Tomblin and Thorpe deliver golden opening to 2026 world cup campaign

[Article images courtesy of Federacion Colombiana de Natacio/World Aquatics]

The first stop of the 2026 World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup took the series to South America for the first-ever time with Medellin, Colombia playing host to more than 100 athletes, from 20 nations.

Great Britain’s Ranjuo Tomblin and Izzy Thorpe entered the meet on the back of a productive altitude camp in Florida and made an impressive start to their campaign as they look to build to even greater successes than the 2025 World Championships bronze attained during their maiden season together.

The first of two opening day golds came as Tomblin claimed the second individual World Cup victory of his career with a Men’s Solo Technical performance that further establishes his credentials as one of the leading athletes in the men’s field.

Performing to the theme of ‘Timeless Rebellion’ to the track ‘the 5th’ by David Garrett, he attained a combined total of 223.8033 points, with his degree of difficulty scored at 29.9000, which was more than double the value given to those placing second and third.

“Obviously it's the first competition of the season, the first event of the season as well and I'd just like to thank all my coaches, my family of course, who's always supporting me,” Tomblin told World Aquatics.

Gold number two arrived as Tomblin and Thorpe debuted their high-tempo, high-energy and highly entertaining new ‘Latin dance’ themed routine, performed to the track ‘Magalenha’ by Sergio Mendes – impressing the judges in Medellin for a winning total of 202.9517 points in the Mixed Duet Tech.

“I was really excited because it's a really fun routine and I was just really excited to swim it, especially here in Colombia and South America as it’s a summer theme, so that was really fun,” Thorpe told World Aquatics.

“There were definitely a few errors, but it's the first competition of the season, so I think we've got a lot to work on throughout the next World Cups and we're really excited to do that.”

After a day’s rest from competition, more silverware was to come from the British duo as they returned to the pool on the final day of the meet to deliver another triumph in the Mixed Duet Free – the event in which the pair attained their world championship bronze medals in 2025.

The judging panel awarded them an overall score of 241.0792 for their ‘conflict’ themed routine, to the track ‘XVI Darkness’ from the Maleficent 2 Trailer which saw them claim a clear victory, by a margin of 37.0758 points.

“We're here to mainly test our routines, so we’re glad to get these results,” Tomblin told World Aquatics.

Thorpe adding: “I think it was a really good experience for us to compete in these conditions.”

Returning home with an impressive gold medal haul, the focus in training will now turn to the next stop of the 2026 World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup which takes place in Paris from 27-29 March.

Extended result details from the Medellin World Cup can be found on the World Aquatics website, with full broadcast coverage available to replay via Eurovision Sport platforms.