RANDALL REACHES FINAL AFTER PROMISING PERFORMANCE
Britain ' s Jenna Randall succeeded in securing her place
in the Britain final of the Solo event at the European Championships
after Britain her promising preliminary rounds.
The British Champion first took the water in the Solo Free
routine and swam well to take scores of high 8s. She showed
improved height on her vertical boosts and increased power
through the water to finish in ninth place with 86.600 points.
Randall then went on to use her new technical programme
for the second half of the solo competition. This was the
first time the Commonwealth silver medallist had performed
the routine at a major international meet. She performed the
elements well to again take high 8s, but this time finished
impressively in sixth place with 87.000 points.
Overall, World champion Natalia Ischenko (Russia) took the
top spot with 97.700 points, Spain ' s Gemma Mengual took
the second spot with 97.600 points. Italy ' s Beatrice Adelizzi
finished in third place with 93.00 points.
Randall finished in ninth place overall with a total of
86.900 to book her place in the final twelve.
" I am happy with my performances today although the
free routine could have gone slightly better, " Randall
said. " I was performing my new technical routine which
went really well. It was a lot better than I could have hoped
for.
" The Solo has not been our focus in training, because
it isn ' t an Olympic event, and to go out and achieve some
high 8s without much focussed training was really encouraging.
I came here with the aim of just putting in the best performance
possible and I achieved this in my technical but I have parts
to work on in my free routine before the final.
" I also wanted to improve on my result last year and
I finished 12th overall, so be lying in ninth position before
the final is great.
" During my technical routine I was really happy with
my first element the 360° twist, 360° in the opposite
direction into split position then spin from splits.
" We have been working on this element a lot. It is
really important to have the split flat on the water surface
and we have worked hard to ensure I can get as many marks
from this as possible. "
The British duet, which includes Randall and Olivia Allison,
has been working at the High Performance Centre in Aldershot
with National Performance Director Biz Price for just over
a year now and in that time the improvements have been nothing
short of impressive.
" Since I ' ve been working with Biz I can see a vast
difference in the way I can compete, " Randall added.
" My fitness has improved dramatically and I can put
more power into all of the movements which gets you the higher
marks.
" It is important to take on technical corrections
from your coach and when Biz first started I found it hard
to take them all in, but now I can focus on them and take
in more throughout the routine.
" In training and our preparations we talk about having
a bar and it was raised by a huge amount after the World Championships
last year and we worked to achieve that new level. Now we
reached our first aims the bar has been raised even higher
and we are aiming to reach a new height with our synchro.
"
An important part of the duet ' s development is taking
advice and learning from other synchro nations and last month
they took part in a camp in Spain with their national squad.
The influence of the world ' s number two synchro nation for
Randall was huge.
" The Spanish camp allowed us to see what we need to
do to get to the next level, " she said. " They
are one of the best in the world and this is the standard
we want to be at.
" While we were in Spain we learnt a lot ways to improve
our synchro including how to improve the intensity of our
performances, this is really important for any synchro routine
and can completely change a competition for you. I feel more
confident in my synchro after learning how to include this
in my routines. "
Competition continues at the European Championships with
the Duet taking to the water on 14th March and Randall goes
into the final of the Solo Free routine on 16th March.
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