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Agony for Shortman and Thorpe as they miss out on world final by narrow margin

Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe have agonisingly missed out on reaching a World Championships final for the second time.

The British duo finished 14th in the duet free preliminary competition at the Yeomju Gymnasium, Gwangju, South Korea, on 83.8000 points – only 0.7000 from the 12th-placed American pair of Anita Alvarez and Ruby Remati who took the final qualification spot.

A total of 45 teams took part in the preliminary round and although it was another gutsy performance from Shortman and Thorpe, they will ultimately be slightly disappointed to have missed out by such a slender margin.

However, it was an improvement on their display in the 2017 World Championships in Budapest when they finished 16th in the duet free competition, scoring 82.5667 for their routine.

Karen Thorpe, Swim England National Synchro Manager, said: “They improved their routine following the European Junior Championships and they swam really well.

“It’s frustrating to be so close but we’re getting lots of positive comments about them. We’re pleased to have improved on the performance from the 2017 World Championships when they finished 16th.

“Reaching that top 12 will certainly be a very realistic aim for next season.”

Kate bids for solo success

Frustratingly, this year’s championships has been a case of what ifs for the ever-improving duet and follows a second situation of being so near yet so far from the final.

On the opening day of the 2019 competition, the duet also missed out on the technical final by only 0.8711 points after also finishing 14th in the preliminary round.

Meanwhile, Shortman will be aiming to put the disappointment quickly behind her when she competes in the solo free final on Wednesday 17 July.

She is bidding for a second top 10 finish after impressing in the solo technical final.

In that event, Shortman was just shy of her personal best as she scored 83.9548 to take 10th spot.

Picture: British Swimming Twitter page

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