Swim England Artistic Swimming

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Shortman and Thorpe impress at FINA Artistic Swimming World Series

Great Britain’s technical duet set a new personal best as they sealed an impressive fifth-placed finish at the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series in Paris.

In their first competitive event of the season, Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe put on an assured performance to finish on 83.0289 points – only 1.5948 behind the France A duo who claimed the bronze medal.

And they did it with a karate-themed routine which they have only been working on since last October.

It lead to Karen Thorpe, Swim England Talent Manager for Synchro, excited for the season ahead and full of praise for the duo.

She said: “It’s an amazing start to the season for Kate and Isabelle.

Delighted with performance

“They are both still only 17 years old and technically juniors but they swam with determination in a tough, competitive field.

“Their new Japanese karate-themed routine was choreographed only in October. Since then, they have trained hard in Italy and Spain and worked hard every day with their coach, Paola Basso, to develop their technical skills and the routine.

“We’re delighted with their performance. It will give them added confidence and we hope they can build on this during the rest of the season.”

Shortman is in action again on Saturday 2 March when she takes part in the free solo.

And the duet will then join the rest of the squad on Sunday 3 March for the combination event and then the free team contest

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