Team GB duet open Rio 2016 synchro campaign

Katie Clark and Olivia Federici made their Olympic debut as a duet today when they took to the water for their Free Routine in Rio.

The Team GB synchronised swimmers performed their snakes-inspired routine under the Brazilian sun at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, showing good speed and height throughout.

Clark and Federici have continued to show their development since returning to the sport late last year and finished their opening routine with a promising score of 79.9667 and lie in 18th place heading into the Technical routine.

Time for #SynchronisedSwimming to make it’s Rio debut! @Olivia_Federici & @KatieC_23 score 79.9667 #Rio2016pic.twitter.com/Eld30npIv0

— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 14, 2016

One of our best swims

Federici said: “It felt really good. I guess I’m a little disappointed with our score but we gave it everything and you can’t do much more than what you can control.

“It’s one of our best swims so you can’t really ask for more than that.”

Our brilliant synchro team today after their Free routine. #SynchronisedSwimming#Rio2016pic.twitter.com/u2Jf9zLl3d

— British Swimming (@britishswimming) August 14, 2016

Clark added: “In June we scored 85 so it’s a little bit down from that but it’s a big competition so we can expect that. It’s really nice out there and it’s a nice atmosphere.

“We did our practice for the technical yesterday and we’re feeling good but we’re looking at every detail to make sure we’ve got the best score and the best performance possible.”