Ishchenko swirls to synchronised hat-trick

Rome: Russia`s Natalia Ishchenko swirled and kicked her way to a synchronised swimming hat-trick by taking gold in the free duet class with Svetlana Romashina at the world championships.The pair wowed judges with a superbly executed routine to earn a score of 98.833, giving Ishchenko her third title this week after winning the free and technical routine solo events.

Spanish duo Gemma Mengual and Andrea Fuentes came just half a point behind to take second thanks to a fine flamenco-inspired number, while Chinese twins Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen claimed the bronze medal. Russia have dominated the synchronised swimming here, winning five of the six competitions so far. Spaniards have been the runners-up every time, except in the free combination event, which they won and Russia did not have a team in. It was the second gold here for Romashina, who like Ishchenko was part of the Russian team who triumphed at the Beijing Olympics, after she won the technical duet with Anastasia Davydova. Bureau Report