World Aquatics Names Iris Tio Casas, Aleksandr Maltsev Artistic Swimmers of the Year

World Aquatics Names Iris Tio Casas, Aleksandr Maltsev Artistic Swimmers of the Year

World Aquatics this week has crowned its Artistic Swimmers of the Year, naming Spain’s Iris Tio Casas and Aleksandr Maltsev.

Tio Casas assembled one of the all-time great championship meets at this summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, as the first athlete in history to win medals in all four disciplines. She won three gold medals and six in total, with gold in the solo free routine, bronze in the solo technical routine, gold in the duet free routine (with Lilou Lluis) and gold in the mixed duet free routine (with Dennis Gonzalez).

Tio Casas was also part of the Spanish teams that won bronze medals in the free routine and technical routine.

Tio Casas, a 23-year-old from Barcelona, made her first World Championships in 2023. She has won four gold and 12 total medals in three editions of Worlds.

“The world championships (in Spain) has more visibility, more people watching,” she said. “It’s pressure, but we wanted to do our best and we’re very happy it happened this way. Probably a lot of people in Spain will see this and we can be an example for little kids.”

Tio Casas also enjoyed success in the World Cup circuit in 2025, with nine gold medals and 15 total pieces of hardware at stops in France, Canada and Egypt. At the World Cup Super Final in China, Tio Casas won silver in the women’s solo technical and was fourth in the women’s solo free.

Maltsev, a 30-year-old from St. Petersburg, returned to the World Championships for the first time since 2019 thanks to the international ban on Russians competing after its invasion of Ukraine. Competing as a neutral athlete, Maltsev won three gold and four total medals, including a sweep of titles in the solo technical and solo free events. He teamed with Mayya Gurbanberdieva to win gold in the mixed duet technical routine and with Olesia Platonova for silver in the mixed duet free routine.

The four medals takes his career tally to 10 career Worlds medals, with seven gold and three silver.