Spain and Russia make their way to the final on Day 12 of the European Water Polo Championshisps

Russia and Spain will play for the gold medal on Saturday after thrilling semi-final wins over the Netherlands and Hungary respectively. Thanks to its shootout win, Russia returns to the final after ten years, while Spain can repeat its win from 2014, achieved here in Budapest. Regardless of the outcome, the Russians also booked their ticket to Tokyo since Spain had already secured its place last summer. Hungary seems to be cursed against Spain in the semis as this was their 6^th loss in as many clashes, while the Netherlands miss the final after three consecutive appearances.

Women’s semi-finals: Russia v Netherlands 7-7, penalties: 4-3. Hungary v Spain 10-11.

For places 5-8^th: France v Greece 3-13, Italy v Slovakia 16-4.

As expected, the semis offered thrilling matches – and great twists and turns right in the first duel between Russia and the Netherlands. The Dutch had a bit better start and jumped to a 1-2 lead but the Russians geared up for the second period and netted three connecting goals for 4-2. It was Holland’s turn then and by halftime they came back to 4-4 and it only remained tied because Maud Megens blasted a penalty wide – it was their second miss from the 5m line in the first half.

The Netherlands rolled on in the third and added two more, then had a man-up to go three goals up but they couldn’t take a shot and Olga Gorbunova netted a dying 6 on 5 to halve the gap at 6-5. And she was on target right from the first possession to equalise and from that point a great chess-game began. It was a huge tactical battle, the defences did an outstanding job, then after five minutes of breath-taking swimming and shooting, Brigitte Seeking sent the ball home from a 6m free through with 2:05 to go. But the Russian reply came immediately, Maria Borisova buried a 6 on 5 after a time-out and 1:35 minutes were left for the decision. It didn’t come in the regular time so the penalties decided the outcome.

And just as in the match, the Dutch missed two while the Russians buried all four to book their spot in the final after 10 years – and this win was also their ticket to Tokyo as the Spanish downed the Hungarians next. It also means that Russia maintains its status in European water polo as the only female team which has taken part in each edition since the beginning in Sydney 2000. (Note, that penalties earned the Rio spot for Russia in 2016 when they beat Greece in a shootout in the qualification tournament and they also clinched the bronze in Rio after a successful shootout against Hungary.)