Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda made history Friday as the pair gave Japan its first-ever gold medal in any synchronized swimming category at the FINA World Championships.
Tachibana and Takeda, Olympic and world duet silver medalists, drew the curtain on their theatrical and comical "Pantomime" routine in style at a packed Marine Messe Fukuoka, ending a 28-year wait to clinch the elusive gold medal.
Russian rivals Anastasia Davydova and Anastassia Ermakova won the silver, while Canadian pair Claire Carver-Dias and Fanny Letourneau took the bronze.
Japan has never finished empty-handed in the duet discipline since the inaugural World Championships in Belgrade in 1973, winning four bronze and four silver medals prior to Friday's gold.
The gold was Japan's first of these championships. Russia and Italy lead the meet with two apiece.