Artistic Swimming Representatives, Mashiro Yasunaga & Moe Higa, 0L & JK, “The Year Difference Pair”, flap their wings in Paris!

The queen pair of the artistic swimming world is off to an impressive start.

On April 7, Mashiro Yasunaga (24) and Moe Higa (16), a duet that won the gold medal at the 2011 World Swimming Championships, appeared at an open practice session for the Japanese national team for the World Cup in May, which serves as a test event for the Paris Olympics.

The pair has only been together for a little over a year. Yasunaga, an office worker who works for Okasan Rivic Corporation, and Higa, a high school girl, are eight years apart in age and have a height difference of 5 cm. They are a rare pairing in artistic swimming, where you are often paired with a partner of about the same height,” said a person related to the Japan Swimming Federation.

Yasunaga was attracted to the sport by the combination of swimming, which he is good at, and music, which he loves, and Higa started swimming with no experience at all at the suggestion of his mother. The two, who are different in every way, have been making great strides in this sport, which requires them to work together.

Higa, who is taller than Yasunaga, is most attractive for her acrobatics, in which she leaps Yasunaga out of the water in the beginning of the performance. When the team was first formed, there were some problems, such as the height difference between the dancers’ feet, but Yasunaga has practiced so much that she says, “I feel more comfortable in the water than on land,” and she is overcoming these problems. At the Paris Olympics to be held this year, they have a good shot at becoming the first Japanese team to win a gold medal.

During the open practice session, the duo revealed that the theme of their free skating performance, which was “Black Panther (Black Leopard)” last year, will be changed to “Pegasus. The unique duo, newly equipped with wings, will take flight on the stage in Paris.

From the April 26, 2024 issue of FRIDAY