Alexandri sisters claim second gold in Paris with narrow free duet win at European Championships

Free duet final

On Saturday, 1 August 2026, Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri produced a commanding free routine at the Paris Aquatics Centre to score 316.3315 points and win the duet gold at the 38th European Aquatics Championships. The Greek pair improved sharply from their preliminary mark of 312.7074, overturning the advantage held by Spain's Lilou Vallete and Iris Tio Casas, who had led after prelims with 316.3850. The Spanish duo, unable to match their earlier precision, made visible errors and settled for silver with 315.6442, just 0.6873 points behind the winners. Russia's Maya Doroshko and Alexandra Shmit, competing as neutral athletes, took bronze with 310.4407. The final was a tense affair, with the lead changing after the Greek performance, and the margin of victory was the narrowest in a European duet final since the sport's scoring reform.

Technical duet success

The free duet triumph came only hours after the sisters had claimed the technical duet title on the opening day of the championships. That victory had already given Greece its first medal of the meet, and the free duet gold made it two from two. It marks the first time a Greek artistic swimming duo has won two European titles at a single championship, and the first time any Greek athlete has won multiple golds at a European Aquatics Championships since the sport's inclusion.

Greek milestone

The double gold doubles Greece's all-time European Championships gold count in artistic swimming. Before this week, the country's only title in the discipline came in the free team event at Belgrade 2024, a competition that featured a significantly weaker field due to the absence of several top nations. The Alexandri sisters' free duet gold is Greece's first in that specific event. Their two victories bring Greece's total European Aquatics Championships gold medals across all disciplines to 14, a tally that includes swimming, diving, and water polo titles. The achievement marks a rapid ascent for Greek artistic swimming, which had never before won multiple golds at a single edition of the continental meet.

A journey from Austria to Greece

The sisters, two of triplets (their third sister does not compete), previously represented Austria, winning double gold at the 2023 European Games. Their decision to switch allegiance to Greece ahead of the 2026 season has yielded immediate dividends, with two European titles in two days. The feat echoes their 2023 European Games double, but this time under the Greek flag, and it cements their reputation as the dominant duet in European artistic swimming. The sisters have now won every major European duet title available since 2023.

Mixed duet decided by 0.265 points

In the mixed free duet final, Great Britain's Isabel Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin claimed gold with 258.2383 points, edging Spain's Dennis Gonzalez and Iris Tio Casas by just 0.265 points. The Spanish pair scored 257.9733. Italy's Filippo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero took bronze with 255.1641. The razor-thin margin was the closest of the day across all artistic swimming finals, and it denied Spain a second silver of the session after the women's duet.