China's Huayou mixed doubles won the World Cup for the first time
On March 18, Beijing time, in the first leg of the 2023 FINA Figure Swimming World Cup held in Markham, Canada, the Chinese pair Shi Haoxi/Cheng Wentao overwhelmed the two pairs of Spanish pairs with the theme of "Unstoppable" and won the mixed doubles technical optional competition.
This is the first championship won by the Chinese team after FINA set up a new scoring system for Huayou Athletics, and it is also a breakthrough for the Chinese team in the mixed doubles event.
This competition is the first event after the reform of the FINA team's Huayou scoring system, and the Chinese team sent three mixed doubles players to "test the waters" to test the new rules after the reform of the Huayou scoring system.
The three players are the only male player on the national team, Shi Haoxi, and two female players, Cheng Wentao and substitute Zhang Yiyao.
Shi Haoxiu and Zhang Yiyao made a historic breakthrough by winning two bronze medals in the mixed doubles technical and free selections at last year's World Swimming Championships in Budapest.
This time, Shi Haoxi's partner was changed to Cheng Wentao, and the two worked together at the 2019 Gwangju World Championships, winning the sixth place in the mixed doubles free selection.
There are a total of 7 pairs of players participating in the World Cup mixed doubles technical optional competition, Shi Haoxi/Cheng Wentao's entry is "Unstoppable", the difficulty of the whole set is the highest in the field, and the completion is almost perfect. In the end, the two scored 236.2292 points, winning the mixed doubles technical optional championship by an absolute margin of more than 40 points.
After FINA set up a new scoring system for Huayou Athletics, the Chinese team participated and won the championship this time, which also gave the Chinese Huayou team a deeper understanding of the new scoring system, and a new understanding of the direction of the new rules and the judging criteria of the judges.
For the first time in history! Male athletes can compete in the 2024 Olympic Games
The 2024 Paris Olympics will be the first time that male athletes will be allowed to participate in the flower game since its entry into the Olympic Games in 1984. Shi Haoxi's victory in the mixed doubles World Cup this time also means that he is expected to write a new history of Chinese flower tourism at next year's Olympic Games.
In the view of Zhang Xiaolei, the head coach of Shanghai Huayou team and former coach of China Huayou team, this World Cup mixed doubles gold medal is of great significance, it is conducive to China Huayou to break the previous world pattern and seize the opportunity in quickly mastering new rules.
She said: "The Chinese pair Shi Haoxi/Cheng Wentao has no problem at all, they are very skilled in spinning technology, maybe in the second half, maybe because the difficulty is too big, there is a little flaw in the finish, but at least we take the first step, we are at least sprinting towards the highest difficulty." Although it was only a small achievement, it was a very good start for our Paris Olympics next year. ”
The second leg of the World Cup will be held in France from May 5 to 7, the third in Egypt from May 13 to 15, and the super finals in Spain from June 2 to 4. The most important task of the Chinese Huayou team this year is to participate in the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, this summer, and will also participate in the Asian Games in Hangzhou this autumn.
Source: CCTV