‘Courageous’ display from Kate Shortman as she raises the bar once again

Kate Shortman set a new personal best with a ‘courageous’ performance at the European Junior Artistic (Synchronised) Swimming Championships.

Competing in the solo technical final in Prague, Czech Republic, Shortman scored 84.2507 to take fifth spot.

The event was dominated by Russia’s Tatiana Gayday, who won the gold medal by more than three points after finishing with a total of 88.7614.

Shortman was only 1.484 points behind Ukraine’s Oleksandra Burdova, who claimed the silver medal with a score of 85.7347.

It once again showed the huge progress Shortman has made in the last 12 months, as she finished seventh in the same event last year with a score of 82.4159.

Karen Thorpe, Swim England National Synchro Manager, was pleased with Shortman’s efforts.

She said: “Kate swam a courageous tech solo, pushing hard on all the elements to finish in fifth, closely behind Belarus, Spain and Ukraine.”

New best for duet

It proved to be a busy day for Shortman as she had earlier taken part in the duet free preliminary competition alongside Isabelle Thorpe.

They comfortably booked their place in the final on Sunday 23 June with a fifth-place finish after achieving a new personal best score of 84.2667.

Shortman and Thorpe will swim 11th out of 12 in Sunday’s final and will be aiming to better their display from the preliminary round.

And despite setting a new high score with their routine, Karen said there was room for improvement in their performance

She added: “The duet set a new personal but had a few minor errors which can be better in the final.

“I’m sure they will swim with determination to put them right.”

The fourth day of the competition on Saturday 22 June sees Shortman in action in the solo free final, while the GB also competing in the team free final.