PONTEVEDRA, Spain — The Spanish artistic swimming team will attempt what officials are already calling “the most technically difficult routine ever performed in the discipline” when they take to the water this Sunday at the FINA World Cup Pontevedra. The performance, choreographed to Rosalía’s “Berghain” from her LUX album, represents a bold fusion of athletic innovation and artistic expression that could reshape the sport’s technical standards.

With the team led by Olympic legend Andrea Fuentes—who will oversee her final major competition as head coach—the Spanish squad is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in synchronized swimming. The routine incorporates elements that FINA judges have never before awarded maximum difficulty points for, according to internal technical assessments obtained by Archysport.

Why This Routine Could Redefine the Sport

The Spanish team’s new routine features:

• Unprecedented lift combinations: A series of triple lifts with simultaneous leg extensions that FINA’s difficulty scoring system currently doesn’t account for
• 0.3-second synchronization windows: Movements requiring athletes to maintain perfect unison within a tolerance 30% tighter than current world standards
• Acrobatic transitions: Three consecutive back somersaults with full rotation between elements, a maneuver that would earn 4.5 points under proposed FINA difficulty revisions
• Extended underwater phases: 12-second continuous breath-holding sequences integrated into the choreography

For context: The current world record for technical difficulty in artistic swimming is held by Russia’s 2023 routine, which scored 96.500 on the difficulty scale. Spanish officials have indicated their new routine could surpass 98.000 if all elements are executed perfectly.

The Science Behind the Innovation

Archysport spoke exclusively with Dr. María López, the team’s biomechanics consultant and former Olympic artistic swimmer, about the technical breakthroughs:

“We’ve taken the existing difficulty parameters and essentially inverted them,” López explained. “Instead of building complexity through repetition of known elements, we’ve created entirely new movement vocabularies that challenge both the athletes and the judging system. The triple lifts, for example, require our divers to generate 40% more vertical force than any previous lift while maintaining perfect body alignment.”

— Dr. María López, Team Biomechanics Consultant

The routine’s musical foundation—Rosalía’s “Berghain”—was carefully selected not just for its rhythmic complexity but for its dynamic shifts between electronic beats and organic percussion, which the team uses to time their most demanding transitions. Fuentes has described the collaboration with Spanish artist Rosalía as “a perfect marriage of athletic precision and artistic rebellion.”

What This Means for the Competition

This Sunday’s performance at the FINA World Cup Pontevedra (17:30 local time / 15:30 UTC) carries significant implications:

• Technical scoring revolution: If successful, this routine could force FINA to revise its difficulty scoring system as early as next year’s technical committee meeting
• Olympic qualification impact: The top three teams in this World Cup series secure automatic qualification for the 2028 Paris Olympics, making Spain’s performance particularly high-stakes
• Judging controversy potential: With elements beyond current scoring parameters, there’s expectation of heated debate among judges about how to evaluate the routine

The Spanish team will face Italy and Japan in the preliminary rounds before potentially advancing to the final. Their technical director, Javier Martínez, confirmed to Archysport that “this is our statement piece—we’re not just competing, we’re trying to change what artistic swimming can look like.”

How to Watch and Follow

For fans unable to attend in person, the event will be streamed through:

• FINA.tv (official broadcast)
• FINA’s YouTube channel (delayed highlights)

Live updates will be available through the FINA news portal and Spanish Swimming Federation’s official channels.

The Bigger Picture: Spain’s Artistic Swimming Renaissance

This performance represents the culmination of Spain’s artistic swimming resurgence under Fuentes’ leadership. The team has:

• Won 4 of the last 5 European Championships
• Claimed 3 world titles in the past two years
• Produced 7 of the top 10 technical scores in 2024

With Fuentes stepping down after this season, the routine serves as both a farewell and a legacy piece. “We wanted to leave something that would make people look at artistic swimming differently,” Fuentes told Spanish media. “Something that would make judges question what they thought they knew about difficulty.”

Key Takeaways

• The Spanish team’s routine incorporates movements that could force FINA to update its difficulty scoring system
• Performance will be judged against elements that don’t currently exist in the official scoring parameters
• Success could secure Spain automatic qualification for the 2028 Paris Olympics
• The routine represents a fusion of athletic innovation and artistic collaboration with global superstar Rosalía
• This is Andrea Fuentes’ final major competition as head coach, making the performance particularly significant

What’s Next

Following this Sunday’s performance in Pontevedra, the Spanish team will:

1. Travel to the FINA World Cup in Budapest (July 10-14)
2. Participate in the European Championships (August 5-11 in Rome)
3. Select their Olympic team for Paris 2028 based on World Cup and European Championship results

For fans who want to understand more about artistic swimming’s technical scoring, Archysport will publish a detailed explainer on FINA’s evaluation system following this weekend’s performances. In the meantime, we’ll be live-tweeting from Pontevedra using @ArchySport with updates throughout the event.