Dennis González won the silver medal in the free solo category at the World Championships in Doha, a competition dominated by the Italian Giorgio Minisini and where the Colombian Gustavo Sánchez completed the podium. The big favorite for the final victory, China's Shuncheng Yang, fell to fourth place due to a penalty in one of the figures. The medal won by the Barcelona native, who defended his world title, is the fifth won by the Spanish delegation.
María de Valdés won silver in the open water (10 km) and the artistic swimming technical team also took second place and silver. Spain took bronze medals in the synchronized 3-meter springboard diving (Abadía-García Boissier) and in the technical duo artistic swimming with Alisa Ozhogina and Iris Tió. For the free movement in which Dennis González feels very comfortable, the Catalan chose I Feel Like I'm Drowning, a slow song by the artist Two Feet.
The Italian Minisini, who had not been at a good level in the preliminary round, took gold with 210.1355, but everything pointed to the victory of the Asian, who had already won the technical exercise with solvency. However, the Italian Dennis González and the Colombian Sánchez took advantage of the mistake. The Spaniard was second with 196.2750 and the Colombian third with 192.0812 to 176.3647 for the Asian.
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“When I saw that I came third, I thought: thank God, because I fought for this. But I saw the Chinese swimmer's penalty and that he was fourth and nothing, I moved up to second place,” said the Catalan. Dennis González, who dedicated the medal to his mother, his coaches and also the work he himself has done in the last few months, emphasized that it was a “very hard” fight.
“I gave it my all, I was unlucky with the other choreography, but I wanted to do my best and finish this; Somehow I don’t believe it,” he said. “When I saw on the scoreboard that I was second, I went crazy with joy. I didn't expect silver, I thought bronze, because the Chinese swimmer never failed, but he was unlucky, like we were in the duo. I'm honored to have this money. It was great. “It was impressive,” he emphasized. The Spaniard admitted he went swimming “to die trying”. Dennis González congratulated the artistic swimming team on their victory because this victory shows that “anything is possible”.
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