BEIJING, 18 April - Spain's Gemma Mengual and Andrea Fuentes won the first gold medal of the Olympic Games Synchronised Swimming Qualification Tournament 2008 with a world class Free routine during the duet final at the National Aquatics Center on Friday.

Mengual and Fuentes scored a 49.000 for their explosive routine, giving them a combined score of 97.667 to leave early leaders Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen (CHN) with the silver medal (96.083) and Japan's Saho Harada and Emiko Suzuki with the bronze (96.001).

Spain, who entered the final with a 0.750 lead after the Technical routines on Thursday, were controlled throughout their exhausting, fast-paced choreography. The sheer effort of their performance was evident on the face of a fatigued Fuentes's as they left the pool to wait for their score.

Spain has been the dominant team at this Tournament, issuing a warning to their rivals, including the absent Olympic champions Russia, that they will be a competitive force during the 2008 Olympic Games where they hope to win their first Olympic medal in this sport.

Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen presented an elegant, peacock inspired routine which scored 48.333. The identical twins showed no sign of the nerves evident in their Technical routine on Thursday, where they received a penalty for exceeding the platform time limit.

Highlighting their difficult Free routine was a unique, rotating square formation created from the synchronette's legs. The skill has showcased the extraordinary flexibility and synchronisation of the duet, who are in strong form ahead of hosting the Olympic Games in August.

Harada and Suzuki, current World bronze medallists in Duet Free, managed to pull their Free routine (48.084) together after lacking height in their opening boost skill.

The Japanese duet also made synchronisation errors throughout and will need further improvement before August, if they hope to defend the Duet silver medal won by compatriot's Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda in Athens.

Canada's Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon and Isabelle Rampling finished in the fourth place (47.500) with a solid routine, maintaining their position from the Technical round and consistency of the Canadian synchro team at this Tournament.

Italy's Beatrice Adelizzi and Giulia LAPI also maintained their rank from the Technical round, performing an energetic routine to score 47.167 and finish ahead of Ukraine (46.417) and Greece (45.750).

Venezuela's Anna Carolina Soto Espinoza and Mary Alejandra Soto Espinoza were applauded by the crowd after remaining calm under pressure to perform their routine a second time after the music stopped during the initial performance.

The Venzuelan twins scored 40.750 to leave them in 21st place overall.

Further Olympic Duet berths will be decided following the Team Free Final on Saturday, 19 April with the top three teams to qualify for the Olympic Team and Duet competitions.

They will join Australia, Egypt, Russia, China and the United States who have already qualified a Team and Duet for the Olympic Games. New Zealand has also qualified as the Oceania representative in the Duet competition.

The next ranked duets from today's Duet Free Final will join the continental, host and Team final qualifiers at the Olympic Games, up to a total of 20 duets.

Duets who placed 21-28 after today's Duet Free Final, will swim their Free routine again on Sunday, 20 April with the first four placed to snare the final four Olympic berths.