Shortman and Thorpe make Women's World Technical Duet Final

Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe have qualified for the Women’s Technical Duet Final on the opening day of the FINA World Artistic Swimming Championships in Budapest.

Shortman and Thorpe qualified in ninth place with a total score of 84.8081 after their five routines.

The score was 7.8297 points behind the Chinese pair of Liuyi Wang and Qianyi Wang of China who topped the preliminary session.

Britain’s pairs routines scored a total of 25.50 for execution, 25.80 for impression and 33.5081 for elements on their way to qualifying for the twelve team final.

The event is the first time that Shortman and Thorpe have competed as a duet since the Tokyo Olympics and it’s the first time they’ve made the final in this event in what is their third attempt.

Ukrainian pair Vlada Alekseeva and Maryna Alekseeva were second with a score of 91.8565 whilst Anna-Maria Alexandri and Eirini Alexandri were third for Austria (90.2869).

The Women’s Technical Duet Final will take place on Sunday.

Two finals for Shortman

In the earlier session, Shortman also booked her place in the solo technical final after qualifying in seventh place.

The City of Bristol synchronised swimmer qualified with a score of 83.8324 over three points clear of the final qualification spot.

Shortman’s routines scored 25.10 for execution, 25.40 for impression and 33.3324 for elements to book her place in Saturday’s final.

The Brit’s best routine was her second of the five, scoring an impressive 28.5600 from the judges.

Japan’s Yukiko Inui topped the preliminary round with a total score of 91.9189 just over eight points ahead of Shortman.

Ukraine’s Marta Fiedina was second with a total score of 90.9382 with Greece’s Evangelia Plataniot in third with a score of 88.6163.

The competition takes place at the Alfred Hajos Swimming Complex and will run until Saturday 25 June.