SYNCHRO DUET TO TEST THEMSELVES AT GERMAN OPEN
Britain's synchronised swimming duet of Jenna Randall and
Olivia Allison begin competition in Bonn today at the German
Open.
The arrival of Canadian-born Biz Price as National Performance
Director at the end of 2006 has brought about mass change
that has transformed the athletes' performances in the pool
and they will be looking to continue their rise in Germany.
Over the past 12-months the duet has benefited from the centralisation
of the national squad at an army garrison in Aldershot. Both
athletes train full-time and it has provided them with a platform
on which to chase hopes of competing at the 2008 and 2012
Olympic Games.
The German Open sees the pairing perform their new free routine
in full for the first time, and sees them perform both the
new free and technical routines at a competitive meet.
Price has been working with the duet on the new routine for
the past 12-months.
"It is still a very new routine for the girls and is
difficult in terms of the choreography. With this being the
first time they perform competitively with the full routine
I would expect a fair number of mistakes but this meet is
more about gathering feedback," she said.
With qualification for the 2008 Beijing Olympics being targeted
this year, a number of countries are in the same position
as Britain at this meet with many expected to be testing new
routines.
Emphasis is not resting on the result of the German Open
rather than how the duet is coping with the new routine and
giving them the opportunity to gather more experience.
"Giving Jenna and Olivia the chance to be exposed to
different judges and coaches is always beneficial as it will
expand their horizons and help develop them as athletes,"
said Price.
A number of teams that Britain will be looking to overtake
in terms of rankings will be attending the meet and gives
Allison and Randall the opportunity to get some more international
experience before the European qualification event for the
Olympics.
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