Smiling through suffocation: Staying afloat as a Saskatoon Aqualene

At first glance, artistic swimming seems nearly impossible.

A group of athletes glide across a pool in perfect synchronization. Legs shoot skyward as bodies twist, spin and launch from the water. And they smile the entire time, as if none of it requires effort.

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The illusion is beautiful, but the reality is even more impressive.

Artistic swimming routines typically last between two and four minutes. For the majority of that time, the swimmers are holding their breath. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

“You’ll be under for like 25 seconds, and then you got to come up and act like you’re not dying,” laughed Saskatoon Aqualenes athlete Ryann Denis-Pryor.

Welcome to artistic swimming — the sport formerly known as synchronized swimming — where athletes are equal parts swimmer, dancer, performer, gymnast and endurance machine.

It’s also one of the most misunderstood sports on the planet.

Listen to the story on Behind the Headlines:

The first myth to sink

For starters, no, they’re not touching the bottom.

“We’re not allowed to,” said coach Katie Willie. “You can get a penalty if you touch the bottom.”

In Saskatoon, athletes train in water at least three metres deep. Competition pools can’t be shallower than about 2.5 metres.

“It’s a deep-water sport,” Willie noted, “which makes it even more impressive when you know that.”

Artistic swimming isn’t just one sport. It incorporates swimming, dance, theatre, strength training, choreography, endurance and teamwork, all rolled into one. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Breathless by design

Then there’s the breathing. Or rather, the lack of it.

During an artistic swimming routine, athletes are constantly moving, constantly performing and often underwater.

“Our routines are from two to four minutes long,” Willie explained. “And you are breathing for maybe half of that, if that, while your legs are in the air or most of your body’s out of the water.”

“You’re not just doing front crawl,” she added. “You’re making it look pretty, and not breathing while doing that, but smiling while you’re doing it too.”

The smiling isn’t optional.

This group of competitive athletes range in age from 13 to 26. (Katie Willie/Submitted)

Athletes are being evaluated every second they’re in the water. Judges score everything from synchronization and technical execution to artistic impression and difficulty.

“We use an underwater speaker, which helps us keep ourselves synchronized and on beat,” said Denis-Pryor.

And collisions are a real possibility when multiple athletes are spinning, kicking and rotating beneath the surface while holding their breath.

“We have to keep our eyes open underwater, so we know where we are and all the patterns and stuff,” explained swimmer Waniya Faruqqi. “Just so we don’t hit anyone.”

The work beneath the waves

What audiences don’t see is the work that begins long before every competition day.

“Our national team athletes are in the pool 40 to 60 hours a week,” Willie said. “And dry-land training on top of that.”

Even younger competitive athletes spend hours in the water multiple days a week, adding strength training, flexibility work and physiotherapy sessions to the mix.

The sport demands a rare combination of power and grace.

“It’s the strength that’s needed to maintain yourself in the water,” said Stroeder, “but also the active flexibility to pull yourself into splits and arches, and in and out of those positions.”

The sport changed its name from synchronized swimming to artistic swimming in 2017 to better reflect the athleticism and artistry involved in the routines. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

And despite spending countless hours of their lives in the water, athletes don’t get a free pass on conditioning.

“We extensively sweat,” Stroeder said. “You don’t know that you’re sweating, but you sweat extensively.”

Gelatin, glitter and grit

Once competition day arrives, another challenge begins: styling the legendary artistic swimming hair.

If you’ve ever wondered how a swimmer’s hairstyle survives flips, spins and underwater acrobatics, the answer isn’t hairspray. It’s gelatin.

“We have to boil the water and then put the gelatin in,” said Ariah Gokabi-Bailey. “Then we have to take a paintbrush and paint it on our heads.”

Before that, there’s the bun itself.

“A boar brush to slick it back and wax,” Gokabi-Bailey said. “Use like four hair ties to keep it in place, and a lot of bobby pins.”

The slicked-back hair sported during artistic swimming performances is achieved with something you’re more likely to find in a kitchen that a beauty salon: gelatin. (Katie Willie/Submitted)

Then comes the makeup.

“We usually wear eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara,” Denis-Pryor explained. “The judges can’t see our eyes, so we really want to show them, like, ‘My eyes are open.'”

As for what brand works best?

“I think we all just grab something from the drugstore,” Faruqqi laughed. “If it says it’s waterproof.”

And after the competition, the glamorous gelatin helmet has to come off.

“We’re talking like triple shampoo, boiling water,” Denis-Pryor lamented. “Like a 45-minute shower.”

What keeps them afloat

This group of competitive athletes ranges in age from 13 to 26. On top of juggling a hectic swim schedule, they are also navigating school or the beginnings of a career.

Ask the athletes why they keep doing it, and none of them talk about medals first. Instead, they talk about how it feels.

Katie Willie said people often assume artistic swimmers push off the bottom of the pool. She made it clear that the swimmers avoid touching the pool floor at all costs, as doing so results in a deduction of points from their score. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

“Once you do something so hard, I just feel so accomplished after swimming,” said Morgan Vaughan. “This sport makes me feel so happy, and without it I feel like I’d be lost.”

For Stroeder, who discovered the sport after assuming for years that men weren’t allowed to participate, artistic swimming has become something deeper.

“It makes me feel alive,” he said. “The moment we dive in, all the worries go away.”

Different paths, same pool

The Saskatoon Aqualenes club is open to athletes as young as five and competitors in their 20s.

“We do have a number that join when they’re older,” Willie said. “You’re the kid that’s in dance and gymnastics and swimming lessons and like them all, but don’t love any of them, and so this is a really good combination of all of it.”

Maybe that’s because artistic swimming isn’t just one sport.

It’s swimming, dance, theatre, strength training, choreography, endurance and teamwork rolled into one. Most importantly, it’s a place where all kinds of athletes can belong.

These young athletes spend 40 to 60 hours training in the pool each week. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

“We’ve got people of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all different body types in the sport,” Willie noted. “And everyone can find success in it.”

The next time you watch an artistic swimmer launch into the air with a smile plastered across their face, remember what’s happening beneath the surface.

They’re holding their breath. They’re listening for the beat. They’re fighting gravity. They’re avoiding the bottom of a three-metre-deep pool.

And somehow, they’re smiling and making it all look effortless.

These athletes don’t just swim — they perform underwater choreography while holding their breath, training tirelessly to make the impossible look effortless in the world of artistic swimming. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)