The Italian Artistic swimming pair Giorgio Minisini and Lucrezia Ruggiero have won the first gold medals of the European Games Krakow-Malopolska 2023.

The duo received their medals from European Olympic Committees (EOC) President Spyros Capralos.

As is tradition, the EOC President attended the first final of the Games at the Aquatics Centre in Oswiecim, where he saw the Italians’ performance earn them victory in the Mixed Duet Technical category.

Minisini made history on Wednesday when he competed in the Team Free Preliminary stages, which saw him become the first male to swim in a team routine for his country at a major competition, following a rule change by World Aquatics in October 2022. The mixed duet category itself only made its debut at a major event during the 2022 European Aquatics Championship in August, but this is the first time it has featured at a European Games.

Minisini and Ruggiero’s performance saw Italy awarded a score of 242.3599 by the judges, which saw them finish ahead of Spain’s Emma Garcia and Dennis Gonzalez Boneu in the silver medal position and Beatrice Crass and Ranjuo Tomblin in the bronze.

President Capralos praised the Artistic swimmers for their performances and spoke about the honour of handing over the first gold medal in Poland.

He said: “It was a pleasure to watch all the Artistic swimmers perform and the high standard on show was the epitome of what we can expect from the competition in all sports over the next 11 days.

“I must commend the Italian team on their gold-medal winning performance. Both Giorgio and Lucrezia displayed a high level of ability in the pool and I was honoured to be able to present them with their gold medals, as well as Emma and Dennis with their silver and Beatrice and Ranjuo with their bronze.

“It is always a good feeling after a long period preparation to see the sport begin.”

Garca and Gonzalez scored 216.5867, while Crass and Tomblin were slightly further behind with a score of 203.4916