SYNCHRO SWIMMERS READY FOR TOUGH EUROPEAN CHALLENGE
After Britain's synchronised swimming duet yesterday struggled
with flight cancellations due to the turbulent weather they
have made it to the European Championships and are now ready
to test themselves against some of the world's best athletes.
With the two leading synchro nations, Russia and Spain, competing
in Eindhoven this week the next five days may prove tough
for the young British pair.
But Jenna Randall and Olivia Allison have looked promising
since they began the year with a strong performance at the
German Open. And with the duet finishing in fifth place overall
and Randall taking silver in the solo routine, they have given
themselves an excellent foundation to build on.
National Performance Director Biz Price is looking for another
strong performance from the duet to build their confidence
before they head to Beijing for the vital Olympic qualification
event.
"As this is our last meet before the Olympic qualification
event next month, this competition is very important for us
in terms of seeing what stage we are at," she said. "The
standard at the European Championships is going to be very
high and this is going to be a good test for us just four
months out from the Olympics.
"Two of the top synchro nations in the world will be
competing in Eindhoven, so it is very important for us to
perform the best we can. There will be strong performances
from Italy and France so I am looking for our athletes to
step up to this competition."
Commonwealth silver medallist Randall will be taking to the
water in the solo event and she will join Allison to compete
and build their experience as a duet.
As a duet, they will be performing their new programme in
its entirety and after they debuted the new free routine earlier
this year, they will be looking to go a step better and break
into scores of 9s.
"Our routines have come a long way since the beginning
of the year," Price added. "We performed our new
routines at the German Open and from there we took the advice
of top international judges and made changes.
"With the free routine I will be looking for a better
level of consistency from the pair and if they can gain high
8s and 9s - well that would be just great."
And just a year on from their first major international competition
the girl's improvement has been nothing short of impressive.
"The girls have made huge leaps forward in terms of
their fitness and their ability," said Price. "We
have an increased level of difficulty in all of their routines
and the height they are getting out of the water is so much
better than anything they were achieving last year.
"They have improved power and propulsion through the
water and their ability to propel themselves through the water
is up there with the top in the world.
"There are some elemnets they need to work on, but after
this event we can learn from the feedback we will receive
from the international judges and make changes before the
Olympic qualifier in April."
The duet go into the event after a week-long camp training
alongside the one of the world's top synchro nations, Spain,
and the British pair have been shown just how hard they need
to work to proceed further up the world rankings.
"The camp was a great chance for them to learn a lot
from such a strong synchro nation," said Price. "The
national Spanish coach spent time coaching Jenna and Olivia
and I took charge of the Spanish squad. This was a great learning
experience for them, and training alongside these top athletes
was fantastic.
"They were physically fatigued after the pressure of
training next to the second synchro nation, but it was important
for them to take part in this as it helped them realise how
far they need to go to keep up with the top countries."
Competition begins on 13th March with Jenna Randall competing
in the solo free and technical routines.
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