GB trio gain ‘great experience’ at European Youth Championships

Three of Swim England’s Artistic Swimming Youth squad gained ‘great experience’ as they represented Great Britain at the European Artistic Swimming Youth Championships last weekend.

Andrea Eliasson, Lena Ramanah-Beck and Madeleine Fish all headed to Athens alongside more than 180 of Europe’s top young athletes at the Olympic Aquatic Centre which hosted the 2004 Games.

They were joined in Greece by their coaches Rosie Barrington and Szofi Steingart as well as Swim England artistic swimming manager Karen Thorpe for the four day competition.

It marked a first European event for Salford’s Ramanah-Beck and City of Leeds’ Fish who teamed up in the Free Duet to finish in 13^th place.

They scored 149.0980 for a basemark free routine which saw them agonisingly miss out on the final by less than two points after the result was combined with their figures score.

London’s Eliasson did however make the final in the Free Solo event.

She was a part of the nation’s Free Combination team at this event two years ago but took to the pool for the first time as a soloist on the European stage where she finished in eight spot overall.

She set a total of 165.9625 for her routine with 61.8125 for elements and 64.1500 for artistic impression.

The trio also competed in the Figures event with Eliasson 84^th on 67.3000, Fish 103^rd on 64.9304 and Ramanah-Beck 111^th on 64.1757 out of 187 top level athletes.

‘Pleasing results’

Commenting on the performance Thorpe said: “The competition went really well and we were really pleased with the results and that we continue to move forward considerably.

“It was a great experience for all three of them with Lena and Maddie taking part in their biggest competition so far and Andrea’s first time at a Europeans as a soloist.

“They performed well especially as the standard at the event was exceptionally high and that this was the first time that the new rules have come into effect for this competition.

“It was an event that we learnt a lot from which we can use to help develop this age group going forward.

“A lot of the bigger countries – that were able to train full time before the competition – increased the speed of their routines to both incorporate all their elements and avoid staying underwater for more than half of their routines which is one of the more recent changes.

“So we’ve found some things that we want to focus on and help implement into club and regional programmes to help our athletes take on the best of Europe in the future.”

The team will be back in action with a showcase display at the upcoming Regional Games event before they head to Croatia in June for the Primorje Cup.

You can watch all the action back on the European Aquatics TV YouTube channel with live results available here.