The Spanish technical duo with Alisa Ozhogina and Iris Tió won the bronze medal in the final held at the Aspire Dome in Qatar, the third for the Spanish delegation in this World Cup. The gold went to the Chinese Liuyi and Qianyi Wang. The silver went to the British Kate Shorman and Isabelle Thorpe.
The Spanish premiered a new choreography. To the rhythm of ‘Just beat it’ by Michael Jackson, Ozhogina and Tió repeated the same third place they already achieved in the last World Cup. Dressed in gold and black, the Spanish offered a routine with risk. Five elements, three opportunities to show off all the difficulties at stake, two hybrids, a climb and fighting apnea with little room for recovery.
And they did not disappoint. They fearfully contemplated the note from the white sofa at the foot of the pool. There was no penalty and, in the absence of the Chinese start, they were second in the classification, so they had secured a medal.
The surprise was the silver of the British Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe, who were the revelation of the test; and the disappointment of the performance of the Italian duo, formed by Linda Cerrutti and Lucrecia Ruggiero, who started among the favorites and suffered a penalty that prevented them from repeating their silver in the last World Cup.
The current world champions, the Japanese Moe Higa and Mashiro Yasunaga, were not in Doha. The bronze for Ozhogina and Tió is a new step in the career of this duo that would have to culminate with their presence in the Games, although to do so they need to achieve classification, something that will be revealed in the coming days.
This Monday is the third medal for Spain in the Swimming World Cup that is taking place in Doha. The first went to María de Valdés, with a silver in the 10 kilometers of open water. Yesterday, the couple formed by Nicolás García Boissier and Adrián Abadía won bronze in synchronized jumping, a unique milestone as it was the first medal in the history of Spain in jumping.
