Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi of China compete in the artistic swimming women's duet technical final at the 2022 FINA World Championships on June 19, 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. Photo: VCG

China's twin sisters Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi won the gold medal in the artistic swimming women's technical duet at the 19th FINA World Championships on Sunday.

The 25-year-olds scored 93.7536 points for the title.

The Wang twins were favorites of the event as they won the gold medal in the women's team free combination five years ago in the 17th World Championships.

They also led the preliminaries of the event two days ago.

"We had a better performance in the final given two days of preparation since the preliminaries, and I am very satisfied," older sister Wang Liuyi said after the final.

Younger sister Wang Qianyi added, "We presented what we had in our training, our final scores were higher than in the preliminaries, and our self-evaluation was better than in the preliminaries."

Wang Liuyi, unfortunately, missed the event in last year's Tokyo Olympics due to injuries, but this time the sisters managed to show up and chase their dreams together in the World Championships.

"Although I was not able to participate in the last Olympic Games, but we will cheer for each other as long as one of us is participating in the event," said Wang Liuyi. 

"This time, it is an honor to represent the Chinese team in the double event. I am excited that we could present an improved performance."

"I have experienced the Olympic Games before, and now I have a chance to participate in the World Championships with my sister. We encourage and support each other in both training and competitions. It feels really good," Wang Qianyi noted.

"I love to compete against my opponents and learn from them. I believe that we will become better and better," the younger sister added.

The Ukrainian Aleksiiva sisters, Maryna and Vladyslava, took the silver medal with 91.8617 points, while Anna-Maria and Eirini Alexandria from Austria came third with 91.2622 points.  

The other main Chinese performance of the day was that of Zhang Yufei in the women's 100 meters butterfly event, where she won the bronze medal.

American Torri Huske won the race in 55.64 seconds, ahead of Marie Wattel from France in 56.14 and Zhang with 56.41.

In the men's 100 meters breaststroke, Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy won the gold with a time of 58.26 while Dutch Arno Kamminga and American Nic Fink followed in second and third respectively.

Caeleb Dressel of the United States finished first in the men's 50 meters butterfly and his compatriot Alex Walsh won in the women's 200 meters individual medley.