Athletes of Team China compete in the Artistic Swimming Team Technical Preliminaries during the 22nd World Aquatics Championships on July 22, 2025. Photo: VCG

The Chinese artistic swimming team has showcased their squad depth while new faces in the diving and swimming teams will strive to find their footing at the ongoing 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

To the music of the Chinese video game Black Myth: Wukong, China's artistic swimming team pulled off a dynamic Monkey King-inspired routine that earned them gold in the team technical event at the worlds on Tuesday.

The gold was made more valuable as China edged out their longtime archrivals: the Russia swimmers, who competed in the championships under the name Neutral Athletes B. 

China has demonstrated their squad depth in team events at the world championships so far and it's exciting to see the emergence of young swimmers on the international stage, Liu Yu, a Beijing-based sports commentator, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

It's interesting to see that the World Aquatics talked about China's dominance in artistic swimming in their preview of the event. Though some athletes stepped back from the squad after the Paris Olympics, a younger crop has made their mark at global tournaments, Liu said. 

Rising star Xu Huiyan made history by clinching gold in the women's solo technical final, marking China's first-ever world championships title in this event. She also took silver in the solo free event on Tuesday and won gold as a member in the team technical final.

The 19-year-old Xu has made solid progress from earning a single bronze in the Doha 2024 worlds to capturing three medals in Singapore in just 15 months, Liu noted.

Zhang Xiaohuan, head coach of the artistic swimming team, said that China has waited a long time to compete against its biggest rival on the global stage.

China won both the duet and team titles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Russian athletes did not participate.

"This gold medal doesn't feel any less important than the one we won at the Paris Olympic Games," Zhang said. "They [Russian athletes] make us feel that this is going to be a great rivalry. They will keep us on our toes. We only got a slight edge this time." 

On Thursday, new pair Lin Yanhan and Lin Yanjun will be on the hunt for the women's duet free title. The twin sisters finished runners-up in the women's duet technical finals on Monday. 

Chinese swimmers are also the favorites for the team acrobatic title on Friday. 

For the swimming event that kicks off on Sunday, China will field its youngest-ever squad to a world championships, with the men's team averaging 22.6 years old and the women's team just 20.1. 

"We hope to perform well at the tournament, but our main goal is to give the team valuable experience," head coach Cui Dengrong told the China Sports Daily. 

"This is the first major international competition of the new Olympic cycle. We're focusing on developing young athletes and coaches while also using the event to gauge where we stand on the global stage."

As the youngest swimmer in Chinese history to qualify for the world championships, 12-year-old Yu Zidi is set to make her debut on the international stage. "I'm approaching this with a learning mind-set - giving it my all in every race and striving to perform at my very best," Yu said.

The diving event, which is slated to take place from Saturday, will also see some new faces from the Chinese team. 

Despite the absence of Olympic champion Quan ­Hongchan due to injury, 15-year-old Xie Peiling will ­replace her in the women's 10m platform. World champion Chen Yuxi will pair up with Zhang Minjie in the women's 10m synchronized platform. 

As the youngest member of the Chinese diving team, Zhao Renjie, 14, will compete in the men's 10m platform alongside Zhu Zifeng.