Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe claimed a first artistic swimming medal for Great Britain at the Olympics with silver in the women’s duet.

The pair were fractionally outside the podium positions after Friday’s technical routine although a score of 264.0282 was less than a point off the Netherlands, who held third place overnight. A barnstorming free routine was adjudged the best of the 17-strong field on Saturday and a score of 558.5367 points overall lifted Shortman and Thorpe above both Austria and the Netherlands, who eventually finished in bronze medal position. However, their hopes of gold were dashed by China, who claimed an artistic swimming double with victory by 7.9416 points.

Shortman and Thorpe edged out the Dutch twin sisters Noortje and Bregje de Brouwer by the wafer-thin margin of 0.1404 points, with Austria in fourth.

The British duo, childhood friends whose mothers competed alongside one another, had high hopes of a historic medal after winning silver and bronze at the World Aquatics Championships earlier this year.

They were the only pairing that finished in the top-five who are not related. China’s Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi and Ukraine’s Maryna Aleksiiva and Vladyslava Aleksiiva are twins, while Austria’s Anna-Maria Alexandri and Eirini-Marina Alexandri are part of a set of triplets.