Javier Ruisanchez

Javier Ruisanchez
Personal information
Full nameJavier Enrique Ruisanchez Torres Zayas
Born (1997-02-08) 8 February 1997 (age 27)[1]
San Juan, Puerto Rico[2]
Sport
CountryPuerto Rico Puerto Rico
SportArtistic swimming,
pool swimming (former)
Event(s)Solo technical routine,
Solo free routine,
Mixed duet technical routine,
Mixed duet free routine
College teamGannon University (pool swimming)[2]
PartnerNicolle Torrens[3][4]
Coached byJulia Toro[4]
Medal record
Men's artistic swimming
Representing  Puerto Rico
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Artistic Swimming World Series 1 2 6
Total 1 2 6
Artistic Swimming World Series
Gold medal – first place 2022 USA-CAN Solo free routine
Silver medal – second place 2022 Paris Solo technical routine
Silver medal – second place 2022 Australia Solo free routine
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Canada Mixed duet technical routine
Bronze medal – third place 2022 USA-CAN Solo technical routine
Bronze medal – third place 2022 USA-CAN Mixed duet technical routine
Bronze medal – third place 2022 USA-CAN Mixed duet free routine
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Paris Solo free routine
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Australia Solo technical routine

Javier Enrique Ruisanchez Torres Zayas (born 8 February 1997) is a Puerto Rican artistic swimmer and former pool swimmer. He is a nine-time medalist at the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series, winning eight medals at the 2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, he and his partner Nicolle Torrens became the first artistic swimmers representing Puerto Rico to qualify for, and compete in, a final of a mixed gender duet event at a FINA World Aquatics Championships, finishing eleventh in the mixed duet free routine and twelfth in the mixed duet technical routine.

Background[edit]

Ruisanchez was born 8 February 1997, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.[1][2] He was raised in Puerto Rico and later moved to the United States, graduating from West Springfield High School in Virginia.[5] Growing up, he was a competitive pool swimmer, specializing in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events, and he later competed collegiately in the NCAA for Gannon University.[2] In 2021, he transitioned from pool swimming to artistic swimming, combining and channeling his dance experience in ballet and competition experience in pool swimming into one sport, in which he competes with partner Nicolle Torrens and is coached by Julia Toro.[3][4]

Career[edit]

2021 Artistic Swimming World Series[edit]

At the fourth leg of the 2021 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series, a virtual event hosted by Canada in May, Ruisanchez and his partner in the mixed duet technical routine, Nicolle Torrens, won the bronze medal in the event, choreographing their routine to music by Lebanese musical artist Emad Sayyah in the theme of "Arabian Royalty".[6]

2022 Artistic Swimming World Series[edit]

On the first leg of the 2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series, a virtual format competition hosted by Canada and the United States in March, he won two medals on the first of two days, the first was a bronze medal in the male solo technical routine with choreography in the theme of "Black Swan" and a score of 53.7147 points and the second was a bronze medal with partner Nicolle Torrens in the mixed duet technical routine with a score of 64.1346 points.[7] The second of two days, he won an additional two medals, including the gold medal in the solo free routine, with a score of 60.2000 points and choreography to the song "Fire on Fire" by English musical artist Sam Smith, and a bronze medal in the mixed duet free routine, scoring within 20 points of silver medalists Tomoka Sato and Yotaro Sato of Japan.[8]

The second leg of the World Series, which took place in April at Piscine Georges Vallerey in Paris, France, Ruisanchez won the bronze medal in the solo technical routine with a score of 65.6333 points and the silver medal in the solo free routine with a score of 60.8774 points.[9] For the following leg, another virtual format event this time hosted by Australia for the first time in early May, he won a bronze medal on day one in the solo technical routine with a score of 57.9860 points.[10] The next day, in the solo free routine, he scored within 15 points of gold medalist Gustavo Sánchez of Colombia to win the silver medal with a final mark of 62.5333 points.[11]

At the final leg of the World Series, called the Super Final and held in mid-May at Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Athens, Greece, Ruisanchez was the only Latin American athlete to qualify to compete.[12] As part of competition, he placed fourth in both the solo technical routine and the solo free routine.[13]

2022 World Aquatics Championships[edit]

Day two of artistic swimming competition at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, held in Budapest, Hungary, Ruisanchez and his partner Nicolle Torrens scored 65.5330 points in the preliminaries of the mixed duet technical routine accomplishing a historic feat for Puerto Rico by becoming the first artistic swimmers representing the nation at a FINA World Aquatics Championships to qualify for the final of a mixed gender artistic swimming event with their eleventh-rank performance, which advanced them to the final of the event two days later on 20 June.[3][14][15] With a score of 65.8801 points in the final, they placed twelfth.[15][16][17] The eighth day, they achieved a mark of 66.4000 points in the preliminaries of the mixed duet free routine, which advanced them to their second final in eleventh-rank.[4][18][19] They finished with another historic feat for Puerto Rico, earning 65.7000 points in the final of the mixed duet free routine to place eleventh and mark the first time in history the nation had artistic swimmers place in the final of two artistic swimming events at a single World Aquatics Championships.[20][21]

2023 Artistic Swimming World Cup[edit]

In the mixed duet technical routine at the first stop of the inaugural Artistic Swimming World Cup, held in March 2023 in Markham, Canada, Ruisanchez achieved a final mark of 119.1250 points with his partner Nicolle Torrens, ranking seventh out of all competing duos and sixth out of all competing nations, Spain had two duos compete.[22]

International championships[edit]

Meet mixed duet technical routine mixed duet free routine
WC 2022 12th
(65.8801)
11th
(65.7000)

Artistic Swimming World Series circuits[edit]

The following medals Ruisanchez has won at Artistic Swimming World Series circuits.[23]

Edition Gold medals Silver medals Bronze medals Total
2021 0 0 1 1
2022 1 2 5 8
Total 1 2 6 9

Awards and honors[edit]

Personal life[edit]

Ruisanchez came out publicly as gay in October 2013 via social media platform Twitter during high school when he was 16 years old.[5][25] On 8 August 2021, he married his husband, former collegiate football player Michael Dumaine, in Puerto Rico, the wedding was postponed from its original date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[26]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Javier Enrique Ruisanchez Torres Zayas" Archived 20 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. FINA. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d "2015–16 Men's Swimming and Diving Roster: Javier Ruisanchez" Archived 14 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Gannon University. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Orlando Rivera Martínez (20 June 2022). "Duo de boricuas hace historia en nado sincronizado" Archived 20 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish). WAPA-TV. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d Narváez, Carlos (25 June 2022). "A las finales de nado sincronizado en Hungría" Archived 25 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish). El Vocero. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  5. ^ a b Ruisanchez, Javier (8 July 2015). "For gay high school swimmer, one tweet changed his life" Archived 2 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Outsports. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  6. ^ "ASWS in Canada (Virtual) Day 1: Russia wins 2 gold medals" Archived 30 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine. FINA. 29 May 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  7. ^ Hennigan, Caoimhe (19 March 2022). "Technical events feature during day one of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2022 opener" Archived 31 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. FINA. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  8. ^ Hennigan, Caoimhe (20 March 2022). "Creativity and composure on display during day two of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2022 opener" Archived 31 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. FINA. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  9. ^ Croes, Maureen (2 April 2022). "Creativity and youthful performances awarded during Day 2 of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series in Paris" Archived 20 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. FINA. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  10. ^ Croes, Maureen (7 May 2022). "FINA Artistic Swimming World Series for first time hosted virtualy by Australia" Archived 31 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. FINA. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  11. ^ "USA top the medal table of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2022" Archived 20 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. FINA. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  12. ^ Vega, Giovanny (19 May 2022). "El boricua Javier Ruisánchez dirá presente en la final de la Serie Mundial de Natación Artística" Archived 22 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish). El Vocero. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  13. ^ Hiram Alberto Torraca (24 May 2022). "Javier Ruisánchez celebra su gran actuación en la Serie Mundial de Natación Artística" Archived 25 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish). NotiCel. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  14. ^ FINA (18 June 2022). "19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Mixed Duet Technical Preliminary Results" Archived 18 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  15. ^ a b Sara Del Valle Hernández (21 June 2022). "Nadadores boricuas compiten en los Campeonatos Mundiales en Hungría" Archived 21 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish). El Nuevo Día. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  16. ^ FINA (20 June 2022). "19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Mixed Duet Technical Final Results" Archived 20 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Boricuas avanzan la final de nado sincronizado en Budapest 2022" Archived 20 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish). Primera Hora. 20 June 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  18. ^ FINA (24 June 2022). "19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Mixed Duet Free Preliminary Results" Archived 24 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  19. ^ Adami, Davide (24 June 2022). "Nuoto artistico, Minisini e Ruggiero dominano nel preliminare del duo misto libero" Archived 24 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian). OA Sport. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  20. ^ FINA (25 June 2022). "19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Mixed Duet Free Final Results" Archived 25 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  21. ^ Marrero, Omar (26 June 2022). "Atletas de natación artística se exponen a fuertes agotamientos, confirma el boricua Javier Ruisánchez" Archived 4 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine(in Spanish). NotiCel. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  22. ^ "World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup – Markham 2023: Results Mixed Duet Technical". World Aquatics. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  23. ^ "Javier Enrique Ruisanchez Torres Zayas: Medals" Archived 14 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine. FINA. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  24. ^ "A celebrar la excelencia deportiva del olimpismo del 2022" (in Spanish). El Sol de Puerto Rico. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  25. ^ Hernandez, Greg (8 July 2015). "Swimmer on how life has changed since he sent out this tweet: 'Yes… I AM GAY… Who cares?'" Archived 30 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Gay Star News. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  26. ^ Wax, Shelby (1 December 2021). "Exclusive: Michael Dumaine and Javier Ruisanchez's Elegant and Tropical Wedding in Puerto Rico" Archived 31 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Brides. Retrieved 14 July 2022.

External links[edit]