Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe make artistic swimming history with silver

Artistic Swimming 10 Aug 24

Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe made history with Team GB's first-ever artistic swimming medal with silver at Paris 2024.

The best friends from Bristol won duet silver after a jaw-dropping free routine on the second day of competition which rocketed them up from fourth to second with an overall score of 558.5357.

The duo produced a show-stopping performance of 294.5085, the highest score of the competition, in a routine that is inspired by a rising phoenix, and indeed rise up the rankings to leapfrog the Austrian and Dutch pair to take silver.

China's Liuyi and Qianyi Wang of China took gold in a score of 566.4782.

“It's just the most incredible cherry on the top of over a decade's worth of friendship and training together," said Shortman.

"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.”

Shortman and Thorpe made their Olympic debuts at Tokyo 2020, finishing 14th in the event and have made history at European and world level since.

Their Paris 2024 started strong, sitting fourth after their clock themed technical routine with a score of 264.0282.

But it was their inspiring free routine that helped them roar to a historic silver.

Team GB's best performance in the duet dates back to LA 1984 when Caroline Holmyard and Carolyn Wilson finished fourth at the event's inaugural Games.

“We just hope we can inspire young girls and boys to join the sport," added Shortman.

"It's always been of our goal to expand the sport, it's so fun, it's so dynamic and obviously it's a creative sport so we just hope that this has inspired people and hopefully young athletes will be inspired as well.”

Sportsbeat 2024

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