GB Synchro secure quota place for the Rio Olympics

English synchronised swimmers Katie Clark and Olivia Federici secured Great Britain a quota place for the Rio Olympics following their performance at the Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Competing at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio, the Duet pair improved their score with every routine and took first place in the Duet Free second round.

Clark and Federici returned to full time training at the start of 2016 and made an encouraging competitive comeback with a top ten finish at the German Open. The pair then showed significant progress a week later at the French Open.

Before heading to Rio, Clark and Federici had been training hard in Majorca working with Olympic medallist Andrea Fuentes. This was obvious in their performances throughout the qualification event.

Rio Olympics qualifiers: Technical Routine

Clark and Federici secured 15th place in the Technical routine after scoring 77.2211 on the opening day of the event.

The London 2012 Olympians put in a strong performance and showed good movement and precision throughout their ‘Good versus Evil’ routine.

Rio Olympics qualifiers: Free Routine

Clark and Federici executed a promising performance in the Free routine, showing high energy throughout to score 79.0000.

Their snakes inspired routine saw them match their 15th place finish in the Tech event and post an overall score of 156.2211.

Rio Olympics qualifiers: Free Routine Round 2

Clark and Federici posted their highest international score since they returned to the sport as they finished on top in the second round of the Duet Free Routine.

AMAZING! GB synchro duet @KatieC_23 & @Olivia_Federici claim an Olympic place!@BBCSport@WomenSportTrusthttps://t.co/YRiqi0eQCu

— Nick Hope (@NickHopeTV) March 6, 2016

Performing their snake themed routine for the second time, the pair gave it their all and showed excellent height, power and speed throughout to score 80.0333.

Clark and Federici secured an overall total of 157.2544 to achieve second place overall.

Head Coach Katie Dawkins commented: “We are all extremely pleased with that performance. We have trained solidly since Thursday to get that top place in the second round. Katie and Olive have worked tirelessly and the changes were noticeable in every session. Their hard work has really been rewarded here.”