Dennis González and Iris Tió are crowned world champions in the mixed freestyle duet in artistic swimming.

Spaniards Dennis González and Iris Tió won the gold medal in the mixed freestyle duet at the World Artistic Swimming Championships in Singapore on Friday, beating Russians Aleksandr Maltsev and Olesia Platonova and Britain's Ranjuo Tomblin and Isabelle Thorpe.

With 323.8563 points, a score of 188.7500 for impressions and 135.1063 for execution, the Spanish routine had a total difficulty of 43.3500 and earned synchronized dance the eighth medal at this World Championships. From that haul, Tió has collected six medals (three gold and three bronze) and González has four (one gold, two silver, and one bronze).

In this mixed freestyle duo final, Colombians Gustavo Sánchez and Emily Minante (282.9484 points) dominated among the first to compete until one of the favorites, China's Muye Guo and Jinhan Liu, emerged; however, two slips on two opening acrobatics punished their performance, which ended with a seventh-place finish of 256.8216 points.

An ascendant Italy in this championship, with the lanky Filipo Pelati and the experienced Lucrezia Ruggiero, moved into the bronze medal zone (315.9598) behind a superb Great Britain, which shot up to 322.0583 points. But Russia emerged to lead this final with 323.4438, just under a point and a half ahead of the British.

Spain was missing, and their brilliance upon their entry was evident in the stands. González and Tió, in a paean to Led Zeppelin's heartbreak, produced an artistic impression that earned five tens from the judges and rocketed them up the scoreboard to become world champions.