Tears of triumph and disappointment: Casas wins solo free gold, Xu falls short

Tears flowed for both Spain's Iris Tio Casas and China's Xu Huiyan after the women's solo free final at the World Aquatics Championships on Tuesday - but for very different reasons.

Casas stood atop the podium with tears of joy after clinching her first individual world title in artistic swimming with a score of 245.1913 points. Xu, who had led the preliminary round, settled for silver, 4.1888 points behind Casas, and she couldn't hold back tears of disappointment.

Xu Huiyan of China reacts during awarding ceremony for the women's solo free of artistic swimming at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, July 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Luo Yuan)

"I'm super happy," Casas said. "I can't believe it right now. I feel very emotional because my parents are here in the stands. When I was little, the dream of becoming a world champion was deep in my soul. I'm still in shock."

The 22-year-old Spaniard improved her degree of difficulty in the final, responding to Xu's similar strategy. Entering the final ranked third, Casas executed with precision and passion to rise to the top - an achievement that left her surrounded by jubilant teammates after the result was announced.

"I think it worked out," she said, smiling through tears.

Xu, just 19, had hoped to complete a golden solo double after winning the technical event three days earlier, where Casas took bronze. But after her final routine, Xu buried her face in hands, tears streaming down - not from regret, she said, but from emotion.

"I'm not sad about the result," she said. "Actually, I've improved a lot in the past few weeks. I just feel like I still have so much more to work on."

Despite the silver, Xu has already made history for China. She now holds 18 gold medals across the World Cup, World Championships and World Junior Championships. Her solo technical win in Singapore earned China its first-ever world gold in that discipline.

"I anticipated today's result," she admitted. "Ever since I started competing in the solo free routine, I've known there are still areas I need to improve - especially in the free elements. We didn't have much time to make big changes, and training time for solo routines was quite limited."

Xu isn't dwelling on the disappointment for long. Just hours after the solo free final, she will be back for the team technical final. She has already led China to the team free title.

"That's not a problem," she said. "I'll do my best and won't let my teammates down."