Swim England Artistic Swimming

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Top ten finishes at European Juniors 2016

Last week, the European Juniors 2016 Synchronised Swimming Championships took place in Rijeka, Croatia with England Programmes synchro athletes representing Great Britain from the 22-26 June.

For a great number of the 11-strong squad, this was their first international competition, although four of the girls did compete at the London 2016 European Aquatics Championships.

European Juniors 2016 results

The young squad managed a top 10 finish in the Free Combination event, with Kate Shortman, Isabelle Thorpe, Emma Critchley, Danielle Cooper and Rebecca Richardson scoring 76.6667 for ninth place ahead of Austria, Croatia and Germany.

Their new James Bond-themed routine provided a chance for the girls to pull out a really good performance in the final swim.

Shortman and Thorpe also took to the pool for the duet event, managing to secure 10th place with their Rio/carnival themed routine.

They were awarded 148.6697 overall, after a strong performance in the final saw them edge past Slovakia and move up into the top 10.

Despite being the youngest paring in the competition, they had the highest combined GB average figure score in recent years.

The Free Team event also saw a 10th place finish for the England Programmes girls, their Magic-themed routine scoring 76.1667 for a total of 146.6427. They improved on the 2015 score by two marks, showing the depth of talent within the squad.

Kate Shortman finishes 11th in Solo

Shortman returned to the pool again to compete in the solo after making her way through to the finals following her preliminary and figures events. She finished in 11th place overall.

She was one of the only athletes to compete in all 10 events over the course of the competition, and showed great determination and strength to improve on her marks in the final performance.

Confidence and talent as a squad

England Programmes Synchro Lead, Karen Thorpe, commented, “The girls showed that they had lots of confidence and talent both individually and as a squad.

“Kate took part in every event and showed huge strength of character to take to the water on the final day and improve on her marks.

“All of the performances showed marked improvements from recent years, and showed a lot of promise for the future. The girls should all be very proud of their achievements.”

  • Head to the Results page to download full results from Rijeka.
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