Britain’s young synchronised swimmers finished off their first World Championships with a display that drew scores of “excellence” from those judging the Duet Free Routine.
Olivia Allison and Jenna Randall (Rushmoor) were early into the Rod Laver pool for the preliminary competition but coped with the draw to post their first international score of nine.
It proved to be a perfect way to finish off what has been a great experience for the developing team given the fact they have only been training full time towards their 2008 and 2012 Olympic dreams since the turn of the year.
The girls followed up their ranking of 20th in the Duet Technical on day one of the World Championships in Melbourne with another 20th placing in the Free on day five to exceed the expectations set before the meet.
They scored a total of 86.167 with 43.667 being awarded for Technical Merit and 42.500 for Artistic Impression.
And for Randall, the teenager showed her individual promise with a 16th and 17th place respectively in the Solo Free and Technical and day two and day three.
“We’re pleased with that, in fact I’m pleased with the entire week,” said British National Performance Director Biz Price. “The girls have done a great job this week and have showed there are a rising force within the synchro world.
“Today, certain areas could have been slightly better but it was nothing major and showed improvements the girls have made over the past three months. Their preparation has been spot on and I wouldn’t change a thing at this stage.”
The first international score of nine from the judges moves the girls from “very good” into the “excellent” category and this is exactly where Price wanted the girls to be after spending the past three months working intensively with them.
“That’s where we need to be and that’s our aim. We’re now stepping into a different class,” explained Price.
“They’ve come on so much since January, other nations are commenting, the judges have noticed and the girls themselves have taken confidence from their preparation.
“We won’t be resting though, we need to keep this momentum going forward. We will be aiming high with a Beijing Olympics qualification our main focus now.
“I know the girls had nothing left in the tank at the end of their routine and that’s all I can ask for. They gave it everything today as they have done all year.”
For the athletes themselves the World Championships have provided valuable experience and they’ve gained confidence from the knowledge they can compete on the world stage while earning a reputation with the international judges,
“We received our first nine score today and that’s pretty impressive at this stage of our development,” said Allison. “We’re very pleased with the score and it’s put us higher than we expected.
“We came into the World Championships looking for top 22 finishes but that performance has seen us go above that so it shows the gains we’re making.”
Team mate Randall has been involved in all of Britain’s appearances in the pool this week and it’s something she is looking forward to continuing over the next five years before the London 2012 Olympics.
“I think its by far our best competition as a duet,” said Randall. “Now we’re training and living together it’s enabled us to grow as a duet and the result was there to see this morning.
“We’ve been able to concentrate on other areas to improve as our fitness has come on a lot since January. We can focus on our corrections rather than how tired we feel which is what has happened in the past.
“The fitness has been the biggest gain for us. We’ve taken big strides over the past three months but there’s more to come and we’re excited about developing as a duet even further.”
-ends-
The 12th FINA World Championships will take place from 17th March until 1st April 2007.
The British Sychro squad comprises:
Olivia Allison (Rushmoor)
Jenna Randall (Rushmoor)
Lauren Smith (Rushmoor)
Synchro takes place from 17th to 24th March
Diving takes place from 19th to 26th March.
Swimming takes place from 25th March to 1st April.
Open Water takes place from 18th to 25th March.
For further details contact Dave Richards, British Swimming Media Manager, on 01509 632237, 0778 992 6136 or email dave.richards@swimming.org
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association) British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
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