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 childhood friends were fractionally outside the podium places after Friday’s Big Ben-themed technical performance but a Rising Phoenix free routine on Saturday was adjudged the best of the 17-strong field.
An overall score 558.5367 was not enough to dislodge China from top spot but they nudged the Netherlands into the bronze-medal position by the wafer-thin margin of 0.1404 points.
Shortman and Thorpe, whose historic achievement has led to Sea Life London Aquarium renaming two nurse sharks after them, were the only pairing in the top five who are not sisters. China’s Wang Liuyi and Qianyi, the Netherlands’ Noortje and Bregje de Brouwer and Ukraine’s Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva are twins, while Austria’s Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri are part of a set of triplets.
However, the British duo have a deep connection, forged by two of their parents competing in the duet in the 1980s as Shortman’s mother, Maria, swam alongside Karen Thorpe, who now coaches the children.
“It’s just the most incredible cherry on the top of over a decade’s worth of friendship and training together,” Shortman said. “We’ve seen each other at our very worst and our very best. It’s been a hard and very long journey but we’re so happy that we’re here and we get to do it together.”
Shortman and Thorpe both thought about walking away from the sport over a subjective scoring system but after a major rule change last year their fortunes have improved dramatically. There are now two judging panels scouting the elements of a routine and artistic impression, while the competitors themselves announce how difficult their performance will be before jumping in the pool. The success of Shortman and Thorpe is hot on the heels of them winning silver and bronze at the World Aquatics Championships.
“It’s crazy to think what would have happened,” Shortman said. “We were both so close to giving up, we couldn’t see the wood through the trees, we couldn’t see a good end result. This is more than we could have ever imagined. We have been going from strength to strength since the rule change so we are excited for what the future holds.”
With Thorpe just 23 and Shortman 22, the pair are relishing the thought of competing at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Thorpe said: “LA is four years away and we’ve gone from 14th to second with these new rules, so anything is possible.”
The pair are hopeful that what they have achieved in the last few months can lead to more youngsters taking up artistic swimming. “It’s always been of our goal to expand the sport,” Shortman added. “It’s so fun, it’s so dynamic and obviously it’s a creative sport. We just hope that this has inspired people and hopefully young athletes will be inspired as well.”