SINGAPORE, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Iris Tio Casas and Lilou Lluis Valette clinched the gold medal in the women's duet free routine at the World Aquatics Championships here on Thursday, while China's Lin Yanhan and Lin Yanjun finished fourth.

The Chinese twin sisters, who placed sixth in the preliminaries, earning 274.3090 points in the final with an improvement of over 22 points in the same routine themed "Shadow of the Moon".

The Spanish duet, showcasing higher difficulty and a compelling artistic performance, secured the gold with 282.6087 points. Italy's Enrica Piccoli and Lucrezia Ruggiero claimed silver, while the bronze went to neutral athletes Mayya Doroshko and Tatiana Gayday.

"That mistake in the preliminaries was a wake-up call, reminding us to be more meticulous with the technical required elements," Lin Yanhan said after the final. "In the final, we focused more on synchronization and coordination."

Lin Yanjun added, "Our opponents were very strong and presented high-difficulty elements. So we decided to raise our degree of difficulty in the final to boost our artistic impression scores. We don't feel regretful about the result, it was a growth experience, and we delivered a performance we're proud of."

The 22-year-old twins had already earned a silver medal in the women's duet technical routine earlier in the tournament and contributed to China's two gold medals in the team technical and team free events.

Reflecting on their first World Championships, the pair said: "We've learned a lot through the World Championships. It's been valuable experience on a big stage. Our goal moving forward is to become more consistent and approach every performance, whether team or duet, with a calm and composed mindset."

Earlier in the day, China topped the preliminary round of the team acrobatic event with a score of 225.7993, advancing to the final as the top seed. ■