Greek sisters Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri representing their new home Austria made history on July 20 at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Japan by claiming the first ever artistic swimming World Championship title in the nation's history.
The sisters, who hail from Volos, previously represented Greece but following a fallout with the Greek Swimming Federation which they accused of lacking meritocracy, left for Austria where they were welcomed and triumphantly vindicated.
Their world title victory comes less than one month after the 25-year-old triplets - sister Vasiliki serves as a reserve – swept gold in duets at the 2023 European Games and secured Austria a quota at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“We dreamed about it and now it’s a reality,” said Anna-Maria told the Austrian Swimming Federation.
Eirini-Marina added; “There are so many feelings at the moment and I can’t believe what happened.
“This is the first time (Austria have won an artistic swimming world title) and to finish ahead of China, a really strong nation makes us just that little bit prouder.
“The gold medal at the European Games, the Olympic qualification, a medal at the World Cup and now the gold.”
