Paris Olympics: Great Britain Basking in First Ever Artistic Swimming Medal
While it was China that claimed another Olympic gold medal in artistic swimming to close out action in the pool, it was a duo from Great Britain that made history.
Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe claimed the silver medal in the duet free routine in Paris.
The British duo scored 558.5367 points to earn the country’s first ever Olympic medal in artistic swimming.
They are childhood friends, and their mothers also used to compete as a pair in artistic swimming. Their final performance was to a theme of Rising Phoenix to score 294.5085 – which vaulted the duo into the medals after being just outside the top three after the technical performance.
They were the only duo in the top five at the Paris Olympics to not be sisters.
“It’s just the most incredible cherry on the top of over a decade’s worth of friendship and training together,” Shortman told The Independent. “We’ve seen each other at our very worst and our very best.
“It’s been a hard and very long journey but we’re so happy that we’re here and we get to do it together.”
China’s Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi won the gold with a score of 566.4783.
Bregje de Brouwer and Noortje de Brouwer took the bronze for the Netherlands.
USA’s Jamie Czarkowski and Megumi Field finished 10th.
But all eyes were on Great Britain and might be in the future. Thorpe is 23 and Shortman is 22, so 2028 is not out of the realm of possibilities.
“L.A. is four years away and we’ve gone from 14th to second with these new rules, so anything is possible,” Thorpe told The Independent.
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