Artistic swimmer Jacqueline Simoneau wins world gold for Canada in women's solo free

Artistic swimmer Jacqueline Simoneau has ended another long medal drought for Canada at the World Aquatics Championships.

Simoneau blew away the competition in the execution element of the women's solo free routine on Tuesday, scoring 180.9707 — Vasilina Khandoshka was her closest competitor nearly seven points behind — to capture gold in Doha, Qatar.

Simoneau amassed 264.8207 points overall, followed by Evangelia Plantanioti of Greece (253.2833) and Khandoshka (245.1042) to become the first Canadian to win the event since Sylvie Frechette in 1991.

"It's unreal," said Simoneau, a two-time Olympian. "This medal doesn't represent this one performance. It's a culmination of everybody's effort in my career — coaches, my parents, consultants. I'm incredibly grateful for everybody who has contributed to this."

On Monday, Audrey Lamothe of Montreal and Simoneau of Saint-Laurent, Que., were seventh (247.1533) in the women's duet technical routine.

The 27-year-old Simoneau also won Canada's first artistic swimming medal in women's solo technical since 2011 with silver on Saturday.

Simoneau and Lamothe will compete in the women's duet free preliminaries Wednesday at 1:30 a.m. ET.

"You gotta turn the page like we always, do," Simoneau said of the short turnaround. "We train six, seven, eight hours a day, multiple events, and now it's time to turn the page and focus on the next event."

It's safe to say the Canadian women's water polo team is no longer flying under the radar in Doha, Qatar.

The group of 15 prepared for Thursday's critical match against Italy at the World Aquatics Championships with a 20-5 drubbing of Great Britain.

"Some people believe that as Canadians we're not the most strong-willed," team captain Emma Wright told