisini fights back to clinch artistic crown

Italy’s Giorgio Minisini added an individual world title to his glittering artistic swimming career with a stunning showing to capture the men solo free crown at the World Aquatics Championships Doha on Wednesday.Minisini, a three-time duet world champion, had lost out to teenage sensation Yang Shuncheng of China in the men solo technical final on Monday. But the 27-year-old was not to be denied this time around as he clinched gold with a fantastic free routine on Wednesday. Defending champion Dennis Gonzalez Boneu of Spain earned silver, with Colombia’s Gustavo Sanchez bagging bronze.The gold medal in Doha marked a sensational return to the World Championships for Minisini who was forced to miss Fukuoka 2023 due to a season-ending knee injury. Minisini endured a long road to recovery after undergoing surgery to fix his knee shortly after the 2023 European Games where he won five medals. It was a tough period but Minisini has come back even stronger in Doha, claiming silver in the men solo technical before producing a magnificent performance to win men solo free gold at the Aspire Dome.Minisini pulled off a dramatic display to Andrea Bocelli’s "Hallelujah” as he created beautiful shapes in the water with amazing artistry and incredible height out of the water. He picked up a basemark for his final hybrid element but his total score was enough to take him to the top of the leaderboard, registering 210.1355, including 127.4355 for elements and 82.7000 for artistic impression to an increased difficulty of 33.800."In Fukuoka, I saw this event from my couch and I was dreaming about this moment since I had my knee injury,” said Minisini. "So this is the conclusion of one chapter and we can start all over again. This competition really showed me how much I need to work on both – athletic side and mental side, mental management of the competition. Also, it was difficult to not have my coach on the pool deck so I needed to adapt. Now, my favorite part starts – I can cheer for my team from the stands and have fun.”Meanwhile, Wang Zongyuan delivered a precision performance to retain his men’s 3m springboard diving world title at the Hamad Aquatic Centre. His compatriot and reigning Olympic champion, Xie Siyi, took silver, while Osmar Olvera, who earlier this week sealed the men’s 1m springboard title, settled for bronze.Later, Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen delivered a diving master class to secure their third-consecutive women’s 3m synchronised world title. The silver was won by Aussie pair Anabelle Smith and Maddison Keeney, while Great Britain’s Scarlett Mew Jensen and Yasmin Harper clinched bronze with 281.70.At the Old Doha Port, France’s Logan Fontaine pulled the upset on Wednesday morning in the men’s 5km. With all the attention on 10km champion Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary, and defending World champ Florian Wellbrock of Germany, it was neither of them standing on the podium for the men’s 5km. Fontaine finished ahead of countryman Marc-Antoine Olivier, who won the silver in a big finish for French swimming as he added to his silver in the 10km from Sunday. The bronze went the way of Italy’s Domenico Acerenza, who won his sixth career World Championships medal at age 29.Four days after winning the 10km race on Saturday, Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands won the 5km women’s title for her third career World Championships crown.With the pressure off from the 10km, Rouwendaal won the open water double on Wednesday morning at the Old Doha Port by taking the 5km gold medal in the final sprint over Australia’s Chelsea Gubecka. It was van Rouwendaal’s tenth career medal at the World Championships at age 30, and her first in the 5km.Van Rouwendaal came in at 57:33.9 with Gubecka claiming the silver at 57:35.0. Gubecka did not race the 10km on Saturday, having already solidified the Olympic qualification spot at last year’s World Championships in Fukuoka."I did not expect to win another gold because I was so focused on the 10K and I felt very tired mentally after the 10k,” van Rouwendaal said. "The body was quite good – the arms just had some problems and some issues with my hip and my leg in the last days. So I was like: Let´s see when I am in the water. And when I was in the water, I was surprised I was in the front. I told myself: Let´s just try something. And I took the risk and it has paid off.”