Anna-Maria and Irini Alexandri claimed gold in the duet free routine at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, completing a sweep of both duet titles after their earlier technical routine victory.
The Greek sisters scored 316.3315 points in the final, holding off Spain’s Lilou Lluís Valette and Iris Tió Casas, who finished less than one point behind with 315.6442. The bronze went to Russia’s Maia Dorosko and Alexandra Smit, competing as neutrals, with 310.4407 points.
The Alexandri sisters had previously achieved the same duet double at the 2023 European Games, though at that time they were representing Austria. They returned to compete for Greece after a 14-year absence.
Historic gold for Greek artistic swimming
The victories add two gold medals to Greece’s European Championship collection in artistic swimming. The source notes that until this year, the only previous time Greece had reached the top step at a European Championship was in 2024 in Belgrade, in the team free event, but against significantly weaker competition.
Full duet free routine results
- 1. Anna-Maria Alexandri / Irini Alexandri (Greece) 316.3315
- 2. Lluís Valette / Tió Casas (Spain) 315.6442
- 3. Dorosko / Smit (Neutrals/Russia) 310.4407
- 4. Piccoli / Ruggiero (Italy) 295.4962
- 5. Alave / Linel (France) 289.4847
- 6. Bleger / Denisov (Germany) 274.7263
- 7. M. Khrynisinа / Ul. Khrynisina (Ukraine) 259.0834
- 8. Kunin / Mazor (Israel) 248.8000
Britain wins mixed duet by 0.265 points
In the mixed duet free routine, Great Britain’s Isabel Thorpe and Ranghuo Tomblin took gold with 258.2383 points, edging Spain’s Denis Gonzalez and Iris Tió Casas by just 0.265 points. Italy’s Filippo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero completed the podium with 255.1641 points.
Greece’s next appearance at the 38th European Championship is in the artistic swimming team free routine qualifier on August 2, though all eight entered nations are set to advance to Monday’s final.
