Varvara Subbotina won two events on day one of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series as Russian athletes competing under a neutral flag dominated the virtual competition ©Getty Images

Russian athletes competing as neutrals under the flag of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) dominated the first day of the first leg of the Artistic Swimming World Series, a virtual event hosted by Canada and the United States.

The competitors competing under neutral status won four of the five events on offer while Belarus, who also participated as neutrals, achieved a bronze medal.

Varvara Subbotina and Aleksandr Maltsev headlined this success with two gold medals each.

Subbotina, a four-time world champion and three-time European champion, secured the women solo technical title after completing an outstanding routine to the medley of Elvis Presley’s greatest hits which scored 91.5848 points.

Japan’s Itsuki Hirota was her closest challenge, with a total of 82.5916 points, following a fascinating new performance to Mother Monster.

Audrey Lamothe of Canada finished third thanks to a well-choregraphed routine to Michael Bublé’s Cry Me a River.

The 17-year-old received a score of 82.0037 points.

Svetlana Kolesnichenko partnered with Varvara Subbotina to give Russia another triumph in the duet technical routine ©Getty Images
Svetlana Kolesnichenko partnered with Varvara Subbotina to give Russia another triumph in the duet technical routine ©Getty Images

The male solo technical saw Russia's four-time world champion Maltsev deliver yet again as he produced a commanding total of 90.4231 points.

Spain's Fernando Díaz del Rio Soto finished second with a score of 76.4571 points after displaying a new routine to the music artist Labrinth.

Puerto Rico Javier Enrique Ruisanches Torres Zayas, who performed to Black Swan, totalled 53.7147 points to come third.

Subbotina later followed up her success with her second gold medal of the competition in the duet technical routine.

The 20-year-old, alongside her three-time Olympic champion partner Svetlana Kolesnichenko, produced a performance worthy of a score totalling 93.1321 points.

French sisters Anastasia and Daria Bayandina, who previously represented Russia, tallied 88.3151 points to win silver for a symbolic routine showing the Olympic host cities transferring from Tokyo 2020 to Paris 2024.

Completing the podium was the Japanese pairing of Siri Kawaguchi and Uta Kobayashi after they scored 80.2902 points.

The duo routine was precise, pacy and involved quality synchronisation, according to the judges, to a theme of the belly dance.

Mayya Gurbanberdieva, left, and Aleksandr Maltsev, right, won the mixed duet technical event as Russia won four of the five events contested ©Getty Images
Mayya Gurbanberdieva, left, and Aleksandr Maltsev, right, won the mixed duet technical event as Russia won four of the five events contested ©Getty Images

In the mixed duet technical, Maltsev partnered with his compatriot Mayya Gurbanberdieva to secure his second gold of the competition with a score of 90.5697 points.

Spanish duo Emma García and Pau Ribes secured silver thanks to a total of 82.7569 points, while Puerto Rican pairing Nicolle Adriana Torrens Mercada and Zaya came away with bronze for scoring 64.1346.

Team technical was the only event that the Russian athletes, competing under the FINA flag, did not win.

France, which consisted of numerous Tokyo 2020 Olympians, achieved gold thanks to an unbeatable total of 87.7137 points.

Canada finished second after scoring 83.2592 and the neutral Belarusian athletes collected bronze for receiving 81.9504.

During the build up to the event, FINA told Insidethegames that Russian and Belarusian competed because the virtual competition was recorded "prior to the war in Ukraine" and they deemed the event to be "low risk to the health and safety of athletes".

Their participation in future artistic swimming competitions is "under review".