In sync with the times

"Traditionally, the public perception is that artistic swimming is only for women. Men, however, can bring some different elements to the sport, adding more diversity and creating different chemistry with the female athletes.

"For boys interested in this sport, I hope they will just keep chasing their dreams and I hope more will join in," said Shi, who won China's first world championship title in mixed duet, alongside his partner Cheng Wentao, in July in Fukuoka, Japan.

With grace, flexibility, synchronization and artistic expression measured heavily, historically, only women had been considered to compete in artistic swimming. That is until 2015, when aquatic sports' global governing body, FINA, allowed men to compete at the worlds for the first time in Russia.

Since then, the water ballet has drastically evolved, partially due to rule changes encouraging more difficult maneuvers and combinations that lean toward more rigorous tests of physicality, strength and explosiveness.

Men's involvement is expected to suit the higher physical and technical demands that now prevail on the elite stage.

"The main contribution (of men) is the power and strength," Team China's Spanish coach Anna Tarres said in Hangzhou.

"But it is the techniques and the flexibility that the girls have that is where he needs to further improve," the legendary coach and former Olympian said of Shi's potential.

Having made their presence felt at the worlds and FINA World Cup series for years, male artistic swimmers will take to the Olympic stage at next year's Paris Games for the first time since artistic swimming made its Olympic debut in 1984.

The high-profile exposure at the multisport extravaganza is expected to help redefine the character of artistic swimming, while motivating more male aspirants to dip their toes into the proverbial pool.

"I am really looking forward to the Olympic stage, a platform never before seen by male artistic swimmers," said Shi, a 22-year-old four-time world championships competitor in mixed duet.

"A lot of people still don't understand the sport, but I think more will learn it, accept it and appreciate it when we show how competitive and inspiring it can be at the Olympics," Shi said.

"Whether people approve of it or not, at least they will begin to pay attention to it."

Joining Shi in the female-dominated event in Hangzhou is Thailand's Kantinan Adisaisiributr, a teen prospect who followed his elder sister Jinnipha into the discipline and has been a key member of the Thai squad since he switched from swimming in 2019.

As fun as it might seem, the underwater regime of artistic swimming gave Adisaisiributr a hard time during his first serious training session, when the heavy physical toll of treading water to stay afloat quickly wore him out.

"Men are stronger with more muscle in general. It's harder for us to float. The flexibility is also another challenging part," said the 17-year-old, who finished eighth in mixed duet with his partner Voranan Toomchay at the 2023 worlds in Japan.

With only women's duet and team competitions, in which each squad is allowed two males at most, now featuring at the Olympics, Team Thailand head coach Claudia Tapparelli expects the Games' program to include more mixed events in the future to open the doors wider.

"We hope the mixed duet will join the Olympics program as early as Los Angeles 2028," said Tapparelli, a veteran Italian coach. "So more countries can qualify."

"Men can bring more variety in the duet because the interaction between men and women creates more emotional storytelling than the women-only team does.

"Men's participation can also help balance the dynamics with girls on a team, because they are easier to discipline," said Tapparelli, who helped Italian Giorgio Minisini develop into one of the male icons of the sport.

Minisini became the first Italian male artistic swimmer to win a solo title at the national championships in 2021, when he beat 13 female artistic swimmers to take gold.

The message Tapparelli expects Minisini and Shi to send in Paris next year is simple: "You can do anything you want. Everything you put your mind to, you can achieve it in artistic swimming," she said.