Ranjuo makes history before duo secure a golden World Cup double

Teenager Ranjuo Tomblin created another moment of history on his way to helping Great Britain secure a golden double at the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup.

The 19-year-old won a first-ever World Cup medal for a British male in Paris as he topped the podium in the Men’s Tech Solo competition.

And less than 24 hours later, he’d earned a second gold of the competition as he teamed up with Holly Hughes to triumph in the Mixed Tech Duet.

Tomblin admitted he ‘couldn’t believe this is happening’ after heading to the French capital to test out new routines in a competitive situation.

He scored 214.3966 in the Men’s Tech Solo to edge out Kazakhstan’s Eduard Kim (213.8167) and Spain’s Jordi Caceres Iglesias (213.5992) who won silver and bronze respectively.

It was Tomblin’s first senior medal on the world stage and followed the gold he picked up in the Men’s Free Sole at last year’s European Champions in Belgrade.

Tomblin said: “I totally didn’t expect it.

“We just came here to test our routines. I’m really grateful to have the chance to test our routines at the big competitions, so I’m just really happy and I can’t really believe this has happened.

“The previous achievements [have helped] and I would also say the help of Kate [Shortman] and Izzy [Thorpe], who are really opening the door for us as a newer generation of athletes. 

“They’ve made us realise that Great Britain is actually quite good at this sport and that has given us a lot of confidence.

Really happy

“When you win medals, it’s definitely like, ‘oh look, look at what I’m doing’ and it really shows what all the hard work is doing for us. 

“I really come here to the World Cups to test routines because with the new rules we’re a bit unsure what to declare, so I’m really happy this happened and I probably won’t be able to really believe it for a couple of days.”

Tomblin’s victory in the Mixed Tech Duet alongside Hughes was also remarkable as it was the pair’s first senior international event together.

They scored 182.9325 points for their routine, which left them clear winners of the second-placed duet, Spain’s Jordi Caceres Iglesias and Aurora Lazaro Cabaleiro (170.2192), and their compatriots, Dennis Gonzalez Boneu and Sara Saldana Lopez (167.4617), who claimed the bronze.

Tomblin said: “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this is happening. 

“We’re obviously really happy with the result but there are things we know we need to improve on and we’re going take this experience and work on our routines and maybe increasing our DD (degree of difficulty) to really get that artistic impression in for the bigger competitions later in the year.”

Seventeen-year-old Hughes added: “It’s pretty cool as this is my first international competition competing with Ranjuo and he got the gold medal, so I thought ‘high expectations’ but we seem to have met them. 

“He’s very encouraging and really helps me get through the competition.”

Hughes also Tok part in the Women’s Team Technical alongside Florence Blinkhorn, Katherine Boitsidis, Jessica Hinxman, Pia Lanham, Sophie Rowney, Magdalena Townsend and Amelie Williams as they finished 10th on 200.9150.

In the Women’s Tech Duet final, Robyn Swatman and Eve Young finished eighth with a score of 228.9084, while Loya Cenkci was 18th in the Women’s Solo Technical with a final total of 185.6934.