Russia take gold in duet free artistic swimming at FINA worlds

Russia's artistic swimming duo of Svetlana Kolesnichenko and Svetlana Romashina won gold in the women's duet free routine at the 18th World Championships here on Thursday.

Kolesnichenko and Romashina, who swam a duet called "Spiders", with intricate leg sequences and arm movements, finished first with 97.5000 points.

China's Sun Wenyan and Huang Xuechen succumbed again to the Russian pair, placing second with 95.7667 points, 1.7333 behind the gold medalists. The Russian duo had previously beat Sun and Huang to gold in the duet technical event.

Marta Fiedina and Anastasiya Savchuk of Ukraine came away with bronze in 94.1000, while Japan's Yukiko Inui and Magamu Yoshida just missed the podium with 93.0000.

"Before the start of the final session, we were thinking only about improving our performance. We are also excited with our execution," said Huang.

"We enjoy performing this program. Nevertheless, it's more likely we will change it in preparation for the Olympic Games," added the Chinese swimmer.