Kate Shortman sets new personal best in European Championships solo free final

Kate Shortman swam a new personal best as she impressed in the European Aquatics Championships Artistic Swimming solo free final.

After also achieving a new personal best on day two of the competition as part of the Great Britain duet alongside Isabelle Thorpe, the 19-year-old finished sixth in her solo event.

Karen Thorpe, manager of artistic swimming for Swim England and British Swimming, said Shortman was ‘all set to enjoy her swim and pull out all the stops’ – and she certainly did.

An overall score of 86.0000 was an improvement on her preliminary score of 85.2333 and on her previous personal best of 85.6000 which she set at the Spanish Open, the eighth leg of the FINA World Series in 2019.

The score was broken down into 25.9000 for execution, 34.4000 for artistic impression and 25.7000 for difficulty.

Shortman was only sixteen when she competed at the last European Championships in 2018, when she finished ninth with a score of 84.7333.

On the performance, Karen added: “It was a very good swim from Kate – she improved her height and propulsion.

“She’s now gearing up for the rescheduled technical duet event tomorrow.”

Russia’s Varvara Subbotina took gold (96.4333), with Ukraine’s Marta Fiedina (93.7000) second and Evangelia Platanioti of Greece third (90.8000).