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Image source, Getty Images

British duo Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe are fourth in the artistic swimming competition following their opening technical routine on Friday.

Second-last to perform, the Bristol-based pair scored 264.0282 and are half a point outside the medal positions.

Shortman told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport: "We are going to fight to the death. We really want a medal. We are going to put our heart into it and leave it all in the pool."

"The swim felt good," Thorpe added. "It was amazing having a crowd."

All 18 duets will return on Saturday to perform a free routine, with medals to be decided by a collective score.

GB’s best finish at an Olympics in the sport was fourth, 40 years ago in Los Angeles.

Shortman and Thorpe and Kate have high hopes they can find the routine needed to match their silver medal at the World Championships in Doha earlier this year.

Sonia Oxley
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport in Paris

Image source, Getty Images

China won their first Olympic gold in team artistic swimming after dominating the competition over three routines in Paris.

A new champion was guaranteed as Russia - who had won the past six titles – are banned following the invasion of Ukraine.

China, who took silver at the past three Games, finally upgraded to gold with a stunning acrobatic routine to seal victory after topping the standings following both the technical and free routines in the past two days.

They scored 283.6934 for Wednesday's acrobatic routine for a total of 996.1389.

The United States (914.3421) took silver and Spain the bronze (900.7319).

Great Britain were not in the team event but will have Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe competing in the pairs on Friday and Saturday.