British team of 14 ready to take on European Championship test

A 14-strong British artistic swimming team are in Serbia, Belgrade for the European Aquatics Championships.

Artistic swimming will kick off the Championships – from Monday 10 to Friday 14 June – with Great Britain also competing in swimming, diving and open water across the next two weeks.

Athletes from 22 countries have entered the artistic swimming events, with the continents top athletes heading to the Sports and Recreational Center Milan Gale Gale Muškatirović – which was constructed half a century ago for the first World Aquatic Championships in 1973.

Amongst the British contingent are the Olympic bound duo of Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe, who will use event to fine tune their routines ahead of the Games.

The duet are on fine form following their first World Championship medals in February with bronze in the Duet Free and silver in Duet Technical. The British pair also just won their first World Cup gold at the beginning of May in the newly-built Paris Olympic Aquatic Centre.

They’ll compete in both duet events in what will be last major competition ahead of the games, giving Robyn Swatman the opportunity to compete in the Technical Solo on the European stage.

She won three national titles in a row in the event from 2021 to 2023 at the Swim England Artistic Swimming National Championships and comes to Serbia with a chance to impress under the new rules.

Ranjuo Tomblin will also take part in each of the Male Solo events as he targets a senior European medal to add to his silver at the European Junior Championships in 2022.

He will then team up with his long term partner Beatrice Crass in the Mixed Duet after they made history at last year’s European Games by winning Great Britain’s first artistic swimming medals at the competition.

A fresh British team complete the group in Serbia as they compete in both the technical and free team events.

The team features a number of debutants who will have the opportunity to climb the leaderboard in their biggest competition of the season. Reigning champions Spain are only entering the technical event whilst 2022 champions Ukraine will not be competing in Serbia which will open up spots on the podium which the GB team will be desperate to claim.

You can watch all the action live on European Aquatics TV, starting on Monday at 9:30am with the Women’s Solo Free Preliminaries, with Great Britain’s first involvement in the Team Technical final at 3:30pm.

You can see the full schedule here and results will be available on the event website.