UWE Bristol student ‘in it to win it’ at Paris Olympics

UWE Bristol sports rehabilitation student Izzy Thorpe is hoping for a podium position at the Paris Olympics where she’ll be competing in artistic swimming.

23-year-old Izzy, from Westbury On Trym, will compete alongside her duet partner Kate Shortman. The pair have had a gruelling regime to prepare for the competition, training ten hours a day, for six days a week.

Both Izzy and Kate are following in the footsteps of their mothers who were previously sychronized swimming partners, before the sport became artistic swimming, but just missed out on qualifying for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Izzy has said her mum, Karen Thorpe, is a “massive inspiration” to her.

With her mum coaching synchronized swimming, Izzy spent a lot of time at the pool as a child and at the age of seven starting training in the sport.

This will be Izzy’s second Olympics, after competing in Tokyo 2020.

Ahead of the competition, Izzy said: “I’m hoping to achieve a medal, obviously everyone is in it to win it and we want to win gold. It’s given us confidence this year because we’ve done a few competitions and been climbing the rankings. We’re going into the competition seeded second so fingers crossed it all goes well.

“Just to get on the podium would be incredible. For everyone that’s worked alongside me and Kate, my friends, family, university, school, everyone that’s helped support me to this point in my career. And for artistic swimming as a sport, hopefully it would encourage more boys and girls into the sport and bring more exposure to artistic swimming.”

Izzy will be entering into her final year of studies at UWE Bristol in September.

She continued: “Once I finish my degree, hopefully I’ll work in sports rehab. It’s very close to the sport I’m competing in, and I’d love to go on and work in sports.”

Jedd Billing, Deputy Dean of the School of Health and Social Wellbeing said: “Izzy’s shown exceptional dedication to her sport and to be seeded in second place entering the Olympics shows that her hard work is really paying off. We wish her so much luck for the competition and will be supporting her from back home in Bristol.”

Izzy and her duet partner Kate will be competing in the Paris Olympics on 9 August in the Artistic Swimming Technical Duet and 10 August in the Free Duet.