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Beijing, Bolong.id — Chinese artistic swimmers Shi Haoyu and Cheng Wentao won gold medals at the world aquatic artistic swimming competition in Markham, Canada on Saturday (3/18/2023).

Reported from China Daily (2023-03-20) With their performance “Unstoppable”, Shi and Cheng made history by winning gold there.

They scored a total of 236.2292 points, 40 more than silver medalists Judith Calvo Requena and Dennis Gonzalez Boneu of Spain.

“We have improved a lot during winter training this year. With the new rules of our sport, we have a lot of overall improvements to work on. So we have made very impressive progress over the last few months,” said Shi, the male swimmer. of the pair.

“The most difficult thing is to stay in tune with my team-mates. We are not perfect, so we have to be stronger in the future.”

The International Olympic Committee announced last year that men could compete in team artistic swimming competitions at the Paris Games, with a maximum of two male competitors per team. Although artistic swimming has been an Olympic sport since 1984, it has always been an exclusively female sport until now.

Emboldened by last year’s announcement, Shi has been training hard and is now aiming for Olympic glory. He is not the only Chinese with hopes for the Paris Olympics in 2024, with a number of young players also joining the team to create a healthy competitive environment within the team.

“I have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. We must cherish it and seize this opportunity. I will do my best to show the charm of our sport to more people,” Shi added.

“The arrival of more male swimmers brings pressure but also motivation for me. The new Olympic program is a great motivation for all male swimmers. I hope more male swimmers will join us, so that we can improve together to bring more surprises.”

The groundbreaking result is a huge confidence boost for the entire Chinese artistic swimming team, but head coach Zhang Xiaohuan warns further challenges await on the way to the Paris Olympics.

“With the new discipline and the new rules of our sport, we are facing a lot of uncertainties. There are so many details to perfect and it is clear that many foreign teams are also making great progress. We have no reason to be complacent. believe that we have great potential and we will continue to develop,” Zhang said.

“We gained a lot during the competition despite the new rules, and we received recognition from the judges. It’s a good start for us to better understand the rules and future trends of the new discipline.

“And these groundbreaking medals are a direct result of the excellent winter training we have in place. Our swimmers are constantly pushing their limits and making breakthroughs. Going forward, we need to be even bolder and more creative in trying new even more rigorous routines. We have to keep digging into our potential swimmers.”