\n<\/p>\n
Kate Shortman made history at the World Aquatics Championships by winning Britain’s first artistic swimming medal with a bronze in the solo free final.<\/span><\/p>\n The 21-year-old, who won a European bronze alongside Izzy Thorpe in the tech duet last month, produced a nerveless display in Fukuoka, Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n She scored 32.9000 for difficulty, 86.8000 for artistic impression and 133.1542 for execution.<\/span><\/p>\n A score of 219.9542 saw her finish 12 points clear of Audrey Lamothe.<\/span><\/p>\n Japan’s Yukiko Inui won gold, with Vasiliki Alexandri of Austria taking silver. <\/span><\/p>\n “I can’t even put it into words, I am so excited,” said Shortman. “This is just a crazy step in the right direction for Great Britain, hopefully putting us on the map a bit more.<\/span><\/p>\n “I just swam my heart out and was really thinking about staying precise, staying controlled and not getting too excited with the prelims score – because I did well in that, I didn’t want to run away with it, I just wanted to control it and I did the best I could.<\/span><\/p>\n “I didn’t want to go too high risk, I know a few of the other soloists did and unfortunately it didn’t pay off. They’ve been really strict at this competition with base marks – I wanted to do the best I could and that meant a no-base-mark swim.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n