ALLISON AND RANDALL LOOK TO BOOK OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION
Britain's Olivia Allison and Jenna Randall took to the pool
today in the Duet Free routine as the pair look to secure
their spot at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The pair competed in the Duet Technical event on Wednesday
(16 April), and 50% of both marks were taken today and combined
to give them their final score and placing.
The top 14 ranked duets after the Technical and the first
round of the Free event, were selected for the Olympics. Only
four places are left for the remaining teams, which will decided
by taking the Technical score and that from the second round
of the Free event.
The pairing put in a strong display in the water today and
finished with 86.333 points and left them in equal 15th place
with Mexico overall.
With only one of the two teams able to go through as first
round qualifiers to make it to the Games later this year,
Britain just missed out as Mexico's score in the Free event
was marginally better.
Allison and Randall now move into Sunday's second round ranked
as the top duet, and will take a lot of confidence from their
performances so far.
British Synchronised Swimming National Performance Director,
Biz Price, was really happy with the duet's performance.
"Coming into the event I set them a target of going
into the second round of the Duet Free as the top ranked pair,"
said Price.
"After the performance in the Technical event there
was a chance that they could've have qualified in the first
round but we were just beaten by Mexico.
"Sometimes, despite putting in a great performance you
just miss out but this kind of thing can happen in sport.
They have gotten over the disappointment very quickly and
take a lot of confidence from this heading into Sunday,"
continued Price.
"It give the girls another chance to put in a performance
in front of judges which is a good thing, and they were boosted
by the Spanish saying they gave a "wow performance."
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