Britain wins historic swimming medal – silver medal to Kate and Izzy!
Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe claimed a first artistic swimming medal for Great Britain at the Olympics with silver in the women’s duet.
The British duo, childhood friends had high hopes of a historic medal after winning silver and bronze at the World Aquatics Championships this year.
Mothers of the two also competed alongside one another.
Kate and Izzy performed their Rising Phoenix routine to score 294.5085 – for a combined total of 558.5367 in Paris.
China’s Liuyi Wang and Qianyi Wang took gold (566.4783) and the Netherlands’ Bregje de Brouwer and Noortje de Brouwer won bronze (558.3963).
Shortman and Thorpe, who said their UK Sport funding was only reinstated less than a year ago. Both sat fourth after Friday’s Big Ben-themed technical routine before delivering a high-energy free routine.
Both were stunned when they saw their names on top of the leaderboard with two teams still to compete, knowing they were guaranteed a medal.
They covered their mouths in disbelief before the hugs, and tears flowed while a sizeable Union Jack-waving contingent in the Paris Aquatics Centre erupted in celebration.
They were the only pairing that finished in the top five who are not related. China’s Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi and Ukraine’s Maryna Aleksiiva and Vladyslava Aleksiiva are twins, while Austria’s Anna-Maria Alexandri and Eirini-Marina Alexandri are part of a set of triplets.
Connect
Subscribe for latest videos and live streams
On the go – key in ynuk.tv
Your reaction – drop by our comment box
Follow our socials:
https://www.facebook.com/YNUKtv
https://twitter.com/YourNewsUKtv
https://www.instagram.com/yournewsuktv
Watch again the historic silver medal for #Artisticswimming https://t.co/kaoIqH2aIh Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe were truly amazing and overwhelmed with #Olympia2024 success #Paris2024 #TeamGB #swimming #Paris2024Olympics #ynuktv pic.twitter.com/fXF7SgqyV7
— YourNewsUKtv (@YourNewsUKtv) August 10, 2024
