2023 World Championships Halfway Highlights: First Male Solo World Medal and First Team World Medal for USA in 16 Years

Megumi Field and Ruby Remati had a shaky start to their journey as duet partners in the technical competition, missing out on a trip to finals after falling to base mark on two of the technical elements. They weren’t alone, as a vast majority of the technical duet field struggled to execute clean performances. This competition marks Ruby’s return to the elite competition landscape and the technical duet was her first time experiencing the unique pressure the new scoring system brings. Additionally, as such a new pair, they received synchronization penalties on the higher end of the field. However, the ceiling is clearly high for these two once they find their footing. Their individual technical capabilities and style of artistic swimming mesh well together, as do their personalities outside of the pool. In the end they finished 17^th of 38 pairs. Ruby and Megumi will look for redemption in the free duet portion of the competition that also happens today. 
 
Without a doubt, the team competition in Fukuoka has seen some of the most exciting developments in the artistic swimming world. The new scoring system has allowed teams to be rewarded for taking educated risks and properly penalized teams for failing to execute declared movements and acrobatics. The acrobatic routine won the second medal of the competition yesterday evening, the first team World medal for USA since 2007 and the first World medal in an Olympic event since 2003. The creative lifts, choreography and costuming captured the audience in Fukuoka and the team finished second in the preliminary round. First-place China took notice and replicated USA’s platform lift in their own routine before finals to increase their difficulty and attempt to comfortably widen the gap between gold and silver medal placement. Their strategy worked, and China stayed in first place. Still, USA, with the highest difficulty in the field, showed consistency and managed to stay base mark-free to win a monumental silver medal, ahead of competitors previously seen as unreachable.

Technical team competition is halfway complete, with finals happening later to close out Tuesday’s competition slate. Other countries followed suit from USA’s World Cup strategy and increased their declared difficulties to maximize scoring potential. In the preliminary round, USA received a base mark on the final hybrid of the routine, keeping them off the preliminary podium behind China, Greece and Italy. They finished narrowly behind Italy, who also received a base mark, with less than three points of separation between third and fourth. Fans will have to watch to see what countries, if any, make alterations to their coach cards for finals and who can execute the declared difficulty without penalty. If USA can complete the Michael Jackson routine without base mark penalties, the squad has a legitimate chance at a second team medal.  
 
Still to come in the next three days of competition are the male solo free preliminary and final, women duet free preliminary and final, technical team final and free team preliminary and final. To stay updated on results and behind-the-scenes moments, follow us on Instagram.

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