Best friends Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe claim stunning Olympic silver

By Paul Martin in Paris

There have been times since Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe’s Olympic debut that both have doubted whether they wanted to push through to Paris.

With Britain’s first-ever artistic swimming medals around their necks and two sharks at London's Sealife Centre named in their honour, it would be fair to say they are glad they stuck at it.

The bubbly best friends from Bristol made history in the Centre Aquatique pool on Saturday night by soaring to the podium with a dazzling free routine named ‘rising phoenix’.

It marked the highest point so far in a journey which started when they dived in at the Filton Leisure Centre deep end aged eight, though the partnership was not completely random.

Their mothers competed in the same event together, narrowly missing selection for Atlanta 1996, and Thorpe’s mum Kate coaches the pair.

They have become virtually inseparable over the past decade, helping each other through the gruelling twists and turns of a sport which requires them to be able to hold their breath underwater for three minutes.

The hours of yoga, breathwork and gym work have now paid off in style as they added to their three World Championship medals with one that means just that extra bit more.

“It's just the most incredible cherry on the top of over a decade's worth of friendship and training together,” Shortman said.

“We've seen each other at our very worst and our very best. It's been a hard and very long journey but we're so happy that we're here and we get to do it together.

“We were both so close to giving up, we couldn’t see the wood through the trees, we couldn’t see a good end result. This is more than we could have ever imagined.”

Both paid tribute to a revitalised scoring system for improving their chances of a medal, having previously seen their event as something of a closed shop.

The sport was brought more into line with gymnastics and figure skating, with a maths-based system marking difficulty and a judging panel analysing choreography and ‘artistic impression’.

Thorpe sought counsel from those who had gone before her to find the inspiration to carry on after a 14th-placed finish in Tokyo and it has paid off in style.

“Olivia Federici went to Beijing, London and Rio and I spoke to her when I was considering giving up the sport,” she said.

“I wanted to see her point of view as she had gone through similar times. The sport can be tough when you feel like it’s a bit biased and you’re not getting anywhere climbing the rankings.

“The rule change has also made a massive difference.”

Shortman and Thorpe had their Team GB selection confirmed at the capital’s Sealife Centre and will be able to go and see ‘Kate and Izzy’ on their next visit, with the venue naming a Caribbean nurse shark and tawny nurse shark in honour of the pair following their success.

A key turning point on their path to the podium came when the pair were brought on to UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, which supports over 1,000 athletes.

Previously reliant on the bank of mum and dad, Shortman hailed the increased financial support as vital to their journey into the history books and hopes the pair have blazed a trail for others to follow.

“Within the last year we’ve got funding from UK Sport, which is funded by National Lottery players,” she said.

“It’s really great and really boosted our results, so we are really grateful.

“It's always been our goal to expand the sport, it's so fun, it's so dynamic and it's a creative sport so we just hope that this has inspired people and hopefully young athletes will be inspired as well.”

National Lottery players raise more than £30million a week for Good Causes including vital funding into sport – from grassroots to elite. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk