Great Britain’s Isabelle Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin continued their golden run at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 on Sunday as they brought their successful partnership to a close, claiming their second title of the meet in the mixed duet technical final as the third day of artistic swimming unfolded at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis.
While the schedule featured just one medal event, the session still delivered a closely contested battle for gold, with less than seven tenths of a point separating the top two pairs.
After striking gold in the mixed duet free on Saturday, Thorpe and Tomblin returned to the pool as the favourites and once again lived up to expectations. The British duo topped the standings with 229.6783 points, edging Italy by just 0.6691 to secure their second European title – and Tomblin’s third – in Paris.
The reigning European silver medallists had been the dominant mixed pair on the World Cup circuit this season, notably collecting four of the five available gold medals in this technical event, and also entered the final with the highest declared difficulty of the field at 38.20.
Their energetic “Latin Dance” routine brought plenty of charisma to the pool today. The pair described it as the kind of routine that simply makes them want to dance and smile, and that joy was evident throughout the performance as they also won over the home crowd.
Isabelle looked overjoyed with the result when speaking to European Aquatics. “It was really special, we really enjoyed the swim and tried to focus on the process,” she said.
“It’s a different approach. You have to focus on the technical elements and take a bit more time with them. For us, this routine is really fun and more upbeat so it’s just about having fun which is what we love doing.
“It’s nice (to compete with other countries). We have been to every World Cup stop so we have been with lots of other people this year. For me, coming from the duet to the mixed duet has been really nice and opened my eyes to what friendships you can make in the sport.”
Ranjuo was equally as pleased with what could be his last performance with Isabelle.
“It’s amazing (to be in top form). I am really grateful to have this opportunity and to swim with Izzy, she’s the best duet partner ever,” he said, looking visibly emotional.
“It’s been an amazing experience swimming with Izzy. When I first partnered with her I just didn’t want to disappoint her but now we have this amazing partnership and it has just been the best time.”
The pair will now go their separate ways as they build towards events which are on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic programme.
Filippo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero of Italy improved on the bronze medals they won at both the 2025 European and World Championships by taking silver here with 229.0092 points.
The Italians performed their relatively new routine to “Regarde!” by Monroe, France’s entry for Eurovision 2026. The programme made its debut only a few weeks ago at the World Cup Super Final, where it also earned the pair a silver medal.
The podium finish capped an exceptionally demanding Championships for Ruggiero, who competed in five routines across three days, often returning to the pool only a few hours after previous events. She leaves Paris with two silver medals in the mixed duet events, having also finished runner-up alongside Pelati in Saturday’s mixed duet free.
“We’ve just learned of the tiny margin at the end of the competition but I don’t feel bad to come second once more with such a small difference”, Pelati said.
“It’s a silver medal and we did everything so I feel really good about this result. We are here to enjoy the competition and I can tell you that we enjoy every moment of it.”
The bronze medal went to Neutral Athletes Zakhar Trofimov and Alina Rumiantseva, who scored 215.9201 in their senior European Championships debut.
The reigning European Junior Champions from both 2025 and 2026 arrived in Paris as strong podium contenders but saw their chances hampered by a basemark on their opening acrobatic movement following a coach card declaration error. Despite the setback, the youngest pair in the final still secured a place on the podium with their “From Love to Hate” choreography.
“Of course, we are not very happy about the result because we got a base mark,” they said following the medal ceremony.
“Unfortunately our coaches made a mistake in the code on acrobatic. Of course we’re upset because this acro was very well executed, but it is still our first senior European Championships medal so we are okay.
“We will try to relax at the hotel, have a walk, and hopefully we will feel okay soon. We really enjoy the atmosphere here, we met very many new people, athletes that we didn’t know before and it has made us very inspired for the future.”
Spain, the defending European champions in the event, fielded an entirely new partnership in Paris. Jordi Caceres Iglesias and Carla Lorenzo Llusca, competing together for the first time and with Lorenzo making her European Championships debut entirely, produced a clean performance but ultimately finished fourth against a highly experienced field.
The morning session saw eight nations compete in the team free preliminary round, with all advancing to tomorrow afternoon’s final.
The Neutral Athletes B, the reigning World Championship silver medallists, claimed the top spot with a score of 272.7400 for their “Online, Not Alone” choreography.
Spain, the defending European champions and reigning World Championship bronze medallists, brought back their “La Locura” routine and scored 266.5275, counting a basemark, to finish right behind the NAB squad.
The artistic swimming competition is set to pick up once again tomorrow, with three finals on the schedule. The women’s and men’s solo free finals will open the day at 9:00, before the team free final brings the action back to the pool at 16:00.
Click here for the event page, which includes all start lists and results.
Click here to watch all of the action on Eurovision Sport.
Christina Marmet for European Aquatics
